Readers’ forum: VAT to US customer

One of my clients hires out television recording equipment and cameras mainly to production and television companies based in the UK.

It has come to light that for the past three years she has not charged VAT to an American production company for its UK filming work – and has also failed to charge VAT to an Irish company when it films in London applying the general business-to-business (B2B) rule for services.

I understand that the American fees should have charged UK VAT meaning an output tax underpayment of £23 000 which we must now correct.

If my clients issued a VAT only invoice for £23 000 to the American company with a current date can the American company reclaim this VAT with a non-EU VAT claim to HMRC? Or would a claim be out of time for some of the fees which are...