The 0% VAT deadline explained

Since 2022, installing solar panels and batteries in a home has carried a VAT rate of zero. That rate runs until 31 March 2027. From 1 April 2027 it is due to return to 5%.

What the rate applies to

The zero rate covers the supply and installation of energy-saving materials in a residential property, which includes solar panels, battery storage and the work to fit them. It applies when a VAT-registered installer supplies and fits the system as one job. Equipment bought separately and fitted yourself is treated differently.

What it is worth

The saving is 5% of the installed price, because that is the rate it returns to. We price every system after a survey rather than publishing figures, so take whatever your written plan says and add one twentieth: that is the difference the deadline makes.

What has to happen before the deadline

The rate depends on when the work is done and invoiced, so an installation completed and paid for by 31 March 2027 is at zero. A contract signed before the date and installed after it is not. Scaffolding, grid notification and delivery of hardware all take time, and the final weeks before any tax deadline are busy for every installer in the country. If you want the zero rate, the survey needs to happen well before spring 2027.

A note on deadlines in sales calls

Some firms use the VAT date the way they once used feed-in tariff cut-offs: as a reason to sign today. The deadline is real, and the arithmetic above is what it is worth. If a discount depends on signing before someone leaves your house, that is a sales technique, and it has nothing to do with VAT.

What the deadline does not change

Export payments, warranties and the way your system is designed are unaffected by the VAT rate. So is the quality of the installation, which is the part you live with for 25 years. A system fitted in a hurry to beat a date costs more over its life than the 5% it saved.

How we are handling it

We will not use the date to hurry anyone. The survey is free, the plan is written, and the decision is yours. What we will do is tell you plainly, at the survey, whether your installation can be completed before the deadline on the dates available, so you can decide with that in front of you.

Could the rate change again?

Tax rates are set by the government and can be changed in any Budget. The current position is the only one we can plan around: zero until 31 March 2027, then 5%. If that changes, this page will be updated.