VAT Assisted Purchases (AIPS)

Many schools, music services and local councils offer the HMRC-approved VAT Assisted Instrument Purchase Scheme (AIPS). If you are the parent or guardian of a student at one of these schools, you may be able to buy a musical instrument for them to use without paying any VAT - potentially saving you hundreds of pounds.

Do you qualify for VAT Assisted Instrument Purchase?

Please contact your school, music service or local council to check if you are eligible, as the rules can vary. We can deal directly with any authority. Generally, the rules are:

•  The student must be in full-time education at a local authority school or academy.
•  The student must be having lessons at the school.
•  This scheme is not usually available to students having lessons outside of school, or those at independent, grammar or voluntary aided schools, nor students at university or music college.

Please note: eligibility criteria are set by the school, music service or local council, not us. Any queries regarding eligibility should be directed to your school, music service or local council.

How to buy via the AIPS scheme

•  Choose and reserve an instrument from our range. Reserve the instrument in-store or by calling/emailing us.
•  Place an order with your school, music service or local council, stating the instrument, preferred supplier (Just Flutes) and ex-VAT price. (VAT is currently set at 20%. To calculate the ex-VAT price of an instrument, divide its inc-VAT price by 1.2).
•  You pay the school, music service or council the ex-VAT price. Some schools, music services or councils may charge a token administration fee.
•  The school, music service or local council will place an order with us for the chosen instrument (they can do this via our contact form, or they can call us for our email address).
•  We courier your new instrument to the school or council, where you can collect it. It's usually ready for collection the day after we have received the order from the school, music service or local council.
•  For schools requiring further information on the VAT implications of this scheme, full details are available on the HMRC website.