Does my business qualify for a VAT credit refund for a foreign company?

Any company whose business activity is liable for VAT may claim a VAT credit refund.

Regardless of its tax regime, a company liable for VAT may, upon request, obtain a refund of its VAT credit.

Nevertheless, not all companies choose to claim a refund, i.e. the use of the VAT credit is at the discretion of the company, which may opt for:

• Offsetting: the company may decide to offset its VAT credit against future tax periods. The credit is then deducted as soon as possible from VAT to be paid, calculated based on later VAT returns.
• Refund: a company may, for cash-flow reasons, request that part or all of its VAT credit be refunded (providing all the conditions are met). It makes its request when filing the return in which the credit appears.

For more information about claiming a VAT refund, please see the section of the website concerning non-resident professionals.

Please note: only VAT paid on transactions eligible for VAT deductions is used to calculate VAT credits. Thus, no refunds can be made for VAT paid:

• On expenses of a private nature
• For the purposes of transactions not liable for VAT

Updated DINR PRO