Brexit - VAT refund claim
Impact of Brexit on VAT refund claims
What changes regarding the claim for British VAT refund submitted by Belgian enterprises?
At the moment, a Belgian enterprise must submit its claim for British VAT refund by electronic means via the Belgian portal Intervat, application VAT Refund. After a check of the compulsory data, this claim is afterwards transmitted by electronic means to the competent administration/tax service in the United Kingdom, which finally informs the applicant of its decision by electronic means.
However, this procedure expires on 1 April 2021.
This means that a claim for refund of British VAT related to transactions carried out during the period from 1 January 2020 till 31 December 2020 (included), can still be submitted via Intervat - VAT Refund at the latest until 31 March 2021 (*).
Every claim for refund of the British VAT related to transactions carried out as from 1 January 2021 will no longer be covered by the European legislation. The conditions and the procedures to observe in order to obtain this refund will be solely of the competence of the British tax administration.
More information regarding these formalities.
(*) See, however, the special status of Northern Ireland.
What changes regarding the claim for Belgian VAT refund by taxable persons established in the United Kingdom?
Only the claim for Belgian VAT refund related to transactions carried out during the period from 1 January 2020 till 31 December 2020 included which are submitted on 31 March 2021 at the latest via the British VAT Refund application will be processed by the Belgian tax administration according to the actual VAT Refund procedure (VAT Directive 2008/9/EC) (*).
Each claim, filed by a British taxable person, for refund of the Belgian VAT related to transactions carried out as from 1 January 2021, will have to be submitted pursuant to the conditions for taxable persons established outside the European Union (13th Directive).
(*) See, however, the special status of Northern Ireland.