What does "You may provisionally claim repayment of VAT" mean

As the title says, what does "You may provisionally claim repayment of VAT" mean? I am a new company and as of the 20th of May I am registered for VAT although not made any sales yet, does it mean I can claim for any purchases I have made for the business?

Hi,

If you have recently registered for VAT then you are entitled to reclaim VAT on purchases which you will use to make taxable supplies even if those supplies have not been made yet. You can also recover VAT on purchases of goods and servives prioer to VAT registration as long as you have the goods on hand on the day of VAT registration. You can see the guidelines here:

Introduction to input tax

Input tax when VAT paid on goods and services received before VAT registration

Thank you.

 

Thank you for your reply, Is it usual for a new business to reclaim so much on a first return? I do worry that due to low sales of services I only have tax to reclaim on expensive equipment for the first return. With regards to all the equipment already purchased is the first return the only time to reclaim VAT for these? Regards

Hi,

It is quite normal for a business to reclaim VAT on the first VAT return due to the expenses incurred while setting up the business. This would need to be reclaimed on the first return. If it is not then the VAT would need to be reported as an error. You can see the guidance here:

Input tax when VAT paid on goods and services received before VAT registration

Correcting VAT errors on a return already submitted

Thank you.