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VAT
6. Reclaiming VAT on Purchases
6.1 To claim back input VAT a VAT invoice must be held.
6.2 If a car is used exclusively for business purposes, you can reclaim input VAT on fuel in the normal way. Otherwise, you can opt either to reclaim VAT only on fuel used for business purposes, or to reclaim all the VAT and pay a 'fuel scale charge'.
6.3 Input VAT is not reclaimable on any non-business purchase. VAT cannot generally be claimed on company car purchases and is 50 per cent blocked on car leasing costs, unless the car is exclusively for business use.
6.4 If a business makes only exempt supplies, it cannot register for VAT and cannot reclaim input VAT. If both exempt and taxable supplies are made, the business is 'partially-exempt', can register for VAT and can recover part of the input tax incurred. Special rules apply.
6.5 If a business is run from home, it should be possible to reclaim a proportion of VAT on certain expenditure. For example, VAT on business-related phone calls.
6.6
6.7 Purchases from suppliers based outside the EU generally attract an import VAT charge at the same rate as if bought in the UK. This can be reclaimed as input VAT provided correct documentation is held. Any import duty paid cannot be reclaimed.
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