European companies are entitled to get a refund of the VAT they paid in European Member-States where they are not established.
However, the foreign VAT’s refund is not applicable unless you meet the following conditions:
European companies are entitled to get a refund of the VAT they paid in European Member-States where they are not established.
However, the foreign VAT’s refund is not applicable unless you meet the following conditions:
9th directive VAT refund claiming methods are identical, regardless of the EU member State you are in, except for specific aspects such as the minimum amount of refundable VAT and which spendings are eligible for a refund. These may vary depending on the country.
| Period covered by the claim | 1 calendar year maximum
3 months minimum |
| Minimum amount of refundable VAT | Will change depending on the country |
| Deadline to submit the claims | 30th September of the year following the refundable period |
| Time of treatment of the claim | 4 months maximum (can be extended to between 6 to 8 months in case of an extra-information quiery) |
| Justificatives to provide | Copies of the invoices and customs document mentioning the VAT |
| Spendings eligible for refund | Will change depending on the country |
VAT refund claims can be submitted through an electronic portal.
Each EU Member State has set up its own electronic portal and companies must submit their claims on their country of establishment’s portal, including all the claims for the other EU Member States. All the claims for foreign VAT must be sent through this portal, regardless of the country in which the VAT was paid. In this way, the Member State of establishment is the bridge between its own businesses and the Member State concerned by the claim.
BE CAREFUL: sending the claim through the portal doesn’t guarantee that the VAT will be refunded.
The portal is only the claim’s means of transmission. The administration of the country of establishment isn’t involved with the refund claim’s treatment in any way. Once transferred, the claim is processed by the tax administration of the country in which the VAT was paid.
The country processing the claim asks for additional information electronically, in its official language. The company will need to reply to the information query in the language of the refunding country within a month, otherwise the claim will be rejected.
Thus, following the procedure attentively is important.
Example:
In 2019, a business established in France has paid VAT in Spain and in Italy. It has not carried out any operations requiring it to get a VAT number in either countries.
In order to obtain a refund of the Spanish and Italian VATs, the French company must, before 30th September 2020, log in to the electronic portal set up by the French tax administration and fill in to refund claim forms: one for Spain and one for Italy. They will be transferred to the Spanish and Italian administrations for treatment.
If the Italian and Spanish tax administrations require additional information (inquiries for extra information are almost systematic when it is the first refund claim submission), they will send their questions to the French company electronically, in Italian and in Spanish respectively.
The French company will have 30 days to reply by email to each of the Spanish and Italian tax administrations, in Spanish and in Italian respectively.
Recovering intra-community VAT while being established in a different EU Member State can be long and complicated for companies.
To determine if you are meeting all the requirements for the refund as per the local regulations, you will need to perform an in-depth analysis of your company’s activity and of all the invoices mentioning the refundable VAT. You may lose all chances to get the VAT refunded if you make a mistake (unless you make an appeal to the local administrative court).
This is why appointing a tax agent is instrumental in the success and completion speed of your refund claim.
ASD Group has 20 years of experience dealing in VAT refund, a network of branches and the capacity to work in all of the EU’s 27 Member States, and a team of specialists well-versed in the local reglementations.
Choosing ASD Group means engaging with a unique partner who will handle for you every step of your refund claim:
01
Audit of taxable operations and analysis of the refundable VAT;
02
Review of the spendings’ justificatives;
03
Preparation and submission of the claim;
04
Monitoring of the claim with the local tax administration and answer to additional questions from the tax administration;
05
Obtention of the refund.
The transformation and digitalisation of tax is becoming more widespread.
So as to be at the forefront of these digital tax issues, ASD has invested in developing platforms for online services, which make managing requirements and exchanges between taxpayers and the tax office much easier.
We support your international development by liaising between your company and local administrations.
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