Looking to increase your profits & cut your costs, then make sure you are getting the maximum VAT recovery on the costs you incur on your business costs in the EU.

Sounds simple doesn’t it, yet you’ll be surprised at just how many businesses fail to take advantage of this opportunity, meaning they are losing out to some substantial sums of money.

Understandably, with the rules for recovery being complex, many businesses shy away from looking at this as a legitimate way of getting money back from the taxman, fearing that it will take up more of their time than it is worth. Knowing which rules apply in different countries is not easy, but for a basic guide of what you can recovery VAT on click here

However, use a specialist recovery service to manage the process on your behalf and not only will you ensure that the whole process is handled for you, but their expert knowledge will ensure you recovery absolutely all the EU VAT you are entitled to; a pain free solution, at no extra cost to your business!

And the good news doesn’t end there, if you are an EU VAT registered business, then the deadline for recovering any of the EU VAT you incurred on the eligible business activities in 2009 has been extended to 31 March 2011, so there is still time for your business to maximise on the rules and profit from an extra net cash boost, but you must act quickly!

Can you really afford not to recover foreign VAT on these terms?

- What VAT can my business reclaim?

- How do I get the VAT refunded from the authorities back to my business?

- What documentation does my company need to provide to support a claim?

- How long will it take before the money is back in my company’s bank account?

- Does my company need to be registered for VAT in the country where it incurred the VAT?

These are just some of the questions we get asked from clients every day here at GVR, and, it’s not surprising that more and more businesses are paying more international VAT than they need to simply because they do not know that they were entitled to
recover this VAT, before they’ve even considered how to go about getting the money back.

This is where the expert advice of companies like GVR really comes into play. Understanding and keeping up with the frequently changing complex rules can be a really expensive challenge for a business, so leaving it to a specialist recovery company, especially one who operates on a no-win, no-fee basis, is a very cost-effective way of dealing with the issue.

The benefits of expert advice really do speak for themselves:

- no stone will be left unturned so that your company gets back the maximum amount of VAT it is entitled to

- because the refund process is handled for you, the impact on your companies resources is minimal

- your business will get the best planning advice in order to minimise the impact of VAT on future international business activities.

For further information on international VAT recovery and to get more expert advice just click on the “Home” button at the top of this page.

We look forward to hearing from you!

1. Make sure your team collect as many invoices as possible saving you time in having to go back through your accounting records.

2. Be Compliant – credit card vouchers will NOT be accepted by the tax authorities, so make sure everybody keeps their original receipts for hotel expenses, meals, communications, vehicle hire, fuel

3. Maximise recovery – remember that almost everything you do or pay for whilst attending or exhibiting an event will carry VAT, with the exception of entertainment and car purchases. All the VAT on these costs can be reclaimed so make sure you get receipts for everything to that you can claim back the VAT on everything you are entitled to.

4. Improve cashflow – don’t wait for the claim deadlines to submit your reclaim for VAT.  There is no limit to the amount of reclaims you can make in a calendar year so you can submit claims on a timely basis, after each event for example, to help maintain your businesses’ cashflow.

5. Did you know claims can be backdated within the previous calendar year?
For example, if you are a non-EU company and you attended, exhibited or organised an event in 2009, you have until 31st December 2010 to make a claim to get the VAT back on these costs. If you are an EU company and you incurred such costs in 2009 you have until the 31st March 2011 to make a claim to get the VAT back.

6. If you are a conference or exhibition venue, make VAT recovery a value-added service  to your overseas customers and enhance their experience with you and show you are sensative to their financial needs!

7. Take advantage of the VAT laws -if you are entertaining your overseas customers, the European Court of Justice have said that they will now allow for the VAT paid out on business entertainment to be reclaimed, dependent on the circumstances of the overseas customers and the types of expenditure.

8. Recoving VAT is a great way to get a better ROI on an event whether you are an organiser, exhibitor or delegate – you stand to reduce the business costs by up to 25% (dependent on the country the event is in).

9. With Finance Director’s scrutinising budget’s show how you can make savings on next year’s event budget. Don’t forget to factor in VAT recovery it could reduce the budget spend by anything between an additional 15% to 25%!

10. Alternatively, use VAT recovery to give you greater flexibility within your existing budget. If you reclaim the VAT you’ve already incurred this year on events, then suddenly you will have given yourself an extra 15% to 25% to spend!

To find out more about recovering your VAT, get in touch with Nick Aitken http://www.globalvatrecovery.com/contact.html who will help with every step of the recovery process.

