June 19Jun 19 I know there have been a few of these but I thought I would add our VAT reclaim journey to the mix. We moved in on 23rd February 2026. We received our BC completion certificate yesterday (18th june) following a painless final inspection. I reviewed our spreadsheet of project VAT invoices today: By comparing it with the spend spreadsheet I'd kept to manage the budget, I found an additional £1800 of VAT I could reclaim - not sure how I missed those before. Some of the paper invoice copies I had, proved to be no such thing - rather, sales orders or pro-forma invoices. A few calls and emails managed to secure real VAT invoices. 161 invoices in total, totallying £20.9k VAT to claim Plenty of company names on invoices didn't match the official HMRC company names for specific VAT registration numbers. For instance: Screwfix is really Kingfisher and Toolstation is really Travis Perkins (with the same VAT reg no.). I am not sure how much of an issue that is but I corrected them anyway. We had maintained a spreadsheet in the HMRC template format so populating their template was a simple cut and paste. I used the online HRMC form to submit the claim, guided by Google Gemini. I know AI gets a bad rap but I really like Gemini. I guess we'll see if my trust is misplaced. Some points about the online submission. There seem to be some trick questions, e.g: When did you occupy the property? Gemini advises making sure it ties in with what the Council know because HMRC can check (really?) But in our case that means three invoices since 23rd February could be discounted. I changed the spreadsheet description for these entries to make it clear we had to do this work to pass BC. We'll see whether HMRC allow those. How many kitchens or utility rooms do you have? In our case 1 of each. Gemini advise entering 1 kitchen, 1 utility room but you can only put in a number, so I entered 1 (as in 1 kitchen or 1 utility room. The risk in entering a number >1 is that HMRC assume it's a multi-residency project and will reject. I received an email confirmation of my submission straight away, will keep you posted on progress or issues. Edited June 19Jun 19 by Benpointer typos
June 21Jun 21 On 19/06/2026 at 21:34, Benpointer said: We had maintained a spreadsheet in the HMRC template format so populating their template was a simple cut and paste. This looks like really good advice for someone like me who is at the start of their self-build. Sorry to be a pain, but I have googled and read a lot of HMRC's pages and I can't find this anywhere. Do you have a link to the template please?
June 21Jun 21 On 19/06/2026 at 21:34, Benpointer said: 161 invoices in total, totallying £20.9k VAT to claim Can I ask what this is as a rough percentage of total spend? I've put VAT reclaim into my figures at 5% of the total cost. I know it's 20% but I've reckoned on being able to claim back on around a quarter of expenditure. Does this seem about right?
June 21Jun 21 Author 10 hours ago, Square Feet said: This looks like really good advice for someone like me who is at the start of their self-build. Sorry to be a pain, but I have googled and read a lot of HMRC's pages and I can't find this anywhere. Do you have a link to the template please? Hi Square Feet, Here's an empty copy of the spreadsheet I created. VAT invoices template.xlsx It's based on the format of Table A from the reclaim form https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65858474fc07f300128d46e8/VAT431NB.pdf The total VAT we're reclaiming is quite a small %age of our total spend because most of the spend was on zero-rated build and install work where the contractors supplied the materials. The big ticket items of groundworks, timber fram, windows, zinc roof, solar PV and electrics, were all in this category. Our main materials spend items were timber cladding, floor tiles, kitchen units, doors, lighting, insulation, plus lots of timber and fixings. How much you will be claiming back depends on how much you put through contractors and how much materials you buy yourself. Hope that helps. Ben
June 21Jun 21 @Benpointer Nice one thanks for the spreasheet info. Yes, I've read the whole of the VAT reclaim thread but was just wondering if my 'back of an envelope' figure was roughly within range. I get that it's oranges and apples though. Cheers
June 21Jun 21 Author Depending on the amount you buy direct, 5% of total cost sounds reasonable to me. 👍
June 22Jun 22 1 hour ago, BotusBuild said: Mine is/will be about 10% Ours too, but as suggested above depends how you buy. We have sourced the majority of things.
