Claiming back VAT on EU purchases

[natural1988]

I started trading just under a year ago and have recently registered for VAT backdated back to the beginning of our financial year - a major expense each month for my business is web hosting which is paid to an Irish company.

I understand that from here on they will not charge us VAT as we have provided an EU (UK) VAT number.

However, I have a lot of invoices from them from prior months (after my VAT registration which was backdated) where they (correctly) charged us IE VAT - can I now claim that IE VAT back on my UK VAT return or is it "lost"?

HMRC website (shock horror!) appears to give conflicting answers - for example, one page (cannot post links! HMRC - What you can and can't reclaim VAT on) says:

You cannot reclaim VAT on items that you have bought from suppliers in other European Union (EU) states. You may be able to claim the VAT back from the relevant VAT body in those states.

and then another page (HMRC - UK businesses visiting other EU countries - getting VAT refunds) says:

If you buy goods or services for your business in other countries in the European Union (EU), you may have to pay VAT on them. You may be able to reclaim the VAT you paid in the other EU country if you're VAT-registered in the UK, and bought the goods or services to use in your business.

Confused! Can I claim this back and, if so, is it via the normal form and process or is it a seperate process?

Thanks

 

[StevensOnln1]

You can only reclaim UK VAT from HMRC. You could try asking your hosting provider to zero rate the sales since the date you became VAT registered and refund the Irish VAT you have paid them.

 

[lesvatadvice]

VAT does not work well when you have made a previous mistake!
I would be inclined to use the VAT Refund scheme (http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channels...tyType=document&id=HMCE_PROD1_029943#P42_2914) and see whether the Irish VAT authorities will repay you.

 

[YrHenOgledd]

You need to register with HMRC for EU VAT refunds. Once you've done that, you can use their portal to reclaim the Irish VAT from the Irish Revenue.

I've recently done this to get VAT back from another EU state (Austria) and it can be a pain, but it does work. Eventually .