Prepared by Francesco Pizzo and Paolo Cuzzocrea
The Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union has introduced a shorter deadline for the submission of the VAT refund claims through electronic portal (see articles 38-bis1 and 38-bis2 of the Presidential Decree no. 633/1972) in respect to the one ordinarily provided by the EU Directive no. 2008/9.
Indeed, article 15 of the above-mentioned Directive states that, as general rule, the refund claims related to the VAT paid must be submitted by September 30 of the year following the reporting period (this deadline is mandatory).
Article 51, paragraph 3, of the Agreement introduces a different deadline, stating that the refund claims related to the VAT paid, in a EU Member state, by a taxable person established in UK, or paid in UK by a taxable person established in a EU Member state, have to be submitted within March 31, 2021.
On this point, the guideline of the EU Commission dated April 16, 2020, “Withdrawal of the United Kingdom and EU rules in the field of VAT for goods” confirms that, according to the Withdrawal Agreement, a taxable person established in the EU or in UK will still have to use the electronic portal, set up by his State of establishment, to submit the refund claim of the VAT paid, respectively in the UK or in an EU Member State, before the end of the transition period (i.e. 31 December 2020). This request, however, must be submitted by 31 March 2021.
This new deadline will require, in particular, Italian companies to be ready, in the first months of 2021, with all the necessary documentation to transmit electronically the refund claims in order not to run the risk of lose the right to reimbursement of VAT paid in UK during 2020.
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PwC TLS Avvocati e Commercialisti
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