VAT refunds to non-EU overseas businesses

HMRC has relaxed its policy on VAT refunds to non-EU overseas businesses, where certificates of status have not been available by the relevant deadline.

HMRC has published a new VAT Brief setting out its revised policy for VAT refunds to overseas businesses which have been unable to provide a certificate of status by the relevant deadline.

In a change of policy, HMRC is to allow non-EU overseas businesses to claim VAT refunds where those businesses have had difficulties acquiring certificates of status (COS) because of delays caused by the relevant issuing authority dealing with exceptional one-off events such as a global pandemic.

Revenue and Customs Brief 15 (2021): Repayment of VAT to overseas businesses not established in the EU and not registered in the UK confirms that HMRC will accept late certificates where the official authority could not issue a certificate in good time. In these circumstances, businesses will need to submit their certificate to HMRC within a ‘reasonable time’ after it was issued – which HMRC suggests is ‘within 30 days’. Businesses may also need to give evidence of the delay and establish that they requested the certificate within a reasonable time. It should be noted that existing deadlines continue to apply for all other documents.

This policy supersedes previous relaxations set out in Revenue and Customs Briefs 20 (2020) and 10 (2021) which extended the deadline for submitting COS for the prescribed year 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020, first to 30 June 2021 and subsequently to 31 December 2021. Normally, COS are required to be submitted alongside the refund application within six months from the end of the prescribed year.

VAT Notice 723A: Refunds of UK VAT for non-UK businesses or EU VAT for UK businesses has also been updated accordingly at section 3.7.2 ‘Certificate proving your business activity’ to cover situations where HMRC will accept a certificate of status submitted after the relevant deadline.

Comment

4 Eyes Ltd can handle your UK and EU VAT reclaims. Please contact us for further details.


This news update is published for the general information of 4 Eyes Ltd personnel, clients and contacts. It provides only an overview of the rules and regulations in force at the date of publication, and no action should be taken without consulting the detailed legislation or seeking professional advice. No responsibility for loss occasioned by any person acting or refraining from action as a result of the material contained in this e-mail will be accepted by the authors or the firm.

chris wigmore

A creative individual with strong conceptual creative skills across multiple channels. Working in financial, FMCG, tourism and music industry sectors, my background is both agency and client side working with brands like Nationwide Building Society, Black Horse Finance, Legal & General, Brittany Ferries, National Trust, Roland, Sun Life Direct, HSBC, Bosch and many more. I create content, design Squarespace websites and through the line advertising campaigns..

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