In the E.U. businesses can reclaim the VAT amounts they pay when make purchases(acquisitions) of goods and services for their business or if they import goods from outside the E.U. or if they incur a business expense when traveling for business purposes. VAT paid by a business on a purchase is called Input VAT, so we will use this term in this article as well in the other related articles.


Import VAT is the VAT a business pays when they are import goods from outside the E.U. borders, this is taxable depending on the country you are registered and you are importing goods to. For example if you are registered in UK and you are importing goods there, then the UK 20% VAT rate will be applied. 


Every country has its own rules and regulations on what, how much and when VAT can be reclaimed, read more about the countries specific regulations:



For all countries you can always consult the E.U.'s website regarding VAT reclaims


NOTE: You must be VAT registered to be able to reclaim VAT


To reclaim the VAT you’ve paid on your business expenditure, you need a valid VAT invoice for the expense. This needs to include:

  • Supplier’s name and address
  • Supplier’s invoice number
  • Supplier’s VAT ID number
  • Details of the product or service supplied
  • Total cost excluding VAT
  • Amount of VAT charged
  • Your VAT ID number
  • Your business name and address


To upload use the Manual Order Upload function in the hellotax application to upload your data in the reports so this can be added to your returns.