Recovery of value-added tax from other EU Member States

Value-added tax payments made by business owners in EU Member States outside the Netherlands where the business in question does not file its taxes are eligible for recovery upon request from the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration. A minimum of 50 euros applies per tax refund application where the calendar year in question has already ended, against a minimum of 400 euros per application made while the calendar year is still under way. We would point out for the record that although tax payers are liberty to apply for refunds of less than 400 euros in the interim application scenario, it will be up to the EU Member State(s) in question to decide whether or not to entertain the relevant applications.

The deadline for submitting value-added tax refund applications of the kind outlined above has been fixed at the first of October of the year following that to which the application relates. We would point out that tardy applications may be disallowed by the tax authorities. If you wish to apply for a value-added tax refund for 2015, it follows from the above that your application must be in by the first of October 2016. Refund requests are made using the Tax and Customs Administration’s web site, access to which is conditional upon your use of the correct log-on codes. If this is the first tax refund application you have ever made, please bear in mind that according to the Tax and Customs Administration it may take up to four weeks for the log-on codes to be made available to you.

Conditions governing value-added tax refund applications

Business owners have the option of submitting applications for the refund of value-added tax paid in EU Member States other than the Netherlands on condition that:

• the business in question should be based in the Netherlands,
• the business in question should not file its taxes in the EU Member State to which its refund application relates (as it would then have had the option of recovering the value-added tax payment in an input tax context),
• the products and/or services in connection with which the value-added tax was paid had bearing on business operations having liability for value-added tax.

 Non-eligibility for value-added tax refund

None of the following scenarios will confer eligibility to have value-added tax refunded from an EU Member State other than the Netherlands:

• lack of entrepreneurial status in terms of value-added tax,
• all of the business’ operations are value tax-exempted,
• the business has been granted exemption from administrative obligations,
• the business comes under the agricultural regime while failing to comply with the terms and conditions governing the agricultural product refund regulations.

Processing of refund applications

The tax authorities in the (non-Dutch) EU Member State to which the refund application relates will make their decision within a four-month term by issuing a ruling in rejection or (partial or full-fledged) endorsement of the application. Their endorsement of the application will be followed by the business receiving the credit payment in the amount of the refund within no more than ten working days of the date of expiry of the four-month term.

Appendices to application

It is possible depending on the (non-Dutch) EU Member State to which the refund application relates that the application is having to be accompanied by invoices or import documents. The (Dutch) Tax and Customs Administration’s web site contains information on prevailing requirements per EU Member State. In the event that (a) credit note(s) is (are) included in a tax refund application, please make sure that the invoiced amount and the amount in value-added tax are both preceded by a (spaceless) minus sign. Where a particular credit note is associated with an earlier invoice already having been included in a prior refund application, it is essential that it should be included in the very next refund application.

Dutch version: Btw uit andere EU-landen terugvragen