VBDR1800 - Introduction: Who can claim relief?

Normally, only the person who made the supply can claim relief. However, if a business is transferred as a going concern and the successor business, having completed a VAT 68, takes on the VAT registration of the business who made the supplies, then the successor business can make a claim.

A business which is a member of a VAT group retains the right to claim bad debt relief after it leaves the VAT group. Triad Timber Components Ltd 1993 (VTD 10694) found that the right to bad debt relief rested with the member of the VAT group that made the supply rather than the representative member of group. In this particular case the group member left the group after making the supply but before making a claim for bad debt relief.