Application VAT refund foreign VAT from 2019 should be made before 1 October

04/09/20

If you received invoices with VAT from other European Member States in 2019, you can reclaim this VAT via the portal of the Dutch Tax Authorities. Your 2019 refund request should be submitted to the Dutch Tax Authorities before 1 October 2020. This is only possible digitally via your personal page on the web portal of the Tax Authorities, different from the web portal for filing tax and VAT returns. If you do not have an access code for this portal yet, immediate action is required.

Submitting refund digitally

Entrepreneurs who have received invoices with VAT from another EU country can reclaim this VAT if the conditions set are met. The refund request can be made via the dedicated website of the Dutch Tax Authorities. The request for the year 2019 must be submitted before 1 October 2020.

The refund request can only be submitted via your personal page on the web portal of the tax authorities. You need an access code for this. If you wish to apply for a refund and do not yet have such an access code, we advise you to request it immediately in order to be able to submit the refund request in time since it typically takes a couple of weeks for the codes to be received.

Conditions for refund request

The foreign VAT paid by you is eligible for refund if you meet the following conditions:

Your company is based in the Netherlands,
You are not liable for output VAT in the EU country where you are entitled to claim the relevant local input VAT, and
You use the goods and services to which the VAT invoices relate for VAT-taxable business activities.

In order for your request to be eligible for a refund, there are de minimis thresholds:

EUR 50 when a request is filed for a calendar year or the remaining part of a calendar year;
EUR 400 when a request is filed for a period of at least three months, but less than one calendar year.

Brexit

In case you need to reclaim VAT for the year 2020 in the UK, it is recommendable to file the VAT refund request by Thursday 31 December 2020 at the latest. Notwithstanding the fact that VAT refund portals on both sides should be available until 31 March 2021 for UK companies and UK VAT reclaims, we recommend against waiting until that deadline for 2020 UK VAT reclaims, also since the methodology for reclaiming UK VAT by non-established non-registered traders is still unclear.