Reclaiming VAT on solicitor invoice

[Formosa]

I have some invoices from my solicitor on which I want to reclaim the VAT.
They have "This is not a VAT invoice" accross the top...can I claim the VAT back on these now or should I strictly wait until I get a "proper" invoice (which I'm sure won't be issued until I pay them)

 

[Vanilla]

But sure how can you reclaim the VAT unless you've paid it?

 

[deadlyduck]

You can only reclaim the VAT when you receive a valid VAT invoice. The solicitor will probably only issue that when you pay him/her.
If you try reclaim it now, you'd get into some trouble if a Revenue official carries out a VAT inspection.
BTW, the solicitor is using a fairly common cash-flow trick. Normally s/he should account for VAT on sales on an invoice issued basis ie when the invoice is ISSUED rather than when it is PAID. This imposes a cash flow burden on traders faced with slow payers as they have to pay the VAT to the Revenue even though they haven't received the cash from the client.
By doing this 'not-a-valid-invoice' way, s/he defers issuing the valid invoice/ accounting for VAT until the cash is received, effectively accounting for the VAT on a cash receipts basis rather than an invoice issued basis.

 

[Graham_07]

Normally s/he should account for VAT on sales on an invoice issued basis ie when the invoice is ISSUED rather than when it is PAID. quote]

This is not entirely correct as the solicitor may be entitled to account for the VAT on a moneys received basis anyway if he/she is under the cut-off point for that basis. Extract from Revenue guide on Solicitors and VAT :-

10 Accounting for Tax


10.1 The normal basis of accounting is the invoice or sales basis. A VAT-registered solicitor using this basis of accounting is liable to pay VAT by reference to services supplied. VAT is not chargeable on services which are completed before the date of registration no matter when the relevant invoice is issued. Services which are not completed before the date of registration will not be chargeable to VAT to the extent that they are paid for (that is, that the solicitor’s office account has been credited) before that date.

11 Moneys Received Basis of Accounting


11.1 An alternative basis is the moneys received basis. This alternative basis is available to solicitors whose annual turnover does not exceed and is not likely to exceed €635,000. To avail him/herself of themoneys received basis of accounting a solicitor needs to indicate this specifically on form TR1 when applying for VAT registration.

However regardless on the basis on which the solicitor is accounting for VAT, the previous poster is correct in that you cannot claim VAT unless you have a VAT INVOICE. The invoice does not have to be paid for you to reclaim the VAT but it must be a valid VAT invoice.

 

[deadlyduck]

Graham_07: You are correct re the criteria for accounting for VAT on a cash receipts basis although I think (not sure) that the €635K threshold may have been updated recently.
I assumed, however, that the solicitor in the original post must be accounting for VAT on an invoice issued basis as I see no apparent reason to issue a non-valid VAT invoice if s/he could avail of the cash basis