Policy paper

VAT on Private School Fees & Removing the Charitable Rate Relief for Private Schools

Technical consultation on the VAT and business rates changes affecting private schools.

Documents

Government response to the technical note on applying VAT to private school fees and removing the business rates charitable rate relief

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email [email protected]. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Applying VAT to Private School Fees and Removing the Business Rates Charitable Rates Relief for Private Schools Technical Note

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email [email protected]. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Removal of VAT exemption for private school fees - draft legislation

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email [email protected]. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Removal of VAT exemption for private school fees - explanatory note

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email [email protected]. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Details

The government has published a technical note outlining the design, scope, and expected impact of applying 20% VAT to private school fees across the UK and removing the business rates charitable rate relief for private schools in England. This technical note is intended to provide clarity to those schools and families who will be impacted by these changes.

Draft legislation on the VAT policy change, accompanied by an explanatory note, has also been published alongside this technical note. The government welcomes comments from interested stakeholders on the questions contained within the technical note, and on the draft VAT legislation to ensure it achieves the government’s policy objectives.

Technical consultation response

The government has published a response to the technical consultation on applying 20% VAT to private school fees across the UK and removing the business rates charitable rate relief for private schools in England that ran between 29 July 2024 and 15 September 2024. This document summarises the main views shared through the consultation, provides the government’s response to these, and outlines the technical amendments that are being made to these policies ahead of implementation. The government is grateful to all those who took the time to contribute to this consultation process.

Updates to this page

Published 29 July 2024
Last updated 30 October 2024 + show all updates
  1. Added a response to the technical consultation.

  2. First published.

Sign up for emails or print this page