VAT on office rent in Belgium

Quick question. If I'm renting an office in Belgium for a short term project and the landlord is charging me Belgian VAT. Can I get him to zero rate the VAT by giving my Irish VAT number. Not sure how this would operate as it's property as opposed to goods/service?

I'm no VAT expert but AFAIK if the reverse were the case (Belgian company renting in Ireland), the Irish landlord would have to charge Irish VAT because the property is situated in Ireland. I would therefore presume that the reverse is true.

However if an Irish VAT-registered business incurs UK VAT (eg diesel in the UK) this can be reclaimed by applying to HMRC in Derry so you should be able to reclaim the Belgian VAT by applying to the Belgian Revenue.

the procedure for reclaiming foreign vat charged to an Irish vat registered business has changed. the reclaim is now made through the Irish Revenue.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vat/refunds/unregistered-persons-vat-reclaims-faqs.html

Thanks for that Nige

Before the 1st of January 2010 , the procedure for claiming Vat incurred in another EU Member State was provided for by the EU 8th Directive. The procedure was slow and costly as it involved making a refund claim to the relevant tax authorities of the country in which the vat was paid. Refunds could take 6 months or longer.

With effect from 1st January 2010 a new system is in place. Businesses are no longer required to file individual Vat refund claims in each Member State in which they incur Vat. An Irish business can now file a single foreign vat refund claim with Revenue and the refund claims will then be exchanged between the relevant EU Member States.