Guidance

EU VAT refunds — service availability and issues

Updated 13 January 2023

Service availability

Full service available.

Sign in to EU VAT refunds online.

Planned downtime

None.

Service issues

Submitting EU VAT Refund claims

We are aware of an issue that is preventing some customers from submitting EU VAT Refund claims. We are working to fix the issue.

VAT refund claim issues not being accepted by the EU VAT Refund system has been resolved

The following EU member states can now accept VAT refund claims for 2021 expenses made using the EU VAT Refund system:

• The Republic of Ireland
• Austria
• Belgium
• Italy
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Poland

If you have already had a 2021 claim rejected by any of the listed member states, you can now resubmit the claim.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

Claims to Ireland

Ireland have told HMRC that they require scanned documentation when claims are submitted, or they’ll be automatically rejected. A 5 megabyte (MB) limit is in place, so you should attach the highest value VAT invoices first. If they need sight of any additional invoices or other documents, they’ll contact you to ask for them.

Refunding VAT on diesel fuel purchased in Ireland

All EU VAT refund claims submitted to Ireland for buying diesel fuel must list the:

• fuel supplier’s name
• VAT number
• invoice number associated with the purchase

If requested, you must give original copies of the invoices listed in the claim to the Irish Customs and Taxes administration.

Claims where the fuel card provider is recorded incorrectly as the fuel supplier, will not be processed.

Simplified invoices will only be accepted for amounts less than 100 euros. It’s important you choose the correct invoice category when submitting a claim. Where ‘simplified’ is selected in the ‘invoice’ field, and the total amount of that individual invoice is greater than 100 euros, that invoice will be refused.

International Bank Account Number (IBAN)

The IBAN in an EU VAT refund claim has to be for a country that is a member of the EU. Any claim that has an IBAN for a non-EU country will be rejected by the refunding member state.

The first 2 letters of the IBAN indicate the country the account relates to. You can view a list of EU countries and their country codes on the European Commission website.

Switzerland (country code CH) is not a member of the EU, so an IBAN beginning with CH is not acceptable.

Currency of EU VAT refund claims

All invoices entered on EU VAT refund claims must be expressed in the currency of the member state of refund, or the claim will be rejected by that member state. If your claim is to a member state where the euro is not the national currency, and you have invoices that are in euros, you must convert the amounts into the national currency of the member state concerned.

If your invoice does not show a value in the national currency (as well as in euros) you should use the exchange rate on the date of the invoice, as provided by the European Central Bank (ECB).

Any claims that are rejected by a member state for using the wrong currency, must be amended and resubmitted before the yearly deadline of 30 September, or they may not be accepted by the member state.

Group registrations — claims to Germany

To help process claims faster and reduce the number of queries, Germany has told HMRC they’d prefer businesses in group registrations to submit separate EU VAT refund claims for each member of the group.

The UK system will allow multiple claims for any given period.

To make sure this process operates correctly, the German authorities also asked that applicants attach a scan of documentation, detailing the members of the VAT group, with each application.

Whilst groups do not need to follow this process, doing so should facilitate the handling of their claims by the German authorities.

VAT refund claims to Spain

HMRC has been told that Spanish legislation only allows for claims that cover a full calendar quarter (January to March, April to June, July to September or October to December) or a full calendar year. You must make sure that any claims to Spain meet this requirement, otherwise the claims will be refused by the Spanish authorities.

In addition, the UK portal will not allow the claim period to include dates prior to registration or after the date of de-registration.

The Spanish authorities have said that they’ll accept a ‘calendar year’ claim that does not cover a full calendar year, as long as you attach a scanned copy of your VAT 4 Certificate of Registration and explain that you’re unable to put January 2019 as the start of the 12 month period, because you registered after that date. For example, if you registered on 16 July 2019, you should make a claim for period July 2019 to December 2019 and attach a copy of your VAT 4 Certificate of Registration.

If you de-registered before the end of the ‘calendar year’ you should attach a scanned copy of the letter you got from HMRC confirming when you were de-registered, and a letter explaining you’re unable to put 31 December as the end of the 12 month period, because you de-registered before that date. For example, if you de-registered 20 October 2019, you should make a claim for period January 2019 to October 2019 and attach the additional information.

VAT refund claims to Denmark

The VAT EU refunds service allows you to enter a bank account name of up to 70 characters. However, due to a problem with Denmark’s system, they’ll not accept claims where the name is longer than 35 characters.

You must not enter a bank account name containing more than 35 characters when completing a claim to Denmark, as they’ll not accept it.

Isle of Man customers enrolling for the VAT EU refunds service

If you’re an Isle of Man customer, it can take 5 days to enrol for the VAT EU refunds service.

To enrol for the service, you’ll need information contained on your last VAT return and your VAT4 (Certificate of Registration). The information you enter will be verified against data held on the HMRC VAT database.

Unfortunately, for Isle of Man traders, not all of this information is held by HMRC. If you’re registered in the Isle of Man, you’ll first have to contact the Isle of Man Customs and Excise and tell them you wish to sign up for the VAT EU refunds service. They’ll give written confirmation of the details you’ll need to input when signing up.

Claims to Luxembourg

Luxembourg have told HMRC they do not require any scanned documentation when claims are submitted. Do not attach any documents to claims to Luxembourg. If they need to see any invoices or other documents, they’ll contact you to ask for them.

Other issues

If you need help with anything not listed here, contact the Online Services helpdesk.

Other services

Check availability and issues for other services.