Anyone claiming back the VAT on Royal Mail / Parcelforce?

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groovyjon

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Jun 12, 2008
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  • #1
    "Any business with individually negotiated arrangements with the Royal Mail covering mailing services (including Parcelforce) could be in line for the VAT pay-back but those involved in large scale mailings will have most to gain. This opportunity has arisen as HMRC confirmed on 31 March that it will consider claims from certain Royal Mail users."

    Anyone putting in a claim for this? We spend about 3k a month on Royal Mail and Parcelforce, so I'd quite like all that VAT back! Not sure what they mean by "certain Royal Mail users" though.

    See links below for more info...

    http://www.expense-reduction.co.uk/2010/04/royal-mail-users-may-be-able-to-reclaim-vat/

    http://www.retail-week.com/in-busin...can-we-do-it-too/5013717.article?referrer=RSS
     
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    groovyjon

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    Jun 12, 2008
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  • #4
    Niggle - my accountant put a claim in on my behalf, but we haven't heard anything back yet, they're not exactly rushing to process it!

    Dingbat - it is just on individually negotiated contracts. Apparently the EU ruled that the prices charged should have been VAT inclusive, not VAT exempt. Stamps bought at post office etc are still zero rated.
     
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    allsquare

  • #5
    Excuse my possible blonde-ness but if we have negotiated rates with ParcelForce for delivery, then our invoices from them should have been VAT inclusive and as such we can claim back the VAT content on them - is this right :|

    Also, we use Royal Mail's postal services, where we negotiated a per parcel rate for Special Delivery items as we used the Saturday Guaranteed option, so I guess these invoices should be VAT inclusive too?

    I've read all I can find on the www but really unsure about the whole thing.
     
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    groovyjon

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    Jun 12, 2008
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  • #6
    Yes that's right. RM and PF had always worked on the basis that their charges were zero-rated, and as such all invoices showed zero VAT. But then the EU ruled that if they were individually negotiated then they should have been charging VAT. So that means any invoices you paid were actually inclusive of VAT and you can claim back all that VAT going back 4 years.
     
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    sysops

    sysops

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    Feb 1, 2007
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  • #7
    groovyjon said:
    Yes that's right. RM and PF had always worked on the basis that their charges were zero-rated, and as such all invoices showed zero VAT. But then the EU ruled that if they were individually negotiated then they should have been charging VAT. So that means any invoices you paid were actually inclusive of VAT and you can claim back all that VAT going back 4 years.
    Click to expand...

    Wow, really? Have you done this? If so, how?
     
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    groovyjon

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    Jun 12, 2008
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  • #8
    I have, although I'm still waiting to hear the result. But my accountant filled in some HMRC form (not sure which one sorry) to make the claim.

    I'm surprised no-one commented on this thread when I originally posted it back in June!
     
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    JamieM

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    Mar 22, 2006
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  • #14
    allthingsgifts said:
    Hi
    We have an account with Royal Mail and use PPI, does that count? but we have the normal rates that are advertised on there website for sending 5000 parcels or so a year.
    Thanks
    Lianne
    Click to expand...

    I'm pretty sure it doesn't. Alhough it is a contract with Royal Mail, Packetpost mail is set to remain VAT exempt. There is further info on services that will become subject to VAT (and remain exempt) here:

    http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=400147&mediaId=118600981

    I guess if you have a contract for any service that will become subject to VAT you may have a case but it doesn't look like it for Packetpost I'm afraid.
     
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    davemel

    Free Member
    Apr 2, 2012
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  • #16
    Has anyone got anywhere with this. I submitted a claim for over £19,000 over 2 years ago to which I got no reply, so I phoned them up last month to be told that they hadn't received my claim. They asked me to re-submit the claim which I did, I then received the following reply in response to my claim:
    "It is HMRC's understanding that Parcelforce's contract terms explicitly provide that charges made for supplies of postal services are exclusive of VAT and that any VAT, if due, is to be paid on top of the prices quoted in the contract. In such cases, HMRC do not consider that customers can have valid claims that sums charged to them in the past by Parcelforce for supplies of postal services included VAT."
    ​
    I was wondering if they are just "trying it on" and trying to get me to back down.
     
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