Businesses may qualify for the 5% reduced rate of VAT on energy bills if their electricity use is below 1,000 kWh per month, if they're a registered charity, or if the majority of their energy is used for residential or qualifying purposes. For full eligibility criteria, see HMRC's VAT Notice 701/19.
If you qualify, you can apply the reduced rate directly through your tem portal by uploading a signed VAT Reduced Rate Certificate.
How to apply your VAT reduction
Log in to the tem portal and go to the Account page
Select the Exemptions tab
Click VAT reduction
Click Download VAT Reduced Rate Certificate to get the blank form
Complete and sign the certificate
Upload the signed copy and click Submit
Please submit this before your first invoice to make sure the correct VAT rate is applied from the start of your contract.
What happens after I submit?
Once submitted, your certificate will show as In review. When our team has processed and accepted your submission, you'll receive a confirmation email - the 5% reduced rate will then be applied to your bills going forward.
Your VAT reduction page in the portal will then show:
Qualifying consumption (%) - the percentage of your energy consumption that qualifies for the exemption
Exemption start date - the date your exemption started
You can check these details at any time by going to the Exemptions tab and clicking VAT reduction.
Download the VAT Reduced Rate Certificate template
You can download the blank certificate template below: