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Where Taxpayers and Advisers Meet

Help please, how to claim VAT refund for a non VAT registered person

aiyu
Posts:13
Joined:Thu Mar 09, 2017 9:12 pm
Help please, how to claim VAT refund for a non VAT registered person

Postby aiyu » Fri Feb 01, 2019 6:03 pm

I would very much appreciate on how to claim back a VAT from HMRC, for non delivery of goods and services. I am not a VAT registered and do not own any business.
A VAT registered construction limited company took a deposit from me £13k including the VAT and never carried out any work. The company was put into liquidation a few days before the scheduled build date. There were about 80 other victims. According to the liquidator that showed the list of creditors, this company owed HMRC no tax/VAT. Does it mean that he has paid the VAT on all the deposits taken? If so, how can I reclaim the VAT back from HMRC? 20% of £13,000 is £2,600.

I have phoned the HMRC VAT dept and received no acknowledgement, I have recently written to HMRC VAT Written Enquiries Team but have not heard back. Any suggestion please?
Thank you.

bd6759
Posts:4262
Joined:Sat Feb 01, 2014 3:26 pm

Re: Help please, how to claim VAT refund for a non VAT registered person

Postby bd6759 » Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:02 pm

Your claim is against the company. You cannot reclaim VAT from HMRC.

darthblingbling
Posts:698
Joined:Wed Aug 02, 2017 9:09 pm

Re: Help please, how to claim VAT refund for a non VAT registered person

Postby darthblingbling » Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:04 pm

Think its more you'd need to claim back the full amount paid on the invoice from the liquidator.

Basically given your circumstances you cannot claim back the vat from HMRC

Trevor S
Posts:108
Joined:Tue Jan 01, 2019 12:37 am

Re: Help please, how to claim VAT refund for a non VAT registered person

Postby Trevor S » Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:16 pm

Unfortunately I with the previous replies - HMRC are not required to directly refund VAT to a company's creditors.

It seems odd to me that a company with cashflow issues would be that up to date on their tax payments. Are you sure that they were even VAT registered - or might they have just claimed to be VAT registered in order to justify charging an extra 20%? If you were given paperwork quoting a VAT registration number, you can check it on the EU website to see if the number is valid - see http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/ I appreciate that its too late for you in this current case, but it is a useful check that I suspect isn't generally known by those not regularly involved with VAT.

AdamS93
Posts:268
Joined:Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:28 pm

Re: Help please, how to claim VAT refund for a non VAT registered person

Postby AdamS93 » Sat Feb 02, 2019 12:38 pm

Very unfortunate circumstances!

Keep in contact with the liquidator. They should act in the best interest of the creditors. I'm no insolvency practitioner but I believe there are special rules around deposits upon liquidation.

You want to find out where all the money has gone (i.e. have the director's issued illegal dividends to the shareholders) and whether the director's were involved in wrongful trading. If so, the veil of incorporation can be lifted. If they know the company was going under, they should've never taken your deposit off you.

As for VAT, you can't get it back from HMRC unfortunately. Your contract was with the building company.

kingmaker
Posts:8
Joined:Tue Feb 11, 2014 3:14 am

Re: Help please, how to claim VAT refund for a non VAT registered person

Postby kingmaker » Mon Feb 11, 2019 7:31 pm

worth looking at this case - where HMRC was required to refund to the creditor and not the company in liquidation. The facts are different though to yours.
https://www.monckton.com/high-court-holds-that-hmrc-should-not-refund-vat-to-insolvent-company-where-its-customer-bore-the-vat-burden/
I'm looking for VAT advisory work & subcontracting work from accountants


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