Subject: [101attendees] Non-EU individuals and reclaiming VAT

From: Dave Lawrence <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2018 22:01:08 -0500

What experiences have non-EU people, particularly US, had with
reclaiming the VAT on their conference fee?  Check my understanding,
please:

* VAT for services is not recoverable by individuals, but
* VAT for services is recoverable by businesses, and
* As a US citizen I'm also essentially a sole proprietor business, and
* The 140 USD tax exceeds the 16 GBP minimum necessary to claim.

True?  The part that has me most suspect is my hopeful claims of sole
proprietorship with regard to the form instructions that say the
following:

        The application must be accompanied by an original
        certificate of status issued by the official authority of
        the country in which you are established. This is to
        confirm that you are a business person in that country. 

For the form itself presumably it would be my US Social Security
Number going in as the Tax/Business registration number, and the
"name of the official authority" being "US Social Security
Administration".  An "original certificate of status" seems to be a
problem though; I'm surely not sending them my Social Security card.

Any guidance is appreciated, and maybe
https://www.ietf.org/how/meetings/101/vat/ 
or the Wiki could address it a little more.

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From: Mike Bishop <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2018 03:35:52 +0000

You say you're "essentially" a sole proprietor. Are you, in fact, self-employed? If so, do you have a business license from whatever your local government is?

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________________________________
From: Dave Lawrence <[email-masked]>
Sent: Thursday, March 8, 2018 7:01 PM
To: [email-masked]
Subject: [101attendees] Non-EU individuals and reclaiming VAT

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From: Dave Lawrence <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2018 22:44:48 -0500

Mike Bishop writes:
> You say you're "essentially" a sole proprietor. Are you, in fact,
> self-employed?  If so, do you have a business license from whatever
> your local government is?

Yes, I've certainly done consulting under my own name, and I needed no
business license to do that.  I am also not even currently employed by
any other business.

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 8 Mar 2018 23:11:12 -0500

In article <[email-masked]> you write:
>reclaiming the VAT on their conference fee?  

tl;dr -- good luck with that

> Check my understanding, please:
>

SSNs are issued to individuals, not businesses.  You can get an EIN on
the IRS web site, which might do the trick.  Or with your SSN and EIN
you can get a Mass.  resale license, which as I recall is free and
gives you a nice looking certificate.

I have all that junk in NY and a UK bank acount so I'll try it
and see what happens.

R's,
John

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From: Mike Bishop <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2018 05:32:34 +0000

While I suspect it's not vigorously enforced for small sole proprietors, my state and city both require licenses for almost all businesses, even home-based sole proprietors. You might have a more lax jurisdiction, or you might not have known it was needed.

Either way, I suspect such a license would greatly assist in the process of convincing the UK you aren't just an individual. If they're cheaper than the VAT, it might be worthwhile.

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________________________________
From: Dave Lawrence <[email-masked]>
Sent: Thursday, March 8, 2018 7:45 PM
To: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: [101attendees] Non-EU individuals and reclaiming VAT

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From: Michael Richardson <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 09 Mar 2018 18:55:36 -0500

> business license to do that.  I am also not even currently employed by

Assuming it's possible to recover (I don't think it is because the event is
occuring there), you'd have to have a tax code in your jurisdiction that said
that you collected sales taxes.

I'm incorporated, I do Canadian HST (VAT), etc. and my previous reading of
the exemption said that I could only claim for things that were being
delivered to me outside the UK/EU.

--
Michael Richardson <[email-masked]>, Sandelman Software Works
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