If you have already paid vat on your services or goods more than once and want to receive the original amount back then while reclaiming vat ensure proper procedures are followed. You may use the vat refund scheme to get back vat that might already have been paid earlier in order to lower your costs as well as get relief from the problem of double taxation over your services or goods.
While you won’t be permitted to deduct the VAT tax amount straight from your next vat return, you still be allowed to state that amount in the separate vat refund scheme. This scheme is available in the UK subject to certain conditions. Most eu countries that follow vat will often have such procedures where vat amounts which have previously been paid can be reclaimed. If you’re a vat registered trader in the United Kingdom that doesn’t have vat registration in the nation of origin you’ll be able to claim any vat paid in the country provided you meet a few other vat rules.
You may also claim vat paid in another eu country if you haven’t got relief through any other vat scheme. You will have to use a standard vat reclaiming form through the HM revenue and customs or hmrc vat website that looks after the customs, excise and vat department in the UK. However, since the reclaiming rules might differ abroad, you’ll need the expertise of a specialist vat agent well-versed in uk vat and eu vat rules to ensure that you extract vat refunds in the relevant country. Your agent can act in your stead once you let them have a power of attorney or even a letter or authority to accomplish this.
You can go for a vat reclaim no after 9 months within a year or so after you have paid the vat amount. You will first have to register your organization name and also your agent?s name too in the event you plan on reclaiming vat through your agent. You need to use the hm vat refunds service that’s a part of the vat online services provided by the hmrc vat website so as to save on time and effort. As soon as you submit the required online vat form you will be issued a web based reference number that may indicate that the request has been received by the vat refund department.
Although you will not need to send any paper documents, certain eu countries might ask for a scanned vat invoice to be attached to your vat refund request. Once you’ve sent your reclaiming request hmrc will be sending a confirmation regarding the same within 15 days even though the concerned eu country will usually provide you with a vat refund within 4 months, if all of your documents are in proper order. In case further information is required from that eu country then you can expect your vat reclaim to be settled after around 8 months of the original application.
In order to avoid the problem of double taxation, most eu countries that have adopted vat such as the UK offer vat refunds that can be claimed by using proper procedures and using proper applications. You also can claim back vat paid in any other eu country that follows vat by reclaiming vat back from that eu country when you use the vat refund scheme.