How do you prepare yourself well for information requests?

In addition to the importance of being informed of the response times of information requests as a company requesting foreign VAT refund, it is also important to know Why- and how to respond to the information requests.

In addition to the importance of being informed as a company that requests a refund of VAT abroad about the response times of information requests, it is also important to know why- and how to respond to the information requests.

Why do foreign tax authorities send information requests? The is always present in case of a large refund. In order to prevent fraud, the foreign authorities send information requests when they do not trust the application, when large amounts are involved and the risk is high, but also simply sample. This sample was empirically established on approx. 10%. This means that despite the fact that your application is complete, you may face information requests sooner or later.

The most common means of communication used by Member States are: by letter (written) or e-mail. So it is crucial to have a Having ordered system where the chance of overlooking such an information request is nil. The foreign tax authorities unfortunately take no pleasure with: "Sorry, we have overlooked the information request.

Instructions on how to react are often described in the letter/email itself. If the instructions are not described, you are generally expected to enter The same language and communication response as the information request. Information requests are almost always made in the native language. A general control of the language in which you make a refund request is therefore required.

What are the information requests about? Unless there is a specific reason for an information request, it is often a request for the delivery of copies of invoices, proof of submission and purchase or proof of payment. It's on time Save locally of these documents is crucial to prevent you from having these documents available in time when an information request comes in. For example, certain tank card suppliers only allow downloading the invoices until one month after the invoice is issued.

Within what period should I respond to the information requests? The previous article specifically describes the deadline for responding to delay or total rejection of the VAT refund application for each European country. Most countries apply a time limit of 30 days. Then there are also outliers like Spain that only have 10 working days.

In the EU Council Directive 2008/9/EC Article 20 (1) and (2) states that where the Member State of refund considers that it has not received all the relevant information to enable it to take a decision on the whole or part of the refund application, it may, within the 4 months referred to in Article 19 (2), request additional information by electronic means, in particular, from the applicant or the Member State of establishment. In paragraph 2, maximum period of 1 month to be provided to the Member State of refund upon receipt of the request for information by the recipient of the request.

In practice, it appears that many Member States apply these deadlines strictly and respond too late to information requests is punished by an irrevocable rejection. Overall, to proceed in an orderly fashion is crucial. This is keeping a close eye on your mail and mail traffic, keeping track of documents required, being aware of how to react and monitoring deadlines on which to do so.