Revenue and Customs Brief 15 (2021): Repayment of VAT to overseas businesses not established in the EU and not registered in the UK
Published 23 December 2021
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Purpose of this brief
This brief explains the outcome of the review of the policy outlined in Revenue and Customs Brief 10 (2021) issued in July 2021.
This allows overseas (non-EU established) businesses to claim VAT refunds where they have been experiencing difficulties in getting a certificate of status, where the delay is due to the official authority dealing with a rare and exceptional one-off event, for example a global pandemic.
Who needs to read this
You should read this brief if you are:
- a non-EU business
- an agent acting on behalf of a non-EU business
- a body or association representing the interests of businesses and advisers in relation to international VAT
Background
Overseas businesses who incur VAT in the UK for their business purpose can reclaim the VAT using the overseas VAT refund scheme. To get VAT refunds businesses need to submit their application for refunds together with the certificate of status by the deadline of 31 December 2021.
We are aware that businesses, or their agents and advisers have experienced difficulties in getting the required certificate of status from their official issuing authorities due to measures taken in response to coronavirus (COVID-19).
In 2019, a similar issue occurred in the United States during the Federal Government shutdown, resulting in certificates not being issued on time. In these rare and exceptional circumstances, overseas businesses may not get a certificate of status in time for the relevant deadline.
Next steps
HMRC has agreed that we will allow overseas businesses more time to submit a valid certificate of status in specific exceptional circumstances, caused by a one-off, unavoidable event, for example a:
- global pandemic
- national epidemic
- national emergency
- government shutdown
Businesses must apply for the certificate and send it to HMRC before the relevant deadline. Where certificates are not received on time, because of delays caused by an exceptional event in which the official authority cannot issue a certificate in good time, we will accept late certificates.
The certificate must be supplied within a reasonable time after it was issued, usually within 30 days. Businesses may need to give evidence of the delay, and that they requested the certificate within a reasonable time. Such evidence may include information from the official authority’s website.
Businesses must still submit all other documents of the claim by the relevant deadline. We will not make any payments until we get a valid certificate of status to confirm any claims.
This policy replaces the easement in Revenue and Customs Brief 10 (2021). Any outstanding certificates delayed due to COVID-19, for the period 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020 must be supplied to HMRC within 30 days of the business receiving the delayed certificate.
Refunds of UK VAT for non-UK businesses or EU VAT for UK businesses (VAT Notice 723A) has been updated to reflect this change.
More information
Contact the UK VAT Overseas Repayment Unit if you have a query about an application you have sent to them.