Claiming Input VAT

Claiming Input VAT

A taxable person, duly registered under article 10 may be eligible to claim back VAT which that person incurs on his expenditure subject to the following conditions:

The expenditure has been or is intended to be wholly used by him in the course of furtherance of his economic activity this means that VAT incurred on non-business-related expenditure cannot be claimed back;
The expenditure is incurred for the purpose of making supplies which entitle input VAT recovery (as referred to in article 22(4) of the VAT Act); and
The additional conditions and limitations set out in the Tenth Schedule to the VAT Act are also satisfied, ex: being in possession of a valid tax invoice, the particular expenditure is not blocked in terms of item 3 of that Schedule, etc.

Once a person registered under article 10 has concluded that he has satisfied all conditions to claim back VAT, he can claim back VAT which he incurs during a particular VAT period within the VAT return for that VAT period. Such persons should ensure that VAT is claimed in the correct VAT period to which it relates.