Worthy cause - Air Ambulance E-Petition

[Renrut]

Not normally one for posting up links to petitions but I think this is a worthwhile one. On 149,000 at the minute.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/29349

Its asking for the air ambulances to get tax free fuel. Although aviation fuel is normally tax free its not as simple as that for the air ambulance charities due to oddities in the VAT system. Explanations why given to a chap who asked on another forum:

Dear Mr Atkins, many thanks for the message. The petition is quite correct in that Air Ambulances do pay VAT on most of their fuel. The situation is complicated by the fact that some Air Ambulances are provided with fuel via their helicopter supplier and in these circumstances they do not actually pay the VAT themselves. In any situation where an Air Ambulance helicopter refuels from a publicly available fuel source then VAT will be payable. I hope this makes sense.

Kind regards,
Peter Aldrick
Association of Air Ambulances.


Nigel, thank you for the reminder and I apologise for the delay in replying. I have looked into this matter since we last corresponded and it frankly is not a simple issue. As to whether or not an Air Ambulance pays VAT will very much depend on the type of income that the charity receives and how the charity is set up in the first place. From what I can identify it appears that there is quite a wide variation and hence the differing concerns over this particular aspect of VAT. If a charity actually owns its helicopter it will probably be paying VAT on the fuel it uses. On the other hand, where a helicopter is leased from a supplying company then fuel purchased through that linkage may not be chargeable. The level of VAT paid on fuel is also different. At Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance I have one of my Finance Managers who is quite an expert on VAT matters and he would be a good person to talk to on this matter. His name is Crauford Thomson and he can be contacted on ----- ------, normally from Monday through Wednesday. It’s a very busy time at the moment, however, with the end of the financial year and he will be rather busy next week, but I am sure he can give you a better view on this matter than I can. I do hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Peter Aldrick
Chief Executive Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance
(also admin support for the Association of Air Ambulances)

[mjslonergan]

Agree with and tried to sign it, but wouldn't let me as I am not a British citizen...