VAT - And buying from OcUk

Associate
Joined
16 Jan 2009
Posts
199
Location
Dublin, Ireland
Hey guys, i've been wondering for a while whats the situation with making purchases with OcUk and paying the vat involved in purchases, i make small purchases here and there for my old mans business, but i've realized that its starting to add up in vat he ought not to pay, considering his business has an Irish vat No.

The standard procedure in Ireland is to pay the Vat to the Irish business and then claim back a full quarters worth of Vat when paying your own Vat to the state, thus deducting it from what you Owe the state.

He's never tried claim english vat in this way, after all its going into the coffers of the english government not ours, and the tax-return form doesnt ask for specifics, its basic, how much do you owe, how much are you claiming, do a subtraction voila ! pay us the balance, there is no where on it to say oh Btw request X.XX vat from this country, or that country etc etc,

So where to external businesses stand? Should they ask not to be charged vat and forward on the Vat number to OcUk ? or do they need to have an English vat number to claim in any such way at all ?

Thanks for any useful info you can shed on this issue
 
I have just found this on the Irish Revenue website , does OcUk fall under catagory 2 ? http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vat/leaflets/foreign-suppliers.html ...

In section 2.2 it mentions "engage in distance selling of goods to a person who is not a taxable person in the State" , that means im not English , so they ought not to charge me english vat rates, but must themselves register for an Irish Vat number, so they can pay our state Vat taken, for sales to citizens of Ireland/any country i guess has a similar ruling... Any ideas ?
 
You'd probably be best either emailing OcUK or even posting in their customer queries section, you'd be getting better answers there than you will in the GD section, friend ;)
 
We have an Irish VAT number which will be printed on the bottom of your invoice as we are Irish registered. I believe you will need to claim it back afterwards as you would if you were buying in Ireland for example.
 
Yes thats what i thought , thanks 5UB, okay, i have our invoices attached to my profile, But i wonder is there a statute of limitations on claiming back vat, i've discovered it amounts to 500 euro over the past 2 years, thats a fairly large chunk of change.

Thanks again, i will see if there are quarterly limitations and report back here for the sake of those interested.
 
To be honest with you I have never claimed VAT back myself and not 100% how the process works, I am sure there is someone here who does know though.
 
My dads an accountant as well as business manager, that form as i said is basic, keep your reciepts on vat deductible items in a ledger, if the tax man visits he will take the ledger and audit your tax paid, but other than that you are free to put any number you like for the tax deductible on your tax return form,

5ub i have just read the Vat guide chapter 10 that deals with businesses and payments, linked from the irish revenue site as i was browsing, the statute of limitations is 4 years on all tax deductible purchases, So im good to go except since i have been his liaison so to speak for all technical related purchases i dont have copies of all the invoices anymore, 5ub do you know if they are stored OcUk side for my customer account, because i cant print out full invoices from my side of the User profile page, i can just view the orders.
 
As an EU member state you should submit your company VAT number to OcUK who are then allowed to zero rate the VAT on your invoice. You then have to account for the VAT on your Ireland VAT return. It is usually known as the reverse charge mechanism.

This is how it should work but I don't know what OcUK do.

To reclaim the VAT you have paid to OcUK in the past you will need to speak to HMRC in the UK.

Edit: Apologies I didn't realise OcUK were registered for VAT in Ireland so the above does not apply. Sorry!
 
Last edited:
We cannot remove the VAT on Irish orders due to having an Irish VAT number, if we were not registered in Ireland then you would be able to have it removed before placing the order, however in this case it is not possible, it would have to be claimed afterwards just like you would when buying from Ireland.
 
Sorry to jump your thread, but there are obviously VAT/ HMRC experts on here. Does anybody know if this is this ruling the same for SBA (Sovereign Base Areas) in Cyprus?
 
I believe the idea behind VAT is that upon purchase and import the VAT paid would be the same as if the object was purchased from within your VAT region.

In your case wouldn't any VAT paid to HMRC be reclaimed on export and input VAT at the Irish rate added to your import. If you are then operating a business this input VAT would either be waived or alternatively recovered when submitting your return.
 
When you get the VAT invoice from OcUK with the 21.5% or 13% or whatever it is, just reclaim it through your VAT return. Assuming your old man's business actually is registered for VAT ;).

Even if they ended up charging UK VAT, which they wouldn't, EC firms can reclaim VAT from another EC state online, subject to stuff like - you be required to register to UK VAT, make taxable supplies to the UK, etc..
 
Sorry to jump your thread, but there are obviously VAT/ HMRC experts on here. Does anybody know if this is this ruling the same for SBA (Sovereign Base Areas) in Cyprus?

British forces serving overseas?

I think there's a certificate you can get although in the past a simple letter from the CO has sufficed - basically proof you are serving overseas.

Give Sales a call / webnote, they've done it before so know the details.
 
Give OcUK your Irish VAT number and they won't charge you VAT, well they shouldn't do anyway.

This applies to all inter EU transactions.
 
Give OcUK your Irish VAT number and they won't charge you VAT, well they shouldn't do anyway.

This applies to all inter EU transactions.

Sorry, but you are wrong.

If you are transacting above a certain volume you will be required to register for VAT in the member state.
 
Back
Top Bottom