Get VAT Rate for Commodity
law_hmrc_get_vat_rateLook up the VAT rate for a named UK goods or services category, returning rate type, percentage, conditions, and the official GOV.UK source.
Instructions
USE THIS TOOL WHEN you know the UK VAT category name for a good or service and want its VAT treatment.
Exact named-category lookup, not a free-text VAT classifier or tax advice. The query must equal a category name, ignoring only case, spacing, hyphens and apostrophe style. Extra qualifying words are never discarded: 'pet food' is its own category, and 'baby food' is not 'food'.
A match returns rate (standard, reduced, zero or exempt),
rate_percentage (None for exempt), conditions in notes, the GOV.UK
source_url, and that entry's verified_on date.
An unresolved query returns no rate: matched_category, rate,
rate_percentage and verified_on are all null, never a default.
Its notes list the category names. AFTER an unresolved result, retry
with a listed name or call hmrc_search_guidance.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| commodity_code | Yes | Commodity code or plain-English description. E.g. 'food', 'domestic fuel', 'software', 'financial services', 'new build residential' |
Output Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| rate | No | VAT rate category, or None when no specific category was confidently matched. None here is NOT a stand-in for any real rate — it means the lookup did not resolve, not that the item is outside VAT's scope. | |
| notes | No | Any additional notes or conditions on this rate | |
| source_url | Yes | GOV.UK/HMRC guidance page backing the matched entry; for an unresolved query, the general VAT rates page to consult instead | |
| verified_on | No | Date the matched entry was last checked against GOV.UK/HMRC guidance. None for an unresolved query, since no entry was matched. A data-currency signal only — see `effective_from` for the rate's own legal commencement date, when known. | |
| commodity_code | Yes | Commodity code or description queried | |
| effective_from | No | Date the represented VAT treatment is known, on researched evidence, to have taken legal effect. None when no such commencement date has been established for this entry — that is common and does NOT imply the rate is new, uncertain, or unmatched. For data currency (when this entry was last checked against GOV.UK/HMRC guidance) see `verified_on` instead — the two are deliberately independent. | |
| rate_percentage | No | Rate charged on a taxable supply: 20.0 (standard), 5.0 (reduced), 0.0 (zero). None for an exempt supply, which is not taxed at any rate (exempt is not the same as 0%), and None when `rate` is None. | |
| matched_category | No | The static lookup table category the query exactly named (e.g. 'hot food'), or None when the query is not a category name. `rate`/`rate_percentage` are None whenever this is None — see `notes`. |