5% VAT on refurb

[SammySays]

In 2023 we bought and refurbished a house which had been empty for a few years. I have now found out that due to it being empty for 2+ years, we could have had a certificate in place to pay just 5% VAT on the associated renovation costs.

Does anyone know if there is a way to claim this back retrospectively now? I still have all invoices which state the VAT paid at 20%. Can’t find anything online about how to go about this so would appreciate any guidance.

As I understand it you'd have to go back to the contractors and ask them to reclaim the overpaid tax, which they'd then refund to you. You wouldn't be able to claim it back from HMRC yourself. Have no idea if it would be too late for them to do this though and whether they'd be keen!

I don't know about claiming it retrospectively, but our contractors took care of that for us. Whoever does accounting for yours should be able to answer your questions - as I recall, the 5% doesn't apply to everything, but did apply to quite a lot.