Supplies of postal services made by the ‘public postal services’ are exempt from VAT under EU law.  In the UK, public postal services are limited to Royal Mail and covers all of its postal services except for those supplies made by the Royal Mail under terms which have been individually negotiated.

This means that all other postal operators have to charge VAT at the standard rate on their services.

Where no separate charge has been made for VAT by all other postal operators, the total amount payable for the service is deemed to be inclusive of any VAT and it may now be possible to make a retrospective claim for any input VAT inadvertently suffered by businesses. 

If your business is a high user of postal services provided by an operator other than the Royal Mail and invoices in recent years have not shown a separate VAT charge, you may be due a refund.  For further information, please contact Andy Branson at andy.branson@albertgoodman.co.uk.

Posted on 28 Oct 2009