A van, some personal use, VAT and a lot of confusion

Good afternoon all,

I have a VAT query that I am hoping that you wonderfully knowledgable people would be able to help me out with.

There is a client who is looking to buy a commercial vehicle for their partnership and they are wanting to, as most would, to claim back the VAT on it. They are already VAT registered, so there is no problem there. The issue lies with regards to the private proportion of use for the van by the client.

So far as I can see from the HMRC website input VAT can be claimed on the van as it is a commercial vehicle, but I am unsure as to what to do with the private proportion when it comes to claiming the VAT. The HMRC website suggests that when an asset is purchased for business and has personal use as well, you should proportion the VAT accordingly, which I think is the case with the van.

Does anyone happen to know if there are any special rules which apply to the situation above or am I right in saying that you simply need to proportion the VAT according to the private usage as mentioned above?

Many thanks in advance!

GWK