Conferma & VAT IT join forces on hotel VAT recovery

Conferma has partnered with VAT IT to streamline VAT recovery on hotel spending for business customers. The partnership centres on hotel invoice data collected through Conferma's Snap+ service.

The arrangement connects invoice collection with VAT reclaim processing, allowing hotel invoice data gathered by Conferma to pass directly to VAT IT for recovery work.

It is designed to address a persistent problem for companies with cross-border travel bills. Global travel spend exceeds USD $1.7 trillion, according to figures cited by the companies, while 44% of recoverable VAT goes unclaimed.

VAT recovery on hotel stays often becomes difficult when businesses operate in several countries. Rules on eligibility, documentation, submission formats and deadlines vary between jurisdictions, and claims can fail if invoice records are incomplete or inconsistent.

For finance, tax and travel teams, collecting the correct hotel invoice is often the first obstacle. The new link is intended to reduce manual extraction, checking and submission of invoice data, while cutting errors tied to manual handling.

Snap+ is Conferma's invoice collection service, supported by direct API links with hotel property management systems that collect and process invoice data.

Under the partnership, data collected through that system will move into VAT IT's reclaim process instead of being handled through separate administrative steps. This should create a more connected workflow from hotel payment and invoice capture through to VAT recovery.

Administrative burden

Businesses with large travel programmes can hold recoverable VAT across high volumes of hotel invoices. When those invoices are spread across different markets and arrive in different formats, tax recovery can become labour-intensive and prone to delays or rejection.

Conferma is based in Manchester and focuses on virtual payments for business travel. Its technology is used for virtual card issuance by banks, travel management companies and corporate users.

VAT IT specialises in indirect tax recovery and compliance for multinational businesses. Its services include foreign VAT reclaim, VAT compliance, e-invoicing and US sales tax support.

Stuart Davenport, Chief Product Officer at Conferma, outlined the intended effect of linking the two systems.

"Linking invoice capture directly with VAT IT's recovery expertise will help customers reduce administration and improve the completeness of the data available for eligible VAT reclaims. It's another step towards making business travel payments and the processes around them simpler and more connected," said Stuart Davenport, Chief Product Officer at Conferma.

The companies have not given a launch date for customer availability. Further information on access will be shared as the integration progresses.

Cross-border claims

The move reflects wider efforts by travel payments and tax specialists to address leakage in back-office travel spending. Hotel VAT is one area where businesses can lose money through missing documents, inconsistent records or fragmented approval processes.

In multi-country travel programmes, the reclaim process can also involve different evidential standards in each market. That can make even eligible claims harder to complete if invoice data is not captured consistently at the point of stay.

Scott Steenkamp, Partnerships Director at VAT IT, said the issue often begins with the quality and accessibility of invoice records.

"Businesses can miss VAT recovery opportunities when invoice data is incomplete, fragmented or difficult to process. Connecting hotel invoice data collected through Conferma with VAT IT's recovery expertise will give customers a simpler route to identify and recover eligible VAT across multiple jurisdictions," said Scott Steenkamp, Partnerships Director at VAT IT.