New guidance has recently been published by HMRC about the issue of a certificate of status of a taxable person, otherwise known as a VAT66.

These forms were once commonplace for UK businesses who incurred VAT while in the EU and wished to make a reclaim of VAT incurred in the EU. The advent of an online portal for these claims meant they were no longer necessary.

Now that the UK is no longer in the EU and cannot use the online portal, these claims must be submitted (using paper forms) individually to each EU tax authority. EU countries can have slight variations on how these claims are processed e.g. requirement for a fiscal representative and most will require a certificate of status to prove that someone is ‘in business’.

How to request a certificate

You can request a certificate by sending an email to HMRC, vat66@hmrc.gov.uk.

If you’re a business

Write ‘VAT certificate of status request’ in the subject line of your email, and give the following information in the body of the email:

• the name of the business
• the VAT registration number of the business
• the VAT-registered business address
• your name and role in the business
• your contact telephone number
• the country (or countries) where the VAT refund claim is being made
• the number of certificates you need
• if the certificate should be sent to you by post or by email

Provided there is an agent authorisation in place, we can do this on behalf of any client.

The certificate can be sent by e-mail but only if there is an agreement to the use of e-mail in place.

Access the Agreement to email form here.

If HMRC can verify your business status they will email or post the certificate to the VAT-registered address of your business – or the business address of your agent – within 15 working days of receiving your application.

Where HMRC are aware that a country requires a wet stamped certificate, they will continue to issue these by post regardless of whether consent has been granted to correspond by email. The information above is also available here.

If you have any questions surrounding anything covered in this article, click here to contact our VAT team.