Claiming back VAT paid before registered

[user290922]

I have a UK company and was trading without a VAT number, therefore I was paying VAT on Amazon Fees, eBay Fees, Stock Purchased etc. After registering for VAT, the date of registration was back dated to April. 

Can I claim all the VAT paid since April on my first VAT return?

[Trevor S]

Yes you can, provided that you still have the VAT invoices for those transactions.  You can even claim VAT on some pre-registration purchases.  Generally:
– services up to six months pre-registration and
– any goods still in stock at the date of registration, that were bought up to four years pre-registration.

See: https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/vat-input-tax/vit32000 – it’s a bit technical as it’s part of a manual that HMRC produce for their own staff.

Remember that the backdating means you’ll also need to declare VAT on income from that date – “income” being the sales prices, rather than what’s left after Amazon, eBay, etc. deduct their fees.

[user290922]

Thanks for the advice. Very basic question, but for the stock can I reclaim all the VAT paid now, or do I have to wait for the stock to sell and offset it against the VAT charged to buyer?

[Trevor S]

You can claim it now – in the same way that when you buy new stock now, you’ll reclaim VAT at the time of purchase, rather than waiting until you sell it.

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