EU or Overseas VAT on Purchases
Academies often purchase goods, such as computers and IT equipment, from overseas suppliers.
Typical items purchased may include leased computers – one common supplier is HP in Ireland – and various items purchased directly from suppliers listed on the Amazon platform. These suppliers could be based in any country, including France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
It is very important to identify any invoice that contains non-UK VAT. This is often apparent where the VAT charge is at not the standard UK rate of 20%, however, the correct test is to ensure the invoice has a UK VAT Registration number quoted and that the supplier lists a UK address for their business.
The price charged by overseas suppliers may include non-UK VAT and/or local sales taxes (GST, etc.).
Recovery of this overseas tax is not straight forward.
What can be Reclaimed?
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