Businesses that have incurred VAT in other EU member states should now be thinking about making their claims under the EU VAT refund provisions.  VAT incurred during 2012 must be claimed by 30 September 2013 or will be lost.

Claims can be made by businesses that:

• are VAT registered in the UK;
• are not established in the member state of refund
• are not registered, required to be registered or eligible to be registered in the member state of refund, and
• do not make supplies there other than transport services or those where the VAT is required to be accounted for by the customer.

The claims are submitted online to www.hmrc.gov.uk and will be forwarded by HMRC to the member state of refund to be repaid subject to that member state’s input tax rules.  Claims covering the whole of the calendar year, or the remainder of the year where some claims have already been made, can be made for sums  of €50 or more.

Businesses incurring significant EU VAT can ease cash-flow by recovering the VAT throughout the year as it is incurred as long as each claim submitted covers a refund period of at least three months and is for a minimum amount of €400.

If you have any questions about this, or any other VAT issue, please give us a call on 01865 582 064