VAT reclaim and HMRC

Getting a Valid VAT Invoice From the Seller

PropertyVAT Team · Updated 21 October 2026 · 3 min read

More property VAT reclaims fail on this single document than on any question of entitlement. The buyer is registered, the VAT was properly charged, the use is taxable — and the claim stalls because nobody asked for an invoice on the day.

What a valid VAT invoice must show

A VAT invoice is a prescribed document, not a general confirmation. It should contain:

• The supplier's name, address and VAT registration number
• A sequential invoice number
• The date of issue, and the tax point where different
• The customer's name and address
• A description sufficient to identify the supply
• The rate of VAT and the amount excluding VAT
• The VAT charged, in sterling

Miss the VAT registration number, or address it to the wrong entity, and you have a piece of paper rather than evidence.

What is not a VAT invoice

All five are routinely offered in place of an invoice, and none of them will support a large repayment claim under verification.

Why it gets harder every week

This is the practical heart of it.

On completion day, the seller's solicitor is actively engaged, the file is open, the client is reachable, and goodwill is at its peak. A request for the VAT invoice takes a phone call.

Six weeks later, the file is archived, the fee earner has moved to other matters, and the seller has no commercial interest in helping you. The same request becomes an escalating chase.

Six months later, you may be writing to a company that has been dissolved, or to a seller who genuinely cannot find the paperwork.

Meanwhile, if you bridged the VAT, interest is running on a facility whose exit cannot be filed.

Put the obligation in the contract

The reliable fix is contractual, agreed before exchange:

The seller shall deliver to the buyer a valid VAT invoice in respect of the VAT chargeable on the purchase price, on or before completion.

Your solicitor will have preferred wording. The substance is that the obligation exists, it is the seller's, and it bites at completion rather than afterwards.

Where TOGC treatment is intended but might fail, add a corresponding obligation: if VAT becomes payable, the seller must issue a valid VAT invoice for it.

Check it on the day

Do not simply receive the document. Read it:

1. Is the seller's VAT number present?
2. Is it addressed to the entity making the claim — the buying SPV, not a director or a parent company?
3. Does the VAT figure match the completion statement?
4. Is there a date and an invoice number?
5. Does the description identify the property?

A ten-minute check on completion day prevents a three-month problem.

If you have already completed without one

1. Ask immediately, through your solicitor to theirs, while the file is recent.
2. Point to the contract if it contains an obligation.
3. Do not file speculatively on the assumption the invoice will arrive — an unsupported claim invites scrutiny and may be refused.
4. Tell your accountant so the timing is managed.
5. Tell your lender if the VAT is bridged, because the facility term may need to flex.

The one-line rule

Add it to your completion checklist, next to the keys:

"Obtain the seller's VAT invoice today."

It is the cheapest line on the list and the most expensive one to skip.

This guide is general information, not tax or legal advice. Invoice requirements are prescribed — confirm the position with your accountant.