Buy an instrument VAT free for your child using AIPS.
- Available throughout England and Wales
- The scheme is run with the full approval of H.M. Customs & Excise
The Assisted Instrument Purchase Scheme allows students to buy instruments without having to pay VAT. (20%).
Having chosen the instrument you wish to buy, you can ask your child’s LEA (Local Education Authority) or school (including Academies) to order it on your behalf.
The school or Academy will then issue an official order to us. Some LEAs issue a form that must be used when the order is placed to qualify for the scheme.
These forms can be requested from the school. Other LEAs do not produce a dedicated form so the school can simply issue its own official order to us stating the instrument you require.
Payment will be made by you directly to the school or Academy. The LEA or school must sell the instrument to the student at or below cost, excluding VAT, though they may have an administration charge.
We can then invoice the LEA or school and when payment is received we will inform you that the instrument can be collected.
Insurance of your new instrument
We strongly recommend you arrange suitable insurance cover against loss and damage to your new instrument.
The Small Print
Although open only to LEAs and LEA maintained schools, and Academies, AIPS itself is a purely voluntary scheme which different local authorities are free to operate in different ways. We recommend you discuss purchasing an instrument through AIPS with the school, Academy or LEA in advance.
Instruments that we are selling on commission, as well as antique or second-hand instruments may not be eligible for the scheme or may only have a small percentage of reclaimable VAT.
For more information, please visit: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/vatgpbmanual/vatgpb7825.htm
To comply with H.M. Customs & Excise regulations the following requirements must be met:
- The student must be in full time education at an LEA school or Academy and/or receiving music tuition at an LEA funded Music Centre.
- The instrument must be appropriate for the student’s needs and must be portable.
- For students who receive regular tuition from the LEA’s music service there is not usually a requirement for him/her to be a pupil at an LEA school. This may enable pupils at independent schools who receive tuition through a County Music Service to take advantage of musical instrument purchase under AIPS.