HMRC have announced changes in the tax treatment of business entertainment of overseas customers. They will now allow for the VAT paid out on business entertainment to be reclaimed, dependent on the circumstances of the overseas customers and the types of expenditure.

The recovery of the VAT on the entertainment costs is also subject to the business being able to meet two tests: a necessity test and a strict business purpose test. If the tests are not met then any vat recovery is subject to an equal output VAT payment as a private use charge. The tests are designed to ensure that the entertainment is only to enable the smooth running of the business, i.e. food provision at business meetings, and that the element of private benefit is incidental to the provision of the underlying services or goods by the business i.e. paying for transportation to enable attendance at remote sites.

Providing both these criteria are met, then businesses will now have the opportunity to claim back any VAT that has been incurred on the costs of entertaining overseas business customers. Recovery will also be subject to the normal four year cap rules, and the usual evidence will be required to support any Input Tax claim.

We would, of course, be happy to provide advice if you or your business would like to make a claim.

One of the key ways your business can keep it’s momentum going in today’s difficult marketplace, whatever your industry,  is to maintain your competitive edge and look for cost-effective opportunities. Its all about shifting your  focus from driving your supplier costs down to creating greater flexibility within your existing budgets. If you’ve not taken a look at foreign VAT recovery before, then read on and you will see that it does just that.

Getting a refund on the foreign VAT you incur on foreign business costs such as travel, exhibitions, conferences & professional services is your opportunity to get your money back from the taxman using the various tax refund schemes available that would otherwise be accounted for as a cost to your business. The extra cash you get from your VAT refund will allow greater flexibility with your price structures giving you the edge over your competitors, particularly with more price sensitive customers, plus you will still be able to offer your new and existing clients the same levels of high service!

Outsourcing the job of obtaining your VAT refunds will also help you keep your businesses costs down. Not only do we have the right tools to do the job more effectively, but you’ll be able to focus your businesses resources on your core activities.

There are tough choices out there at the moment about which services you, as a business purchase, but if your company is regularly incurring foreign VAT which is eligible to be claimed back, then going into partnership with us is an ideal choice –  you really will see a rapid ROI.

Further reading:

Who can claim back VAT?
What can be reclaimed?
Start Recovering your VAT

Better Profitability – One of the mistakes many companies make is that by failing to recover the foreign VAT you have incurred on your overseas business activities, you are simply paying too much for these activities. There are literally billions of pounds in lost revenue that could be in the bank accounts of many companies who work on an international level.

As a reminder, businesses who are a UK or EU VAT registered business or individual incurring VAT within the EU; a non-EU registered entity or individual incurring VAT within the EU;  incur expenses for a business purpose and  are VAT registered in the country that your business is established are eligible to get a refund of the VAT incurred on costs such as:

Exhibitions, Conferences & Seminars – Attendance, facilitating or sponsoring an event

EU Business Property purchases – VAT paid in purchasing a property, all renovation, refurbishment and professional fees are 100% recoverable if the property is “opted to tax”

Reclaiming overpaid VAT, a refund on your costs, cashback! Whichever way you look at it the global VAT refund mechanisms available really are your opportunity to get money back in your bank account and increase your profits… it really will improve your bottom line!

Many of the international businesses we met with at the show weren’t aware that they were entitled to recover the UK VAT charge on the costs they were incurring from either exhibiting or attending the show or what and how they could get this money back.

With orders at this year’s event down by around 47%, and trade visitors down by 8%, not even this event could avoid the given economic climate, so getting the VAT back on the costs incurred at the event either as an exhibitor or trade visitor, is an obvious way to make savings and enhance the profitability of the orders taken.

Here’s a couple of examples of what we’ve saved some of the companies who exhibited at this year’s show:

Case Study 1:

An American corporation have saved £173,000 on the cost of their stand and about to save a further £13,000 on costs incurred during the show.

Case Study 2:

A smaller South American company will save  £8500 on the cost of their show, simply by reclaiming the VAT they have incurred on their show costs.

Find out more about one of the biggest tricks in the book click here

Save time – make sure your team collect as many invoices as possible to save having to go back through accounting records;

Be compliant – credit card vouchers are NOT acceptable. The tax authorities handling your claim will only accept original receipts to authorise the refund

Maximise recovery – remember that almost everything you do or pay for whilst exhibiting or attending an event will carry VAT. With the exception  of entertainment and car purchases ALL THE VAT ON THESE COSTS CAN BE RECLAIMED so make sure you get receipts for everything your are entitled to get the VAT back on.

Follow these tips and you’re VAT reclaim can be submitted without delay, and ultimately the money back in your bank account a lot quicker!

To find out more about getting a refund of VAT click here