CH51860 - Assessing Time Limits: VAT Limitations: Repayment or refund of over-declared output tax
There are a number of situations in which a person who believes they have over-declared or over-paid output tax can claim a credit or repayment. The claim is made under VATA94/S80.
If a person makes such a claim and it is credited or paid when it ought not to have been, you can make an assessment to recover the amount wrongly credited or paid.
From 19 March 2008 you can make an assessment to recover the excess amount within the later of
- two years after the end of the prescribed accounting period in which the incorrect amount was credited, or
- two years after the date on which the evidence of facts sufficient to justify making the assessment comes to your knowledge.
These assessments are made under VATA94/S80(4A).
This means that
- you can make an assessment within two years of the end of the prescribed accounting period in which the claim was paid regardless of whether the facts on which the payment was based have changed
- where the facts on which the claim was paid were wrong, you have two years from the date on which those new facts came to your knowledge to make an assessment to recover it. It does not matter how long ago the incorrect payment was made.
The time limits set out in CH51300 do not apply to these assessments.
Guidance on the time limits applying before 19 March 2008 can be found in the VAT Assessment and Error Correction guidance (VAEC1180).