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Has your business paid VAT in the UK or Netherlands after July 2012?
If your company is doing business anywhere in Europe, you will already be aware that dealing with Value Added Tax (VAT) is pretty much inescapable.
Even if you’re not making sales on the continent and don’t have an office there, you are not necessarily exempt from thinking about this particular indirect tax.
Any company sending hires into Europe to conduct business will be incurring VAT on things like hotel fees and possibly exhibition costs too. Some companies find themselves having to pay import VAT to get goods into Europe for business purposes.
In many cases, this VAT is reclaimable by the overseas company without creating any additional tax nexus in Europe.
What are the deadlines?
There are different deadlines in different countries for these reclaims and advice should be sought from F&L on a country-by-country basis. In the UKor the Netherlands, for example, claims are usually submitted for the 12 months to 30 June and must be filed no later than 6 months after the end of the claim period.
So, for claims in respect of the year to 30 June 2013, US and Canadian companies must prepare and file a refund application no later than 31 December 2013.
If you believe you’re paying VAT in Europe and would like to discuss a reclaim contact the Tax Advisory team.