VAT reclaim isn’t for the faint of heart, at least not when you’re trying to navigate reclaim processes on your own. Fortunately, you don’t have to tread water when it comes to VAT recovery. Simply put, VAT reclaim can be complicated, time-consuming and resource-intensive - we get it. Add industry-specific challenges into the mix and it becomes an all-consuming process that frequently yields little to no significant returns.
So, to help ease the administrative burden and maximize your VAT potential, here’s your quick pocket guide to understanding the essentials of VAT reclaim in the consulting industry.
Can consulting firms reclaim VAT?
You’re a business, right? And you’ve got business expenses; some local, some international. In essence, if your business incurs VAT on business-related expenses (local or abroad), you can rightfully recover the VAT portion of your spend. But of course, recovering VAT isn’t just about holding onto receipts and handing the rest over to your finance department. To maximize your VAT potential, you must identify and confirm not only whether your consulting firm can reclaim VAT, but where. With the VAT recovery landscape, there are two main areas where VAT can be recovered; domestic and foreign VAT. Depending on where the expense took place and whether you’re registered for VAT in that country, you’ll use a different type of VAT recovery solution.
Dig beyond surface-level VAT recovery
In a competitive market, no business can afford to leave savings on the table. Even more so, you can’t afford to drain critical resources on VAT processes that only scratch the surface when it comes to recoverable costs. To maximize your VAT potential, it’s important to keep in mind that there are numerous hidden costs that are also eligible for VAT recovery within your industry. For consulting specifically, this can include expenses related to:
- Conferences, events, meetings, and tradeshows
- Hotels & Accommodation
- Restaurants/food
- Taxi fares and other transport services
For more information on business-specific eligible expenses, try our free VAT potential calculator.
Why are consulting industries struggling to recover VAT?
Fair enough, even with a significant reclaim scope, most companies are only recovering a fraction of their VAT potential. Why is this? In short, there are a few common pitfalls that hinder the recovery process, such as:
- Being unaware of your reclaim potential and not identifying eligible expenses
- Finance teams are stretched and can’t accurately review and assess high-volume invoices for compliance and eligibility
- Incorrect invoicing instructions
- Changing legislation across the industry VAT scope
Naturally, as organizations dive into the variety of challenges paired with the VAT reclaim process, it often becomes like opening a can of worms. However, with VAT IT by your side, challenges don’t have to keep you from effortless and compliant VAT recovery. Here’s how.
You don’t have to be a VAT guru to maximize your savings
At VAT IT, we do VAT so you don’t have to. We help elevate your finances so you can focus on literally anything else. We’ve spent decades perfecting the VAT recovery process for our clients in consulting and offer the perfect blend of human expertise with VAT reclaim technology. Switch from resource-intensive processes that don’t bring much to unparalleled account management and spend visibility.
Claimable countries & VAT rates
VAT potential calculator
Invoice compliance checklist