New deadline for EU VAT refund claims

The deadline for the submission of 2009 cross-border VAT refund claims has been extended by six months, following unanimous support by EU member states.

The move comes in response to EC proposal to allow more time, after become apparent that the VAT refund portals of a number of member states had not been functioning correctly. As a result, many businesses across the EU were in danger of not being able to submit their claims before the 1 October cut-off point.

While the UK VAT refund portal has suffered no problems, HMRC backed the EC proposal because some of the country’s firms have either not yet been able to submit their claims to the appropriate member state of refund, or their claims have not yet been accepted into the other nation’s portals.

The amended EU legislation – described by Baker Tilly's head of tax, George Bull, as 'very welcome' – is expected to be adopted early next month and will apply retrospectively from 1 October. The deadline extension means claims relating to 2009 will be able to be submitted at any time up to 31 March 2011.

Issue: 4278 / Categories: News , EC , EU , VAT