June 23Jun 23 Author 19 hours ago, BotusBuild said: Mine is/will be about 10% (or second hand Aston Martin sized) 🤣 Wow, that must have been a big build! Aston Martin DB5 estimated to fetch almost £500,000 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn00d30gw7xo Edited June 23Jun 23 by Benpointer
June 23Jun 23 On 19/06/2026 at 21:34, Benpointer said: When did you occupy the property? Doesn’t matter really, at least in England. We declared occupation over a year before completion. We also claimed for expenditure after completion (allowable decoration and landscaping etc.) On 19/06/2026 at 21:34, Benpointer said: How many kitchens or utility rooms do you have? Again doesn’t matter as long as it is an individual dwelling, it’s the planning permission which meets the criteria not the number of rooms.
June 27Jun 27 On 23/06/2026 at 08:17, Bonner said: Doesn’t matter really, at least in England. We declared occupation over a year before completion. We also claimed for expenditure after completion (allowable decoration and landscaping etc.) Again doesn’t matter as long as it is an individual dwelling, it’s the planning permission which meets the criteria not the number of rooms. I'm On 19/06/2026 at 21:34, Benpointer said: I know there have been a few of these but I thought I would add our VAT reclaim journey to the mix. We moved in on 23rd February 2026. We received our BC completion certificate yesterday (18th june) following a painless final inspection. I reviewed our spreadsheet of project VAT invoices today: By comparing it with the spend spreadsheet I'd kept to manage the budget, I found an additional £1800 of VAT I could reclaim - not sure how I missed those before. Some of the paper invoice copies I had, proved to be no such thing - rather, sales orders or pro-forma invoices. A few calls and emails managed to secure real VAT invoices. 161 invoices in total, totallying £20.9k VAT to claim Plenty of company names on invoices didn't match the official HMRC company names for specific VAT registration numbers. For instance: Screwfix is really Kingfisher and Toolstation is really Travis Perkins (with the same VAT reg no.). I am not sure how much of an issue that is but I corrected them anyway. We had maintained a spreadsheet in the HMRC template format so populating their template was a simple cut and paste. I used the online HRMC form to submit the claim, guided by Google Gemini. I know AI gets a bad rap but I really like Gemini. I guess we'll see if my trust is misplaced. Some points about the online submission. There seem to be some trick questions, e.g: When did you occupy the property? Gemini advises making sure it ties in with what the Council know because HMRC can check (really?) But in our case that means three invoices since 23rd February could be discounted. I changed the spreadsheet description for these entries to make it clear we had to do this work to pass BC. We'll see whether HMRC allow those. How many kitchens or utility rooms do you have? In our case 1 of each. Gemini advise entering 1 kitchen, 1 utility room but you can only put in a number, so I entered 1 (as in 1 kitchen or 1 utility room. The risk in entering a number >1 is that HMRC assume it's a multi-residency project and will reject. I received an email confirmation of my submission straight away, will keep you posted on progress or issues. I used Claude to help with mine. Had ~600 invoices/receipts and so many companies seem to make it difficult to just know the proper company name and VAT number. I got Claude to research the proper names and associated VAT numbers and put them in the spreadsheet. Still waiting for a response from HMRC so will see how it goes. Not sure about your last point - the house needs a kitchen to habitable, so the number must be at least 1 on that alone. If they're asking about utility rooms in the same question, then it seems logical that the answer would be 2 if you have one as well. I took the question as them trying to gauge what the realistic spend for your build would be. Submitting a 200k reclaim on a 500sqft house with a small kitchen seems far more irregular than on a 10,000sqft house with main kitchen, chefs kitchen, annex kitchen etc.
