vat back on tools of the trade?

Does anyone know if you can claim the vat back when you buy tools necesary for your trade? If so, how?

To be more specific, I'm a programmer and I need a laptop (solely for working on) and if mates of mine who are carpentars can claim vat back on hammers etc then shouldn't I be able to do it for the one tool necesary for my trade?

If you are an employee rather than self employed then there are no special tax exemptions for this sort of stuff other than normal refunding of vouched out of pocket expenses by the employer without any BIK implications. Also if you are an employee then you are most likely not registered for VAT so VAT reclaims don't apply. If you are self employed then the normal VAT refund treatment should apply and you accountant should be able to advise. For certain employees there are [broken link removed] but none for s/w engineers I'm afraid.

Only those registered for vat can claim vat refunds.
Now if your chippie friend is vat registered he could buy a laptop and claim the vat back, he could also claim the remainder of the cost i.e. the net as an expense over 5 years.

That's a pity. Thanks for the help.