Value Added Tax Act 1994 section 56

Fuel for private use

Section 56 deals with the VAT treatment of road fuel that a business provides for private use, requiring businesses to account for output tax on such fuel based on a scale charge determined by Treasury order.

• Where a business provides road fuel for private use (whether by the business owner, a partner, or an employee), VAT must be accounted for on that fuel as a deemed supply.
• The amount on which VAT is charged is set by a scale charge prescribed by Treasury order, rather than being based on the actual cost of the fuel.
• This provision applies regardless of whether the fuel was originally acquired for business purposes — if any of it ends up being used privately, the scale charge applies.
• The Finance Act 2013 amended this section as part of broader updates to the VAT framework.

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