VAT refunds to companies in third countries - Basics
Under certain circumstances, foreign businesses who acquire goods or services in Germany for their businesses may obtain a refund of the VAT invoiced to them through the input tax refund procedure in accordance with § 18, paragraph 9 of the [German] VAT Act (UStG) and §§ 59 - 61a of the VAT Implementation Order (UStDV).
Responsibility
The Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) is responsible for this in accordance with § 5, paragraph 1 no. 8 of the Tax Administration Act. (FVG).
Eligible applicants
A refund of deductible input tax to businesses domiciled abroad in accordance with §15 UStG may take place if the entrepreneur:
- has not made any sales in Germany within the meaning of § 1, paragraph 1, nos. 1 and 5 UStG or has only made tax-exempt sales within the meaning of § 4, paragraph 3 UStG;
- has only made sales for which tax is due from the recipient of the service (§13b UStG) or which were subject to individual taxation on transport (§16, paragraph 5 and §18, paragraph 5 UStG);
- has only made intra-Community acquisitions and subsequent deliveries in Germany within the meaning of § 25b paragraph 2 UStG, or
- has only made sales in Germany as a tax debtor within the meaning of §3a, paragraph 5 UStG and has exercised the option under § 18, paragraph 4c UStG, or has declared said sales and paid the tax due thereon in another Member State
in the refund period.
Formalities
Under § 61a, paragraph 1 UStDV, forms are used for the application process. For more information, please see VAT refunds to companies in third countries - Procedures.
Deadlines
The application for a VAT refund must be received by the Federal Central Tax Office within six months of the end of the calendar year in which the entitlement to a refund arose (§ 61a Abs. 2 UStDV). This is an absolute deadline which cannot be extended.
The completed application for a refund of VAT and all its enclosures must be sent to:
Bundeszentralamt für Steuern
Dienstsitz Schwedt
Passower Chaussee 3b
16303 Schwedt/Oder
Deutschland
Conditions for a refund
- The application must be signed by the foreign entrepreneur in his or her own hand.
- The refund period must be at least three months, but no longer than one calendar year, at the entrepreneur's discretion. The refund period may be less than three months if it covers the remainder of a calendar year.
- The VAT refund must be at least € 1,000, unless the refund period is the calendar year or the last period of the calendar year. The refund for these refund periods must be at least € 500.
- Original invoices and certification from the state in which the entrepreneur is domiciled (an original certificate of entrepreneurial status) must be enclosed with the application. The certificate of entrepreneurial status will be valid for one year with effect from the date of issue and must subsequently be renewed.
Information on Bank Details
Under Regulation (EC) No. 1781/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council and under EPC Resolution 092/05, new requirements apply for cross-border credit transfers within Europe.
As from 01.01.2007, EPC Resolution 092/05 entitles credit institutions in the EU and the EEA to return payments if BIC and IBAN are not stated.
On applications for turnover tax refunds, the IBAN and BIC of the bank branch where the account is kept must therefore be given under Item 7 with immediate effect.
Note:
If the above details are missing, there may be some considerable delay in transferring any refunds assessed.
Sources of Law
Note
The Federal Central Tax Office accepts no responsibility for the completeness and correctness of the statutory provisions provided here. The editorial staff makes every effort to incorporate changes in the law as quickly as possible. However, since it takes time to update the information, particularly in the case of major changes, no guarantee can be made that the statutory provisions provided reflect the current legal situation at any one time.
The same applies to the content of pages that have not been created by the Federal Central Tax Office, but to which links are provided.
Only the versions published in the relevant official journal (usually the Federal Law Gazette or the Federal Bulletin) are authoritative.
Questions
For questions please contact the following e-mail address:
vorsteuerverguetung@steuerliches-info-center.de
Send your request without any personal data such as PIN, secret levels or certificates to prevent misuse of this data.