June 28Jun 28 Author On 27/06/2026 at 12:49, miike said: I'm I used Claude to help with mine. Had ~600 invoices/receipts and so many companies seem to make it difficult to just know the proper company name and VAT number. I got Claude to research the proper names and associated VAT numbers and put them in the spreadsheet. Still waiting for a response from HMRC so will see how it goes. Not sure about your last point - the house needs a kitchen to habitable, so the number must be at least 1 on that alone. If they're asking about utility rooms in the same question, then it seems logical that the answer would be 2 if you have one as well. I took the question as them trying to gauge what the realistic spend for your build would be. Submitting a 200k reclaim on a 500sqft house with a small kitchen seems far more irregular than on a 10,000sqft house with main kitchen, chefs kitchen, annex kitchen etc. You may be right, we'll see. But the question is ambiguous and no steer on how to answer it. If the question had been how many kitchens and utility rooms in total I'd have answered 2. Mind you, we have a pantry too so should that be 3?
June 30Jun 30 On 28/06/2026 at 21:07, Benpointer said: You may be right, we'll see. But the question is ambiguous and no steer on how to answer it. If the question had been how many kitchens and utility rooms in total I'd have answered 2. Mind you, we have a pantry too so should that be 3? I think that's more ambiguous as the answer should technically be 0 if you have a kitchen but no utility room.
July 5Jul 5 I submitted my claim in mid-May and had the confirmation of submission, then nothing... Any ideas as to when I may see my 2nd hand Aston Martin back on the drive anyone!?
July 6Jul 6 20 hours ago, mickeych said: I submitted my claim in mid-May and had the confirmation of submission, then nothing... Any ideas as to when I may see my 2nd hand Aston Martin back on the drive anyone!? Early June for me and haven't even got the claim ref yet. Guess they've slowed right down at the moment as other people have previously said on here that they've had their claim reviewed, asked for invoices, and paid out in a similar time frame.
July 16Jul 16 Finally got an update to say they will only look at my claim after I send them a copy of the house insurance...
July 16Jul 16 1 hour ago, miike said: Finally got an update to say they will only look at my claim after I send them a copy of the house insurance... Is that a normal request?
July 16Jul 16 1 hour ago, mjc55 said: Is that a normal request? Never heard of anyone else being asked for it. Suspect that they have a backlog and they're asking for random things from people to fudge their internal performance metrics to make it look like they're dealing with the cases instead of further delays.
July 17Jul 17 17 hours ago, mjc55 said: Is that a normal request? Never heard of that. It's not even mandatory to have house insurance.
July 17Jul 17 Author Just checked: my application on 19th June and got the following, obviously automated, message: "We have received your application. We will write to you within 2 weeks to tell you your claim reference number." That's 4 weeks ago now - I've heard nothing.
July 17Jul 17 36 minutes ago, Temp said: Never heard of that. It's not even mandatory to have house insurance. That's what I thought. Here is the exact wording: 'We need some more information before we can look at your claim, concerning your occupation of the property. Please provide a copy of the house and contents insurance documentation for the property...'
July 22Jul 22 On 17/07/2026 at 15:11, miike said: That's what I thought. Here is the exact wording: 'We need some more information before we can look at your claim, concerning your occupation of the property. Please provide a copy of the house and contents insurance documentation for the property...' Sounds like they are trying to prove exactly when the property was completed. Many policies don't cover houses undergoing building work.
July 22Jul 22 3 hours ago, Temp said: Sounds like they are trying to prove exactly when the property was completed. Many policies don't cover houses undergoing building work. I don't see how that could be the case - the house insurance is a tick box you fill in online and select a date you want coverage from, it's also entirely optional. The bc cert + council tax occupation date are far more relevant. Plus, if you're suggesting that they want to check the insurance doc because you couldn't have coverage if still doing building work, then I feel that HMRC would be delighted about this - it means they can keep the VAT you pay on any ongoing works.
July 23Jul 23 The wife has just finished our vat claim i will see your 161 invoices @Benpointer and raise you 1057 invoices anybody had a larger amount than this.
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