VAT Question
August 26th, 2008 — IrishkidAs I understand it VAT is not an eligible cost that can be reimbursed. So my question is if I am at a project meeting and during the course of the trip I have two meals, one had VAT listed on the invoice so I imagine I cannot claim for that, however for the second meal the VAT is not listed on the receipt how do I handle this, do I have to find out what the VAT is for food in that country?
Thanks
September 2nd, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I suggest you adopt a very practical, pragmatic approach. Where VAT is visible on an invoice, the Commission will not want to reimburse it. Where no VAT is visible, assume that the Commission will reimburse the full amount of the invoice (i.e. if it doesn’t say “VAT”, then there is no VAT).
The Commission’s refusal to reimburse VAT is especially irritating for organisations that are not registered for VAT and hence cannot reclaim VAT through their tax returns.
The Commission’s argument why it does not reimburse VAT is that it is outside of the scope of VAT by virtue of a protocol to the Treaty of Rome. But this is really a non-argument. The protocol simply says that the Commission is outside of the scope of VAT. That is no reason not to reimburse VAT within the Framwork Programme or other EU programmes. It is a voluntary choice by the Commission, not an obligation.