VAT refund to Latvian Legal Persons in other Member States of the European Union

VAT refund in another Member State can be claimed by a VAT taxpayer registered in Latvia who is not engaged in business that must be registered in the other Member State, for the Value Added Tax which has been charged on goods acquired in that Member State, services supplied and goods imported with the purpose of carrying out his own taxable transactions.

• no more than one calendary year and not less than three calendary months;
• less than three calendary months if they are the last months of the calendary year.

The refund application must be submitted to the State Revenue Service not later than by 30th of September of the calendary year following the refunding period.

The procedure of submitting of the VAT refund application:

• to submit VAT refund application addressed to another Member State, the Latvian taxpayer must be registered as EDS user;
• in order to fill in the refund application form, the EDS user in the document group "Outgoing Documents for VAT Refund in the European Union" chooses the document "VAT refund application" and enters data in accordance with the criteria indicated by the EDS;
• after filling in the document must be signed in accordance with the general requirements of the EDS;
• the VAT refund application can be submitted on behalf of the Latvian taxpayer also by an authorised person who can be a taxpayer registered in the Republic of Latvia or a taxpayer registered in another Member State or his representative in the Republic of Latvia.

1. Data of the applicant (name, address, e-mail).
2. If application is submitted by authorised person: data of the authorised person (name, address, e-mail).
3. Description of business activities of the applicant in the form offered by EDS (free form or NACE2 codes) as demanded by the refunding Member State (it will be possible to indicate in the application the NACE2 codes of the applicant as declared to the SRS).
4. Refunding period indicated in the refund application.
5. Bank account (indicating the owner of the account, BIC code, IBAN account number and currency of the account).
6. A certification that the applicant in the refunding period has not done business in the Member State of the refund.
7. Number and date of the invoice or importation supporting document (invoice number is optional in case if simplified invoice is submitted):
   • the name of the goods supplier or service provider, address, VAT registration number;
   • number and date of invoice or importation supporting document (invoice number is optional in case if simplified invoice is submitted);
   • taxable amount and VAT amount in the currency of refunding Member State;
   • part of the tax amount claimed for refund expressed in percentage (if proportion has been calculated to define the deductible part of the tax amount);
   • part of the tax amount claimed for refund expressed in the currency of the refunding Member State;
   • type of goods/services in accordance with the codes indicated by the EDS;
   • subcodes of goods/services in accordance with Commission Regulation 79/2012 of 31st of January 2012 if demanded by the refunding Member State.
8. A copy of electronic invoice or importation document if demanded by the refunding Member State in case if:
   • taxable value of transaction indicated in the tax invoice or importation document is equal to or exceeds 1000 Euro (or equal amount in the currency of the refunding Member State);
   • if tax invoice refers to fuel and the taxable value of the transaction is equal to or exceeds 250 Euro (or equal amount in the currency of the refunding Member State). 

After the submitting of the refund application to the EDS (i.e. sending to the other Member State) the taxpayer can make corrections in the submitted documents:

• if corrections have been made in the deductible part of tax amount, the taxable person makes the correction in the refund application during the calendary year following the respective period of refund or in case if the taxable person does not file a refund claim in that calendary year - by submitting to the EDS a separate document "Correction of the deductible part of Value Added Tax";
• if other corrections must be made, the taxable person submits to the EDS an adjustment of the refund application.

The Latvian taxpayer receives information on the receipt of the VAT refund application in the other Member State, about the decision taken and about the need for additional information.

There are two ways of communication between the tax administration of the other Member state and Latvian taxpayers:

• directly with the taxpayer;
• through the State Revenue Service (i.e. by using the VAT Refund System).
   

More detailed information about filling in and filing VAT refund applications  in the EDS  and other related documents is available in Latvian in EDS User’s Manual vol. 29 of  on "Processing of VAT refund applications and decisions"^[1] of the SRS Internet website.

If the tax administration of the other Member State communicates directly to the Latvian taxpayer, the information can be received by e-mail indicated in the application or by registered mail.

If the tax administration of the other Member State is communicating to the Latvian taxpayer through the SRS, then the Latvian taxpayer will receive the receipt acknowledgement and the decision in the EDS.

In case Latvian taxpayer has questions concerning process of examination of VAT refund application submitted by Latvian taxpayer and decision making, Latvian taxpayer should contact tax administration of the Member State of refund. Contact information of the  tax administrations of other EU Member States is available at the website of European Commission.

In case if you have technical problems in the EDS (Electronic Declaration system) to complete VAT refund application and other documents related to VAT refund to Latvian taxpayers in other EU Member States, please send your questions to the following e-mail address: VID.konsultanti [at] vid.gov.lv or call: + 371 67120000.

Ireland (IE) as a Member State of refund (MSREF) want to reiterate its business processing rules for VAT refunds for Diesel purchased in IE as follows:

1. With effect from 1st of January 2015, all EVR claims for 2014 onwards submitted to IE for diesel fuel purchases must list the fuel supplier's name, VAT Number and the invoice No associated with the purchase. The original copies of the invoices listed in the claim should be provided to the Irish Customs and Taxes administration when requested. Any EVR claims where the fuel card provider is recorded incorrectly as the fuel supplier will not be processed.
2. With effect from 1 January 2015, simplified invoices will only be accepted for amounts less than €100. It is important to ensure the correct invoice category is chosen when submitting EVR claims. Where 'simplified' is selected in the 'Invoice' field and the total amount of that individual invoice is greater than €100, than invoice will be refused.