Irish VAT on exports - can this be recovered

We are a UK based company. We exported goods to Dublin, Ireland. The freight forwarder has charged us VAT on the value of the import. We did not charge our customer any VAT on the sale as this was an export from the UK to Ireland. Can this VAT we have been charged be recovered on our VAT3 Irish return? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

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Hi gail.robertson It is correct that UK VAT is zero rated for export. As the goods have entered Republic of Ireland Irish import VAT will be due. The customs agent will have paid this on your behalf and has then charged it on to you . Presumably this is what was agreed when the agent was engaged. Irish VAT rules on import VAT recovery must then be complied with . If you have an Irish VAT registration you should also consider whether you should charge your customer Irish VAT . The correct VA T treatment will depend on the circumstances of the sale and whose VAT registration number was declared on the import declaration. Your enquiry would therefore be better addressed to the Irish Revenue Service.

Hi Customs oldtimer Thank you for your reply. We do have an Irish VAT registration. Our VAT registration number has been used on the export consignment documentation. The importer has a deferred payment reference with their Irish VAT registration number on the form. Would we be able to charge Irish VAT at 23% on the order even though this is an export from the UK?

Hi,

If you were the importer of record in to Ireland, then technically you would have owned the goods in Ireland which would mean you should have made a taxable supply of the goods to the customer in Ireland. This would then allow you to recover the VAT on your Irish VAT return.

If you were not the importer of record in to Ireland, then you would not normally be able to recover this VAT and you would not have charged VAT on to the customer as you did not own the goods in Ireland.

We are assuming that the import terms agreed that you would pay the import VAT on behalf of the customer but this would not normally allow you to then recover any of the import VAT.

Thank you.