Value Added Tax Act 1994 section 80 / Schedule 9ZE paragraph 26

Overpayments: supplementary

Section 80 / Schedule 9ZE paragraph 26 provides supplementary rules for claims to recover overpaid VAT under the One Stop Shop scheme, including time limits, unjust enrichment safeguards, and the treatment of incorrect disclosures.

• Claims under the One Stop Shop overpayment rules (paragraph 25) are treated as if they were claims under the existing section 80 framework, so the unjust enrichment defence and assessment recovery provisions apply in the same way.
• There is a strict four-year time limit for making overpayment claims, running from the "relevant date", which varies depending on the type of claim.
• The relevant date is typically the end of the tax period concerned, but for direct overpayments it is the date the payment was made, and for excess assessments it is the end of the quarter in which the assessment was issued.
• An "incorrect disclosure" arises where a person tells the tax authorities that they failed to account for VAT in a particular period, but some or all of the amount disclosed turns out not to have been due — in which case the time limit runs from the end of the period in which the disclosure was made.