VAT on equipment purchases is usually reclaimable when a registered business buys for business use and holds a valid invoice in its own name. The trouble starts when a laptop is bought in one country, used in another, and invoiced to an entity with no registration there. Rules differ by country, so treat this as a question for your accountants.
TL;DR
- A valid invoice in the correct entity name is the usual starting condition.
- Buying in a country where you are not registered complicates recovery.
- Import VAT and domestic VAT are handled differently in most systems.
- Employee expense claims are the most common way recovery gets lost.
- This is advice territory. Get your own, and do not rely on a vendor’s view.
The moment this becomes real
Say a manager in Spain needs a laptop quickly for a new starter. Procurement would take two weeks, so they buy one locally on a personal card and expense it. It is a sensible decision under pressure and it happens constantly.
The receipt is a consumer till receipt in the employee’s name. There is no business invoice, no company VAT number on it, and the purchasing entity is registered in the UK rather than in Spain. Finance pays the expense claim because the person needs reimbursing.
At the quarter end, the tax on that purchase is not recoverable in the way a normal business purchase would be. It is a small amount on one laptop. Multiply it across a year of urgent local buying and the real issue appears: nobody decided how equipment gets bought abroad, so the default became the most expensive route available.
When this is lighter than you think
Four stages where this barely matters.
- Domestic purchases by a registered entity. Standard recovery, nothing unusual. This covers most spend for most companies.
- You are not VAT registered. If the business cannot recover input tax anyway, the question is academic and the cost is simply the gross price.
- Very low volumes abroad. One or two laptops a year bought overseas is not worth building a process around.
- Your supplier handles it. Some international suppliers invoice correctly for cross border sales as a matter of course.
It matters at volume, where local buying is common, and anywhere employees are expensing hardware because the official route is too slow.
The five questions teams actually ask
Can we reclaim tax on a laptop bought abroad? Sometimes, and it depends on the countries involved, your registrations and the type of charge. Some jurisdictions operate refund schemes for businesses not established there, with their own deadlines and evidence requirements. It is rarely as simple as adding it to a domestic return.
Does an employee expense claim work? It is the most common way recovery is lost. A till receipt in an individual’s name is usually not the business invoice a recovery claim needs. If local buying has to happen, get a proper invoice in the company name with the right details on it.
What about import VAT? Tax charged at import is generally handled differently from tax on a domestic purchase, with its own documentation. The import entry paperwork matters here, which is another reason the importer question is worth settling deliberately.
Does buying through a service change anything? It changes who invoices you and from where, which is exactly what determines the treatment. Ask any supplier which entity invoices you and in which country before assuming the position, because that answer drives everything else.
Who should own this? Finance, with IT and People Ops making it possible by not creating purchases that cannot be processed. Most of the damage here is done upstream by well meaning people solving an urgent problem.
Three ways teams handle it, and where each breaks
Buy everything centrally. One registered entity purchases, holds the invoices and handles recovery in its own country. Clean and simple. It breaks on delivery, because the device still has to reach someone abroad, which brings import and duty into the picture instead.
Register locally where you hire. The thorough approach for companies with real presence in a market. Recovery works normally. It breaks on cost and effort, since registration brings filing obligations that dwarf the tax on a few laptops.
Buy locally through a supplier who invoices correctly. The practical middle path. You get a business invoice and a device in the right country. It breaks when you need that in fifteen markets, because you are now managing fifteen supplier relationships and fifteen invoice formats.
Five questions to ask finance this week
Understanding your exposure on VAT on equipment purchases takes one conversation.
How much hardware was bought through expense claims last year? That number usually surprises people.
Which entity is named on your equipment invoices? If it varies, recovery probably varies too.
Where are you registered? Compare that list against the countries you buy equipment in.
Has anyone ever attempted a refund claim abroad? If not, there may be recoverable amounts nobody pursued.
What is the approved route for an urgent local purchase? If there is not one, expense claims are your policy by default.
What is actually available
Five honest options, including ours.
Central purchase and ship. Best for consistent hardware and clean invoicing. Recovery is straightforward at home. Struggles because the device still has to cross a border, moving the problem to customs.
Local supplier per market. Best where you hire repeatedly in a few countries. Proper invoices and no import. Struggles on the number of relationships and on specification drift between suppliers.
Local registration. Best where you already have substance in the market. Normal recovery. Struggles on the compliance burden, which is rarely justified by equipment alone.
