I bought a van for work approximately five months ago which I have not used. I am now starting up my new business. Can I claim the VAT back on the purchase?  

Arthur Weller replies:  

If you have a look at VAT Notice 100 section 11.2, it talks about recovering VAT on purchases made before registering for VAT. I appreciate that you may have registered for VAT before purchasing the van, but nevertheless, you can see from there that you are able to reclaim the input VAT on the purchase of this van since you have not used it for non-business purposes (you have not used it at all); see section 4.6.3.