Do I have to pay my supplier backdated VAT (11 months worth)?

Hi, my business is VAT registered, and a supplier has just informed me that they should have been VAT registered 11 months ago. They now want to re-submit their invoices to me "adding" VAT. I estimate this to be 100 invoices (no.), to a total value of £70k Net. Am I able to refuse to accept re-submitted invoices? This would cause me a lot of work to re-process and I can't afford to pay them the VAT to then wait to reclaim it on my next VAT Return. If anyone can advise, I would be grateful.

In situations like this, it is a matter of contract law - does your contract with the supplier allow them to invoice you for VAT later on or is the topic of VAT entirely silent in the contracts? Can the supplier sue you for breach of contract is what I'm saying. On a more practical level, the supplier does not need to issue 100's of invoices, they can issue one single VAT only invoice for £70k, the invoice can list all the invoices it relates to in the description (invoices 1, 2, 3, etc) so that both you and the supplier have an audit trail as to what this VAT only invoice relates to. Whether you should pay is another argument. If you are a fully taxable business (can reclaim all your VAT and you are not partially exempt), then you could help your supplier out by accepting the VAT only invoice. You would stipulate to the supplier that you will pay the VAT only invoice at the point where you have successfully reclaimed it from HMRC on your VAT return. ...certainly do not pay the invoice first and be out of pocket until you reclaim it. HMRC may query your VAT return if there is a large refund, so the refund may take a bit longer to come to you, once you receive it from HMRC then you can pay over to the supplier. Supplier will just have to suffer the cost of VAT for a quarter, the alternative for them is that you refuse to pay the VAT only invoice and the supplier is on the hook for £70k...the supplier may go out of business and/or your relationship with them may change. These sort of situations are best resolved with communication with the supplier so as to avoid legal or financial battles.

Thank you for your response. There is no reference to VAT in the contract. I will propose that he submits one VAT invoice and tell him that once I have received the refund from HMRC I will pay him.

Hi.
There would be no legal requirement to pay the VAT on these invoices as VAT should have been charged at the time of the supply.
However if you decide to pay the VAT then you would still be able to recover the VAT as input tax subject to the conditions in the link below:
Introduction to input tax
Thankyou.