Amazon De VAT paid to UK Vat HMRC

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Hi

We have been trading on amazon.de from 2012 to 2016 and wrongly paid the German VAT and included it to our UK turnover and paid HMRC.

To add the turn over for 2012 was €102.445 and €101,675 for 2013. 

2014 to 2016 was roughy €40,000 each year

Can we claim this back from HMRC as this was a mistake and we need to repay it to German VAT?

We have calculated the german VAT to be roughly £50k and I'm pretty sure we can not reclaim the VAT back from HMRC due to the 4-year limitation.

The concern is that the German VAT office may pursue this and use MARD to reclaim the unpaid VAT for which by mistake was paid to Germany.

If this was pursued under MARD whats the chances of HMRC chasing the debt on behalf of Germany when we already paid it to HMRC?

If HMRC did chase do we have a leg to stand on if we were to legally challenge it?

Bit miffed as we were not aware we had to be registered and literally just over the limit.

Any help appreciated

Replies (3)

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RLI
By lionofludesch
06th Aug 2020 22:24

What's your accountant's view?

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By SXGuy
07th Aug 2020 07:37

By the sound of it, they never had one. Doubt an accountant would have let that happen.

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By projone
07th Aug 2020 08:39

Hi

This is the issue as a chartered accountant did prepare our accounts yearly and to be honest, we were unaware the VAT had to go to DE as we presumed we were under the limit.

We are not trying to avoid german vat but a simple mistake of paying it to HMRC.

We are preparing to claim back 4 years of overpaid VAT and then repay it to Germany.

I'm guessing from 2012 to 2015 we can not claim the VAT back although we will try and fight this as if we don't pay German VAT my guess is it will be classed as MARD and then HMRC with recover the money that we have already paid by mistake.

To add we have never had any issues with VAT in nearly 10 years of trading and we are a bit shocked as not sure how this is going to pan out.

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