Foreign countries fail to refund VAT
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chris.tindall@roadtransport.com UK-BASED INTERNATIONAL hauliers say thousands of pounds worth of VAT refunds owed to them by foreign countries are still being paid late, more than a year after the system went online.
However, they also say the payment process has improved since last summer, when chaos sparked by the move from a paper-based system was blamed for the closure of at least two haulage irms.
Peter Harding Freight International boss Peter Harding says: “I have just been paid from France for the third quarter of 2010 and the same with Belgium, but they are still six months behind what they should be.” “If you do all international work like we do it’s a pretty big part of your costs. Last year alone my trucks spent £48,000 on road tolls.” Jenny Pierce at Leighton Buzzard-based SJ Pierce says she has recently received hundreds of thousands of pounds in VAT returns for most of 2010, but she adds: “There’s no rhyme or reason to it, so it’s really hard to budget. My French VAT return is €60,000 (£52,778) a quarter. When you are owed €180,000 (£158,346), it really does knock the stufing out of your cash low.” Last year, the International Road Transport Union (IRU) said the electronic refund system was threatening to bankrupt haulage operators.
IRU head of social and EU iscal affairs Damian Viccars tells CM it will be discussing the matter with the European Commission: “Just because there’s been a reduction in the number of complaints, it doesn’t mean that the remaining problems should be left unresolved.”