Face to face

One of my clients is VAT-registered in the UK and sells a very specialised face cream over the internet. To boost his sales in Germany he recently spent three days at a trade exhibition in Berlin.

He paid a lot of German VAT during the trip for himself and three employees on hotel bills car hire costs meal and road fuel expenses but the main expense was for the hire of space at the exhibition for three days which cost 15 000 euros plus German VAT of 2 850 euros. My query is twofold.

First I appreciate that there is a system in place for submitting a claim to Germany to recover this VAT from the German authorities.

But I understand the system is not very reliable and that repayment cannot be guaranteed. Is this correct? Are there any other problems with making a...