Extension of deadline for the submission of EU VAT refund claims

EU Member States have unanimously supported a Commission proposal to extend the deadline for the submission of 2009 Cross-Border VAT refund claims. This is because it has become apparent that the VAT refund portals of a number of other Member States’ have not been functioning properly and as a result many businesses across the EU are in danger of not being able to submit their refund claims. We have supported this proposal, as although the UK (HMRC) VAT refund portal has been operating properly, some UK businesses have either not yet been able to submit their claims to the appropriate Member State of refund, or their claims has not yet been accepted into the other Member States’ portals.

The EU legislation to amend the Directive is expected to be adopted in early October and will apply retrospectively from 1 October. This deadline extension means that claims relating to 2009 will be able to be submitted at any time up to 31 March 2011.