Lost your C79 import form? how to get a replacement
I need to import my products from China, and in order to clear customs, i need to pay import duty and VAT. If you are VAT registered, you can reclaim the VAT, for me this is really important as it can be quite a large amount.
The problem is that the C79 form which you need in order to reclaim the vat is a physcial form that is posted to your address. If your post gets lost, thrown away or stolen, then you are in trouble as there is no digital equivalent of this form - which is extremely annoying and i hope that the HMRC do something about this soon.
This is what the C79 vat form looks like
Your accountant can help you to reclaim the vat, in order to find out how you can get your import VAT certificates (C79). This will show how much VAT you've paid on imports and recover the VAT as input tax on your VAT Return.
If you need to request a replacement form, you need to email the address below with the below subject (typed exactly like this)
Subject : C79 email disclaimer
You will get an Automatic reply requesting more information which you can reply to and the replacement form will take about 2 weeks to get to you. You will need the month and year and the amount that you are expecting to reclaim in order for them to send you a replacement form.
I hope this helps you as this has been a pain for me to sort out and this might save you from having the same problem. I found that calling HMRC's VAT phone number was also very helpful. They were able to help me out very quickly with a short wait on hold on the phone line.
UPDATE
After I emailed as above it only took a couple of days for them to get back to me with a replacement digital form. It looked like this below and came as an attachment to their email.
It turned out that I had been requesting the replacement certificate for the wrong month which they were able to help with. All in all they were very helpful and quick to respond.
The certificate that they sent me was different to the one that they post in the mail. In fact, it just looks like a normal document, so make sure you don’t ignore it or discarded by accident.