VAT deduction before your VAT registration in Greece

Foreign taxable persons who should have registered but missed this obligation can now apply for a backdated VAT registration and deduct VAT on all invoices received during the period in which the company was not VAT registered.

This simplification will be slightly more complex for non-established companies, as these businesses will need to receive credit notes and new invoices including their new Greek VAT number for each purchase made before the VAT registration in Greece. Once these new invoices are received, they will be simply added to the periodic VAT return of the period in which the purchase was made. This is,  invoices received should be reported in the historic VAT return of the period in which the supply was made.

Greece had historically denied deduction of input VAT prior to a VAT registration. Before these changes, all VAT amounts incurred would not be deductible even where such amounts were included in the corresponding VAT return. Going forward, these VAT amounts will be recovered provided all historic returns are submitted.

Marosa can help

These changes are an opportunity for businesses who had the obligation to register in Greece but have not done it yet. Going forward they will be able to claim all input VAT incurred during the periods in which they were not VAT registered.

At Marosa we have extensive experience on VAT registrations in Greece and other European countries. Send us an email if you want to hear more about recovering VAT incurred before you VAT registration.