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Solar Stash
VAT on solar and batteries, as of 3 November 2026

0% VAT on solar panels and batteries ends on 31 March 2027

From 1 April 2027 the rate is 5%, confirmed in the Budget on 28 October 2026. The rate follows the invoice date, so a job needs installing and invoicing before the deadline to stay at 0%. A deposit does not lock it in.

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What changes

Nothing to claim now, 5% to pay later

Since April 2022 solar panels and, since February 2024, home batteries have been zero-rated for VAT when installed in a home in Great Britain. The 0% is already off every quote; there is no form and no rebate. The Budget on 28 October 2026 confirmed the relief ends on 31 March 2027, and from 1 April 2027 the reduced rate of 5% applies instead.

Five per cent is not the 20% some people fear, and it is not a reason to rush a bad decision. It is a reason to get the survey done early, because the weeks before a deadline are when installers are busiest and scaffolding gets booked out.

Until 31 March 2027
0% VAT on solar panels, home batteries, and the installation work, for qualifying homes in Great Britain.
From 1 April 2027
5% VAT on the same items. Confirmed in the Budget on 28 October 2026.
What decides the rate
The tax point: normally the invoice date or completion, whichever comes first. Payments before that are taxed at the rate on the day they are made, for that amount only.
What does not
The date you enquire, the date of the survey, the date you sign, or the date you pay a deposit.

Source: GOV.UK, VAT Notice 708/6. As of 3 November 2026.

Deposits

A deposit does not lock in the rate

If anyone tells you a deposit before March secures 0% on the whole job, that is wrong. Here is how it actually works.

VAT is charged at the rate in force at the tax point. For an installation the basic tax point is when the work is finished. An invoice issued, or a payment received, before then creates an earlier tax point for that amount. So a deposit paid in February is at 0%, but a balance invoiced in April is at 5%, whatever was promised.

The safe wording, and the one we use, is installed and invoiced before 31 March 2027. Your installer raises the invoice, and we chase the timetable on your behalf so that date is realistic from the start.

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The timetable

Why we book surveys early

From enquiry to switch-on is typically a few weeks in a quiet period and longer in the months before a deadline. These are the steps that have to happen before the invoice.

  1. Step 1: Now

    Send the form or call. We ring back within one working day to check your home suits solar.

  2. Step 2: Within a few weeks

    A local MCS-certified installer surveys your home and sends a fixed written quote.

  3. Step 3: Installation

    Usually a single day. Scaffolding goes up a day or two before and comes down a few days after.

  4. Step 4: Before 31 March 2027

    The installer completes the job and issues the invoice. That date, not the deposit date, sets the VAT rate.

Start with solar panels and a battery, or a battery for the panels you already have. Local notes for Leeds and the rest of West Yorkshire.

Straight answers

The VAT deadline, answered

Not here? The number at the top reaches a person who can answer it.

When does 0% VAT on solar panels end?
On 31 March 2027. From 1 April 2027 the VAT rate on solar panels, home batteries and heat pumps in Great Britain is 5%. The end date was confirmed in the Budget on 28 October 2026 (as of 3 November 2026).
Does paying a deposit before 31 March 2027 lock in 0% VAT?
No. VAT is charged at the rate in force at the tax point. A deposit creates a tax point for the deposit amount only, so that part can be at 0%, but the balance invoiced after 31 March 2027 is at 5%. To have the whole job at 0% it needs to be installed and invoiced before the deadline.
What is a tax point?
The date VAT law treats a supply as made. For an installation it is normally the date the work is completed or the invoice is issued, whichever is earlier, and any payment made before that creates its own tax point for that amount. Your installer, not Solar Stash, raises the invoice, and the date on it decides the rate.
How much extra is 5% VAT on a solar installation?
5% of the installed price. We do not publish prices because every roof is quoted after a survey, but whatever your fixed quote is, the same job invoiced after 31 March 2027 costs that figure plus one twentieth.
Does the 0% rate apply to a battery on its own?
Yes. Since February 2024 a home battery fitted on its own, or added to existing solar panels, is zero-rated in the same way as panels. The same 31 March 2027 end date applies.
Free survey, no obligation

Installed and invoiced before 31 March 2027

Five quick questions. We call back within one working day to check your home suits solar and book your free survey.

Or call us

07442 511817

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