Vat rules, for Businesses- Rep of Ireland to UK?

[derryman]

If a business in the UK buy supplies from a business in Rep of Ireland- does the UK business just supply their VAT number to get the goods VAT free?

What is the procedure for the Rep of Ireland Business when selling to the UK business?

If the UK company does get goods VAT free, does the Rep of Ireland company claim this back from tits government, and do they have to let the revenue know of this?

[terambulan]

The seller charges the VAT (if they are VAT registered).

The purchaser claims the VAT expense from the Inland Rev.

[moomintroll1]

Terambulan's answer is incorrect - different rules apply to intra-EU trade.

As you have stated, the UK business provides its VAT number to the Irish business. They won't charge Irish VAT on the goods, and the UK business gets an invoice with 0% VAT.

This is allowed only between two EU VAT-registered businesses.

For cross-border trade, the supplier does not charge VAT on the goods, so long as they satisfy certain rules (such as obtaining the purchaser's VAT number and retaining proof that the goods were delivered to another EU country). They may, however, have to complete Intrastat returns which provide details of such exports, if they exceed a certain level.

Since the Irish company does not declare VAT on its supply, there is no VAT for it to reclaim from its government. There is a space on UK VAT returns to note down the value of imports from and exports to other EU countries. I suspect the same is true of RoI VAT paperwork.