Reclaiming VAT from Germany: what falls under fuel, hotels and trade fairs?
When conducting business travel to Germany, you pay German VAT on fuel, hotel accommodation and often also on trade fair stands or admission tickets. This VAT cannot be deducted in your Dutch VAT return, but it doesn't have to be lost either: under Directive 2008/9, a Dutch business operator can request this VAT back from the German tax authority, and that request is processed through the same portal of the Dutch Tax Authority that serves other EU countries.
Three expense categories are most common with Germany: fuel, hotel accommodation and trade fair participation (stand rental, admission, catering on-site). Each of these has separate rules about what Germany allows and to what extent, and these rules sometimes differ from what is customary in the Netherlands.
Refueling in Germany
Fuel is the expense category that most business operators think of first, and rightly so: with regular cross-border traffic this adds up quickly. Germany generally permits VAT refunds on fuel, but not always for the full amount and not in the same way for every type of vehicle. Whether a receipt qualifies also depends on what is shown on it: license plate, date and VAT amount must be traceable. A till receipt from a petrol station is usually sufficient, provided it is legible and complete.
Hotel accommodation
Accommodation during business travel is generally eligible, but hotels often split the bill into room, breakfast and other services (minibar, parking, wellness). Not every part of that bill falls under the same treatment, and that distinction is set out in the requirements that the German tax authority publishes per expense category. An invoice in the name of the business, with VAT number and itemization, prevents disputes later on.
Trade fair participation
Stand rental, admission tickets and sometimes catering during a trade fair may be eligible for refund. This is an expense category where close attention is paid to what appears on the invoice: a total amount for 'participation' without itemization gives more chance of delays than an invoice that lists stand rental, technical services and catering separately. For large trade fair invoices, it is therefore worthwhile to request an itemized invoice in advance.
What this means for the refund
The core of the process does not change per country: receipts and invoices are collected, classified by expense category, checked against what the refund country allows and bundled into a request to Germany. The difference lies in the details per expense category, and those details ultimately determine whether a request is handled without questions or whether the German tax authority requests additional information.
For business operators who travel mainly within the EU and encounter Germany as the largest neighboring market most often, it is therefore mainly a matter of keeping the right receipts and submitting them on time. Those who want to see what this concretely yields for their own travel pattern can have that calculated in a few questions without needing an account for that.
Because the rules differ per expense category and Germany is not the only country where this applies, it is advisable to carefully review the structure of the entire process first. An overview of all situations, researched per country and per expense category, can be found on the page on VAT refunds. Those who want to know exactly where the information used comes from and how current it is, will find that on the page about our working method and sources.
Complex situations, for example mixed use of a vehicle or an invoice that is not properly structured, fall outside what this platform as an operator can assess; for that, a VAT specialist is the right contact. For most business operators with fuel, hotel and trade fair costs in Germany, the question is mainly practical: is it worth keeping track of this, and how much time does it take.
If you are curious whether your own German travel expenses are worth claiming back, the free quick scan is the fastest starting point. For those who want to know more about how the service costs are structured, that overview is available on the pricing page.