They are demanding that a UK training company now sets up an Irish bank account. The company has no office or address in Ireland, but runs courses there and is therefore liable to VAT, and has been registered for a number of years.
I can't see how this can be done with all the money-laundering checks. To make things even more complicated, the directors of the UK company all live in the US.
This may be a problem in other countries soon as the company is planning to put on courses in Slovakia & Holland in the near future.
Any thoughts?
Replies (8)
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Not a legal position, but just a pointer...
Since the imposition creates a barrier to entry and ongoing operations of non-Irish EU-based companies delivering services in the Republic of Ireland, this would appear to violate Article 56 of the European Union.
This is presuming that they are preventing you paying your Irish VAT from a Euro bank account held within the EU, but outside the Republic of Ireland.
If I were in your position, I would ask the Irish VAT office what basis they have for creating such a barrier to foreign competition in violation of Article 56 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union of which the Republic of Ireland is a signatory.
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2010:083:0047:0200:en:PDF
As far as I know - there is no requirement to have an Irish Bank Account - if you supply your IBAN and BIC codes, they can pay into a foreign bank account.
I am wondering why you are receiving VAT refunds? The vast bulk of training courses in ROI are vat exempt but maybe you fall into the few that are not?
Not a problem
I have a client in an Irish VAT reclaim position, but without an Irish bank account. The Irish Authorities were insisting on an Irish bank account, but when I explained the situation, they were fine and made repayments by cheque.
not found to be an issue
The same client makes bi-monthly payments of VAT by bank transfer. I have another client in the US, which also makes payments by this method, but from the US. You should find this will be accommodated.
This wont be a problem - simply file the return via ROS - ticking the box to 'file return only' - then transfer the payment electronically - quoting the VAT number