Vat Recovery In Europe, Act Now

A pot of VAT gold is going unclaimed and will soon be lost forever – Even in the teeth of an international recession, businesses incurring VAT throughout the EU are failing to claim VAT refunds to which they are entitled. 4 Eyes Ltd can advise on inter-EU VAT recovery and process these reclaims for you.

The general position is that if a company incurs expenditure for business purposes anywhere in the European Union, it will be able to reclaim this.  Generally a UK company will incur UK VAT and recover this through its VAT return. The problem, however, arises where it incurs non UK VAT. This cannot be recovered through the UK VAT return and so many companies simply write it off as irrecoverable. Common examples where VAT may be incurred include hotel fees, conferences and other local services.

A centralised mechanism exists to enable businesses to recover this VAT but the rules are very strict and failure to comply may often result in all the VAT being blocked.

Your business may be able to recover non UK VAT where it passes the following tests:

The business is VAT registered in the UK
The business is not registered or liable to be VAT registered in the country in which the VAT has been incurred
There is no place of business or other residence in the country in which the VAT was incurred
There are no supplies in that country (or if there are supplies, they are subject to the reverse charge where the client self-accounts for VAT)

Requirements

Each claim can cover any o the 12 months between 1 January 2009 and the 31 December 2009 but must be made no later than 30 June 2010 – there is no discretion. Late claims will be refused. A claim is made electronically, but original documents may be required. Once the first claim has been made, new claims can be made once every four months. Typically repayment will be made within 6 months from the date of submission.

THE DEADLINE FOR 2009 RECLAIMS IS 30 JUNE 2010