Supplies via the BFPO service to British forces personnel based outside the VAT territory of the EU are eligible for zero rating provided that the supplier holds

• a written order from the member of the forces confirming that they are based outside the EU, or
• sufficient information confirming that the BFPO number is outside the VAT territory of the EU (the list of numbers is available at the British Forces Post Office), and
• evidence of delivery to the BFPO depot in the UK.

Note - supplies to service personnel based within the EU may be eligible for zero rating under Article 151 Principal VAT Directive 2006/112/EC (formerly Article 15(10)of the EC Sixth VAT Directive).

Not sure how you reconcile that with a message from the Amazon system regarding burden of proof.

Had many of these.

PeterB has told you the criteria. If it falls into this then the buyer is entitled to have a vat exempt sale. However,

The answer is:

It is up to you whether you are willing to post-sale deduct vat from the order. You can just tell them to claim back vat as they would if they bought the item from an airport terminal, or you can do it for them and do the paperwork when you fill in your vat return.

I usually do the vat return for them. I consider that they are protecting us from our country’s enemies, so I’m happy to help them as best as I can.

We’re not on the VAT calculation service, so we take the view that all our prices on Amazon are always displayed inclusive of any applicable VAT. Therefore, if no VAT is applicable to the sale the customer necessarily did not pay any VAT and we supply them with an invoice for full total paid with the VAT element as zero. We do not refund any VAT because they did not pay in the first place.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-on-goods-exported-from-the-uk-notice-703

… where your customer or their representative arranges for the goods to be exported outside the EC, this is an indirect export. As the customer is established in the UK, it is not an ‘overseas person’ for VAT zero rating purposes - see paragraph 2.4. This means that the conditions for zero rating an indirect export (see paragraph 3.4) are not met and the supply cannot be zero-rated. VAT is due at the appropriate UK rate.

4.1 Multiple transactions leading to a single movement of goods
Where a single movement of goods is supported by 2 or more underlying transactions only the final transaction may be zero-rated.

…For example…

company A (based outside the EC) orders goods from company B (UK based)
company B purchases the goods from company C (also UK based) but does not take delivery of the goods
company C, at the request of company B, sends the goods direct to company A

In this scenario there are 2 separate transactions which should be treated as follows:

supply of goods from company C to company B is a supply in the UK and must be invoiced at the appropriate rate of UK VAT
supply of goods from company B to company A is zero-rated as an export subject to the relevant conditions being met

Thank you for all the replies, lots of good and important information.

It is currently not 100% clear if the item was purchased by the forces person or by a family member sending it out to recipient so that does complicate matters in one sense, but also opens a door for a solid answer in another sense.

Many many thanks, I hope you all have a great weekend!