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Question
I forgot to include an invoice in my last EU VAT refund claim. Is there any way to reclaim the VAT I have paid?
Answer.
The purpose of an EU refund is to allow a UK VAT registered business which has bought goods or services for use in their business from another VAT-registered business in the EU to reclaim the VAT that they have suffered.
You can make as many claims as you like in a year, but there are rules on the minimum claims which can be made. These rules vary from country to country, but are generally €400 if the claim relates to a period of between three months and one year and €50 if it covers a whole year. If you have discovered an invoice that should have been included in a previous claim, it can’t be included in the next one, as it won’t match the dates of that claim. This will lead to the claim being rejected and so the invoice will have to be removed and the claim resubmitted, delaying the refund. Instead, keep the invoice until the final claim of the year, then all the remaining invoices for that calendar year can be claimed together, so no VAT will be lost. The time limit for making a claim is the 30th September following the year to which the invoices relate, so any invoices that are dated in 2010 must be claimed by 30th September 2011.
The advice in this column is specific to the facts surrounding the questions posed. Neither FPM Accountants LLP nor the contributors accept any liability for any direct or indirect loss arising from any reliance placed on replies.
Email m.rogers@fpmca.com |