Credit and refund deadline tracker: two separate clocks

01This is not the refund document checklist

There is a separate export VAT refund document self-check on the site. That one governs whether a claim will survive review — invoices, reconciliation, the export evidence chain. This one governs how much time is left and whether to act now. The first answers "are the documents complete"; the second answers "when to claim, and is there still time".

Used together, the order is: check the clock first, then assemble the documents.

02How the credit quietly runs past the window

This is the least visible part of the whole subject. On a monthly return, input tax exceeding output tax is carried forward to the next month by default — unless you actively tick the refund box on the last page of the return and sign it.

Which means not choosing is itself a choice. Plenty of companies have filed monthly and correctly for years without ever looking back at that box, carrying the balance forward out of habit, and discover the position only when it is already at the edge of the window. Sheet 2 exists to turn that check from "when someone remembers" into a fixed monthly question.

03The two clocks cannot be converted into each other

They are triggered differently and run separately:

• The carry-forward window — input credit can be carried forward for a limited time; whatever is unabsorbed at the end cannot be pushed onward indefinitely.
• The claim period for a cash refund — counted from the filing due date or the date of payment for that tax period, and independent of the above.

The point is that neither extends the other: running past the carry-forward window does not mean there is still plenty of time to claim, and the claim period does not shift later because the credit is still within its carry-forward window. Sheet 1 puts both dates side by side so you do not read one clock and misjudge the room you have.

04Expiry is not something a late filing can repair

Once either period has run out, that part of the entitlement is gone — it is not recoverable by producing documents later or explaining the reason. The longer a historic credit sits, the more it moves from "we will get it eventually" to "we will not".

One situation is worth checking separately, though: a historic credit that is past the carry-forward window but still within the claim period may be capable of being taken through a separate claim instead. Whether that works depends on the facts and does not apply to every credit — which is exactly what sheet 3 leaves to an adviser.

05How to use it

Four steps, in this order:

• Read sheet 0 first — the two clocks do not govern the same thing, and that has to be clear before you fill anything in.
• Enter your historic tax periods in the credit ledger and let both dates compute. The start date is an amber cell because it has to be confirmed period by period against your actual filing and payment record — it cannot be assumed.
• Build the monthly question into your filing routine: before filing, ask whether input exceeded output this period and whether anyone looked back at the refund box.
• Use the last sheet when deciding whether to act, laying the seven factors out together and leaving the judgement to an adviser.

Amber cells need an adviser's confirmation; blank cells are yours. The specific window lengths, how they are counted and when they apply are governed by the Revenue Department's rules as currently published; this workbook does not replace checking period by period.