C79 Certificate problems

Hi - I'm having issues getting monthly C79's with the correct information. Generally most months have been OK, however in Oct 22 and Mar 23 we were missing entries on our C79's with some entries being correct, we have raised this as an issue with hmrctech@support.tax.service.gov.uk but they have not been able to resolve it yet. We are now £10,000-£20,000 short on VAT that we can't reclaim. This month I am trying to get June's C79's, I have a screenshot of the C79's that were available for download which included Jan -> May but none for June as these aren't released until about the 17th. Today (19th) I've gone onto the account and I've taken another screenshot as it's now saying that no certificates are available at all for months Jan ->Jun, what is going on here? if I cant reclaim June's Vat I will be about £25000 VAT I cant claim for. Am I better off trying to talk to someone or do I just have to wait until HMRC get round to sorting it out? So far I've just been emailing them.

As I am not an HMRC employee I cannot answer why you are having issues with your C79s . I hope HMRC can sort this out. You may be better off for future imports using postponed import vat accounting. This means that you don’t pay and reclaim but instead account for the amounts as both input and output tax on your next VAT return. This is available to all uk VAT registered businesses you just need to instruct your customs agent to use it.

OK Thanks for that - some really good advice. I will speak to the agent. Re the C79 certs the June one has appeared and all of the previous 5 months too. Just awaiting some from Oct 22 and Mar 23 that were missing off the C79's. Thanks for the advice.... J

i didn’t mention it in my earlier post but you also need to download statements for PVA so you know what amounts you need to put on your VAT return . As you know how to download C79s you shouldn’t find this too difficult. At least this way you are not out of pocket waiting for the reclaim.

Hi,

The C79 is automatically produced based on the figures put in to the import declaration so if the C79 is incorrect then weI would recommend contacting the shipping agent to make a post import ammendment with us.

However you should continue to liaise with the team who you are emailing.

If you cannot access the C79 you can still look at reclaimg the VAT as input tax with other evidence from the shipping agent to show that this import has been made and the VAT has been paid.

We would expect a company to have the C79 in their records eventually, however, in the event that a visiting officer or the compliance team requests this but you can still look at recovering the VAT while you are resolving the issue.

Thank you.

Many thanks for that information. Very helpful.

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