When submit VAT claim

[Streetfield]

Question - what qualifies a self build as 'complete' from a VAT claim perspective? Thinking in relation to moving in but still doing VAT claimable build activities. Hence when does the build qualify as completed?

[andyscotland]

This is quite a complex topic. Completion is not formally defined in VAT law and so there are various different things that can trigger "completion", including moving in.

 

HMRC obviously have history of trying to pick the earliest possible "completion date" to minimise the size of their payout, but these have sometimes been challenged & defeated at tribunals. But it often depends on the very specific combination of factors (e.g. what was left to do when you moved in / are those things fundamental planning/building compliance things or just minor stuff etc).

 

Several of those cases have been talked about here over the years - I would recommend searching/browsing through the threads in this subforum and ideally reading the linked tribunal judgments to get a sense of the ways different cases have gone and how they might apply to you.

 

Very loosely, I would say avoid being in a situation where you've moved in and would in theory be eligible for a building control completion certificate but just haven't yet applied for it. But that really is a rough answer, and probably only good enough if you don't have much to pay for after move-in, so losing the VAT would just be an annoyance. If the amount at stake is important, it really is worth getting a full understanding of the history of VAT completion arguments (and potentially professional advice).

[jack]

1 hour ago, Streetfield said:

Question - what qualifies a self build as 'complete' from a VAT claim perspective? Thinking in relation to moving in but still doing VAT claimable build activities. Hence when does the build qualify as completed?

 

There's a sub-forum that's only visible when you have a certain number of posts - 10 I think it is - that has a lot of threads dealing with this issue:

 

 

Until you have the required number of posts, here are a few in the current sub-forum that will give you some more detail about this issue:

 

 

[ToughButterCup]

2 hours ago, Streetfield said:

...Hence when does the build qualify as completed?

 

Here's the answer

Its also given on VAT431NB in the notes. paragraph 7 if I remember

[Streetfield]

Thanks I'll take a look👍

[Drellingore]

The HMRC VAT Construction Manual has some guidance on this topic. It's used by HMRC staff.

[dpmiller]

^ you mean it's *often ignored* by HMRC staff

[jack]

30 minutes ago, dpmiller said:

^ you mean it's *often ignored* by HMRC staff

 

Yup.

 

They happily cite bits of cases that suit them and ignore many similar cases that say the opposite.

 

Some interesting comments in this thread about how HMRC policy and behaviour has changed over time. For example, this was the written guidance on the form in 2011 and previously in 1996:

 

There is no equivalent language in the current notes, suggesting that HMRC has intentionally changed its policy to make it harder for self-builders to claim.

[ToughButterCup]

56 minutes ago, dpmiller said:

^ you mean it's *often ignored* by HMRC staff

 

I'm not so sure it's ignored: I think some staff members are not as well informed or pay as much attention to detail as they could. And so, when there's a challenge by an articulate 'customer' , more senior HMRC staff get involved - often those staff members then react in Defense Mode.

In my application , all the correct words were written in the correct order: there for all to see. The person reading the application simply didn't read the words. The person at HMRC who took my Helpline  phonecall saw straight away what the issue was - and understood the implication: I had a valid claim.

 

But it was not her job to approve the claim; that was her colleague's job. So she defended the indefensible. It reminded me of my professional role as a lecturer - marking a sloppily written undergrad essay.

 

"I tried really hard - why have I failed this essay?" 

"Because your answer bears no relation to the essay title given."

 

The overal effect is exactly as @jack says - a mess.

Edited February 23, 2023 by ToughButterCup