Paying UK VAT and claiming it back
When buying stuff from the UK you often don’t have to pay VAT if you provide your Irish VAT number but last week we had to pay a bill that included UK VAT and we had to pay it. So after a bit of heading scratching and asking around (with no definite answer) I asked Frank Wharton what to do and this is what he replied.
“You are entitled to claim the UK VAT charged by making an EU eight directive reclaim. In order to get the claim form you need to contact the HM Customs & excise”
So I did a little digging around about this EU 8th directive and found this document that gives all the addresses, minimum amount you can reclaim and all the contact details for all the countries involved.
So I fired off an email to the UK office (enq.oru.ni [At] hmce.gsi.gov.uk) and got a response which basically said to go here . The webpage in summary says things have changed from the 1st of January and the 8th Directive is being replaced and now is called the European Union Refund Scheme (a much catchier name) and everything is being done electronically.
The electronic cross-border refund system enables a business that incurs VAT on expenditure in a Member State where it is not established and makes no supplies, to recover that VAT directly from that Member State (the Member State of Refund). The previous system, known as the 8th VAT Directive refund system, was a lengthy, burdensome, paper-based system.
Following agreement between EU Finance Ministers, EU legislation to reform the system was adopted in February 2008, as part of the VAT package of legislation. The electronic system will apply to all claims submitted on or after 1/1/2010.
Requests for refunds will continue to be dealt with by the Member State of Refund. The amount refundable will also continue to be determined under the deduction rules of the Member State of Refund and the relevant repayment will be made directly by that Member State to the business. The system will be an electronic one, with specified timescales and interest payable if these are not met.
Interesting enough it goes on to say in paragraph 4.1
How do I submit my application?
You must submit your application through the electronic facility provided by the tax authority in your own Member State. For more information about this facility, you should contact your own tax authority.
i.e. contact revenue.ie !
I noticed that ros.ie now has a box for VAT from other countries. 
We are doing our VAT returns in 2 months.. when it’s processed I’ll update the post. In the mean time here is a link to the revenues INTRASTAT (yes another catchy name for the same thing!) and a hefty pdf document with guidelines.
Wasted pretty much half a day on this. Hope this posts saves some one time and effort!
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