Claiming back VAT on home battery systems

VAT refund battery

According to the tax authorities, the VAT on the purchase and installation of a battery is tax-deductible if you meet the following conditions.

• You use the battery for the purchase and sale of electricity from an energy supplier.
• You receive compensation for the feed-in power.
• The battery has an Energy Management System enabling it to trade in electricity.
• You have a dynamic energy contract with your energy supplier.
• The invoice for the battery and the energy contract are in the name of the person who is requesting the VAT refund.
• At the time of purchase and installation of the battery, you are not using the small business scheme exemption (KOR).
• The refund request is submitted to the tax authorities in a timely and correct manner.

If you meet these requirements, you can in principle get the VAT on your battery back. At the same time, you also have a number of obligations. For example, you must submit VAT returns and pay VAT to the tax authorities.

Paying VAT to the tax authorities

You pay VAT to the tax authorities on the money you receive for all electricity that you supply back to your energy supplier. You also pay VAT on the electricity generated by the solar panels if you have them.

If you do not trade all the electricity coming from your battery, but also use electricity privately, then according to the tax authorities you must also pay VAT on the private use of your battery.

The tax authorities state that the correct VAT amount to be paid cannot yet be determined when purchasing the battery. This is only possible after the calendar year when the actual use of the battery is known. For practical reasons, it has been approved for solar panels that a predetermined amount (fixed amount) may be used for this. This approval does not yet exist for batteries. We expect that the annual VAT amount to be paid will on average be around €150.

Services AccuBTW

Our partner AccuBTW can take the entire process with the tax authorities off your hands and arrange the VAT refund on your behalf. This means that AccuBTW ensures that the VAT on the purchase of the home battery is refunded to your account by the tax authorities. The VAT that you have to pay to the tax authorities on the traded electricity and the private use of the battery is estimated in advance and deducted directly from the refund.

After the refund, AccuBTW ensures that your VAT obligations with the tax authorities stop. They apply for an exemption from the small business scheme (KOR) for you. You will then no longer have to submit VAT returns in the future and no longer have to pay VAT on the use of your battery.