A travel system’s price tag looks like one number, but for VAT purposes it can be several. HMRC’s guidance treats the car seat and the pushchair differently, which is why a bundle can contain parts charged at different rates. This guide explains what HMRC’s VAT Notice 701/23 says about children’s car seats and travel systems. VAT is a UK-wide tax, so the position described applies across the UK. It is general information rather than tax advice, and it describes the rules as HMRC’s notice states them, on a page last updated on 4 November 2022.
The three headline rates
GOV.UK lists three main VAT rates for goods and services: a standard rate of 20% for most goods and services, a reduced rate of 5% for some, with children’s car seats given as an example, and a zero rate, with most children’s clothes given as an example (GOV.UK, “VAT rates”). HMRC’s notice, covered next, deals with prams and pushchairs directly.
What HMRC counts as a reduced-rate car seat
HMRC’s notice, titled “Protective equipment”, says children’s car seats and travel systems are reduced-rated at 5% VAT. Under section 5.1 the reduced rate applies to safety seats (seats designed for an infant or small child in a road vehicle, secured to the vehicle by a seat belt or anchorage points), booster seats, booster cushions and car seat bases, and it applies to both ISOFIX and non-ISOFIX bases. Under section 5.2 it also applies to protective travel systems such as “lie-flat” car seat products that let a baby lie flat in a car and are secured with a three-point safety harness, and which can also be used with compatible pushchairs to form a pram system (HMRC, “Protective equipment (VAT Notice 701/23)”, section 5).
How a travel system is split
Section 5.3 of the notice sets out how VAT applies to travel systems, depending on what is supplied together:
- A pram or pushchair plus a safety seat that can be fitted together and each used independently: the safety seat is reduced-rated and the pram or pushchair element is standard-rated.
- A safety seat plus a bare wheeled framework: where the supply consists of just those two, the whole supply is reduced-rated.
- Safety seat, wheeled framework and pushchair or pram seat, all three together: the pram seat is standard-rated and the other two elements are reduced-rated.
- Pram seat plus wheeled framework only: the whole supply is standard-rated.
- Items supplied separately: the safety seat is reduced-rated, while the wheeled framework and the pram seat are standard-rated.
The notice explains that the framework is only of use when one of the other two elements is attached, and that any combination of the three may be supplied together. It does not say how a seller should divide a single bundle price between elements, so the split shown on an invoice is a matter for the retailer.
What this means for a budget
The rate difference is large. As an illustration only, VAT on £200 of goods before tax comes to £10 at 5% and £40 at 20%. A car seat sold separately therefore carries much less VAT than the same value of pushchair. That does not mean a bundle is cheaper or dearer than buying the parts separately, because retailers set their own prices and the notice governs only the VAT treatment. A useful check is whether the advertised price is the full price payable, which our guide to advertised pram prices and the total price explains. It is also worth knowing that a “car seat” in a pram listing may be a lie-flat carrycot with restraint straps, which the notice treats as a reduced-rate product.
For the practical side of matching seats and frames, see our guides to travel system adapters and to budget and premium travel systems.
Questions readers often ask
Is a pushchair ever charged at 5%?
Under section 5.3 of the notice, the pram or pushchair element is standard-rated at 20%. A framework supplied only with a safety seat is treated together with it at 5%, but a framework supplied with only a pram seat is standard-rated.
Does the reduced rate cover a car seat bought on its own?
Yes. In section 5.3 of the notice, when supplied separately the safety seat is reduced-rated, while the wheeled framework and the pram seat are standard-rated.
What is the standard rate?
GOV.UK gives the standard rate as 20% and says it rose to 20% on 4 January 2011, from 17.5%.
The bottom line
HMRC’s VAT Notice 701/23 puts children’s car seats, booster seats, car seat bases and lie-flat carrycots with restraint straps at 5% VAT, while the pram or pushchair element of a travel system is standard-rated at 20%. In a bundle, the mix of rates depends on which of the three elements are included: safety seat, wheeled framework and pram seat. The notice covers VAT treatment only, so it says nothing about whether one price is better value than another.