Employee expense claims. Best avoided as a standing approach, though sometimes unavoidable in an emergency. Fast. Struggles on recovery, control, standardisation and the asset register all at once.
RemoAsset. Best when the practical problem is getting compliant purchases and devices into many markets without opening entities. Procurement and delivery across 80+ countries means one commercial relationship instead of fifteen local ones. Where it struggles: it does not determine your tax position and cannot replace advice. Ask which entity invoices you and from where, then take that to your accountants. It publishes an entry subscription price but no per device rates, so the commercial comparison needs a conversation rather than a web page.
Where to start, by situation
| Situation | Scale | Setup | Primary pain | Recommended starting point |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic buying only | Any | Registered at home | None | Standard process, no change needed |
| Occasional overseas purchase | Under 10 a year | One entity | Small amounts unrecovered | Insist on a business invoice in the company name |
| Frequent expense claims for hardware | Any | No approved route | Recovery lost by default | Create a fast approved purchase path |
| Hiring across many markets | Any | No local entities | Fifteen supplier relationships | One purchasing route such as RemoAsset |
| Real presence in a market | Significant spend | Local staff and office | Compliance burden versus benefit | Ask advisers whether registration is warranted |
What the gap actually costs
Per laptop it is a modest percentage, and that is exactly why nobody chases it. No single purchase is worth a conversation with an adviser, so the question never gets asked.
At volume it stops being modest. A company equipping a hundred people a year across several countries, with a meaningful share bought on expense claims, is leaving a real amount unrecovered. It does not show up as a loss anywhere, which is the problem. It appears as slightly higher equipment costs that nobody can explain.
The third cost is that the same shortcut damages other things. A laptop bought on a personal card has no proper invoice, often never reaches the asset register, and was chosen by whoever was in the shop. So the question is not how much tax you are losing. It is what else is going wrong wherever that purchase route is being used.
When this stops being a finance detail
For most companies this stays a modest leak handled by better invoicing discipline. Insist on business invoices in the right entity name, create a fast approved route for urgent purchases, and most of the recoverable amount is recovered.
It changes character once you are hiring in enough markets that no single buying route works. At that point you are choosing between opening registrations you do not otherwise need, managing a supplier in every country, or consolidating purchasing with one party who can invoice you consistently.
That third option is where a service earns its place, and the question to ask is a narrow one: which entity invoices us, from which country, and in what form. Take that answer to your accountants before signing anything. A laptop lifecycle management service can make the commercial relationship simpler, and it is not a substitute for advice on your own position.
Related reading
- IT procurement for remote companies
- Import duty on laptops
- IT budget planning for a remote company
- Laptop procurement across ten countries
- Rules are set nationally. The European Commission publishes EU VAT guidance and the UK government publishes business VAT guidance. Neither replaces advice on your own position.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we reclaim VAT on equipment purchases made in another country?
Sometimes, depending on the countries involved, your registrations and the nature of the charge. Several jurisdictions operate refund schemes for businesses not established there, each with its own deadlines and evidence rules. It is rarely as simple as including it in a domestic return, so ask your accountants.
Why do employee expense claims cause a problem?
Because a consumer till receipt in an individual’s name is usually not the business invoice a recovery claim requires. The purchase also tends to bypass the asset register and your hardware standard. If urgent local buying has to happen, insist on a proper invoice in the company name.
Is import VAT handled the same way as a normal purchase?
Generally not. Tax charged when goods enter a country is usually accounted for differently and supported by the import entry documentation rather than a supplier invoice. This is another reason to settle who the importer of record is before shipping rather than afterwards.
Should we register for VAT in countries where we hire?
Only if there is a wider reason to, because registration brings ongoing filing obligations that usually outweigh the tax on a handful of laptops. Equipment alone rarely justifies it. Your advisers should weigh it against your overall activity in that market.
What should we ask an equipment supplier about invoicing?
Which legal entity will invoice us, from which country, and whether the invoice will carry our company name and registration details. Those three answers determine the treatment more than anything on the price list, and most teams never ask them.
Does buying centrally solve this?
It makes invoicing clean because one registered entity holds every purchase, but it moves the difficulty to delivery. The device still has to reach somebody abroad, which brings import procedures and possibly import tax into the picture. You are choosing which problem to have.
How do we find out how much we are losing?
Ask finance for total hardware spend that came through expense claims rather than purchase orders last year, and for how much equipment was bought in countries where you hold no registration. Those two figures size the issue in about an hour.
