Paying tax for children who need larger clothes

[Pom75]

My son is 8yrs old and needs larger clothes. When out shopping I got him a body warmer size large boys, after we got home we found it was to small for him. I went back to the shop to change it to xl boys and I had to pay £8.00 more due to tax being added on cos of the next size up. I emailed my local mp in Glasgow who has written to the chancellor of the exchequer George osborne. I feel it is unfair I have to pay tax because my son needs larger clothes and size 6 shoes, does anyone else feel the same as I would like to start a potison that clothing should be charged at age and not size! I'm not sure how I would start a potison, any help would be kindly accepted.

It annoys me also as I also have a larger 8yr old, although his feet are size 3 so dont pay more for them although hes got extra wide feet so i pay extorinate amounts for extra wide shoes.
i escape the shoe tax also as im size 5 so feel that balances it a little.
I agree though, surely clothes/shoes should be taxed after say 16yrs old or something, would make alot more sense. How on earth would it be inforceable though? two prices on clothes and id to prove your age!?

Children's clothes are already zero rated and rightly so. So the fact you had to pay tax implies you had to purchase adult sized version. Since it can be worn by an adult it will be charged VAT. The other side of the coin is if you are small then you can get away with buying children's clothes and avoid paying VAT if you are so inclined.

To be honest it's just one of those things which i doubt much can be done. It's not really the government's fault that your son is so large/tall that at the age of 8 in adult size clothing.

Many shops sell children's clothes up to 16 years old so you could have bought an alternative from another store.

If it was labelled as XL boys, I'd have expected it to be 0% rated as children's clothing.

Or is there an actual measurement above which definitions change?

I was hoping that some kind of tax exception card or a tax claim back form could be brought into action??? In Glasgow children have a young scot card that could maybe give tax discount when larger clothing is bought??? I hope if there is enough mothers out there we could make a difference. Niceguy2 I do buy my sons uniform in bhs because the do a generous fit trouser, but his shirts are size/age 15 in marks an Spencer's to fit around his neck lol I do live in hope, thanks guys

see here for clothing sizes considered vat free

The guy at the desk said cos of size I had to pay tax???? I will look into this more meditrina!

Unenforceable. It would lead to mass fraud of people bulk-buying adult clothing, taking along some hefty child for show and claiming they are all for them.

The government isn't allowed to alter the VAT on children's clothes. Under EU rules VAT is now controlled by the EU, who expect all nations to converge their VAT rates. What are called 'historic exemptions' are allowed. Historic exemptions include examples such as children's clothes and non-processed food in the UK, which are zero-rated.

So the government could scrap the zero rate completely but it couldn't alter its breadth to include more sizes of clothing.

If you contact HMRC they'll be able to provide you with the precise definition of child's clothing that is covered by the zero VAT rate.

I suspect the salesperson was probably mistaken if the item you purchased was an item marked "Age xx" rather than S/M/L as is usual for adults.

Like I said, children's clothes are already zero rated and any tax rebate scheme would be completely abused by people buying clothes 'for their children' but then is simply worn by the adult.

Tax is on clothes over 13year old sizes and size 3 shoes.

Thanks folks!! Just makes me so mad, but as most has said it would corate mass fraud, I which I was not thinking, as not criminal minded. So it looks like I may need to accept the vat on my sons clothing, many thanks for all your comments and I will let you all know what reply I get from mr Osborne mp.

"Children's clothes are already zero rated and rightly so" why?

Only children need clothes to take part in society! keep warm, maintain dignity.

I see plenty of adults walking around in scruffy clothes, maybe we should scrap VAT on clothes, clothes are after all a necessity, instead pay slightly more in income tax.

I wear size 4 shoes, so I never pay VAT on shoes, doesn't make me any less an adult than a women with size 6 feet.

Or better still, charge VAT on all clothes whether for children or adults. Bring more cash into the Exchequer and encourage more recycling rather than all this wear-once, Primark-style, third-world exploiting disposable fashion.... :)

Wasn't there a whole thread on here about adult woman buying stuff in the children's section? So they benefitted from zero-rating, but that wasn't why they were there, it came down to sizing needed.

Most clothes are very cheap, for sure.

When I by cheaper clothing, trousers need to be altered or just look so wrong to tight to long! I find buying jogging pants that are cuffed at the bottom I can tuck up. I do recycle all our clothing to cancer research as my husband suffered from cancer three years ago!! So maybe no tax on all clothing maybe the way forward, as some adults avoid tax while others with larger children suffer!!

I never expected this much off a responce! I only joined last night, so many ideas from all thank you all

Here are the rules for vat on children's clothes

Thank you bruffin x

minimathsmouse

VAT can be a bit arbitrary (see cakes and biscuits rules). However, as an adult your clothes might get a bit scruffy, but you shouldn't outgrow them.