The Commission safeguards taxpayer's right to VAT refunds

The Commission has adopted a proposal to postpone the deadline for the submission of cross border VAT refund requests related to VAT claims in the year 2009. In view of the late implementation by Member States of the new VAT refund procedure, which came into force on 1st January 2010, the Commission proposes giving more time to taxpayers to make claim requests.

The VAT Refund Directive, which came into force on 1st January 2010 allows for the refund of VAT on business expenses incurred by taxable persons in a Member State in which they are not established. It introduced an electronic system by which the taxable person submits his application for a refund via a web portal designed by the Member State in which he is established.

Some Member States have been slow in launching their web portals, while others had (and still have) a number of technical problems in getting the claim portals to work correctly. As a result, many taxable persons have not been able to submit their refund applications.

Because of these delays and to safeguard the taxpayers’ right to deduct VAT, the deadline for submission of refund requests for 2009 expenses will be postponed from September 2010 to March 2011. This is still subject to all Member States approval.