Eligibility & deadlines
Recoverability classification per country, with deterministic deadline computation (e.g., June 30 or September 30 of the following year) — never estimated.
The most rigorous foreign VAT recovery service for mid-market U.S. companies.
ReclaimRail recovers VAT on international T&E and AP spend — we ingest your data, identify every euro/pound of recoverable VAT, validate invoices against each country's rules, chase suppliers for compliant originals, prepare and file claims under power of attorney, and reconcile the cash back to you. Priced only on VAT actually recovered.
Every country's eligibility rules, gate-checkedInvoice compliance validation per destinationSupplier chase for compliant originalsSpecialist release on every claim10-business-day SLA to first claim draft
Why VAT goes unclaimed
A single missing invoice or deadline can forfeit thousands.
When a U.S. company sends staff to a conference in London, books hotels in Amsterdam, or pays a German supplier, the foreign VAT on those costs is frequently recoverable. But recovering it is genuinely hard: every country has different eligible-expense rules, different deadlines (commonly June 30 or September 30 of the following year under the EU 13th Directive), and different formal invoice requirements — including that invoices be addressed to the company, not the traveling employee.
Finance teams rationally conclude the juice isn't worth the squeeze and simply expense the VAT as a cost. Two-thirds of companies either skip VAT reclaim entirely or capture only a fraction of what they are owed.
ReclaimRail exists to close that gap with a single, exhaustive standard applied identically to every claim.
54%
of refundable business-travel VAT is never reclaimed
The benchmark
Measured against each country's VAT recovery rules — country by country.
We do not summarize the rules and hope. Every claim is scored against a versioned rule pack tied to the exact text of each country's VAT law and the EU 13th Directive. These are the provisions each claim is held to.
Invoice compliance validation
Every invoice checked for mandatory fields: supplier name/address, VAT number, invoice date, unique number, itemized description, VAT rate and amount — all present, or the pack does not release.
Country-specific gates
Minimum claim thresholds, reciprocity conditions, and local fiscal representative requirements are verified per jurisdiction before filing.
Filing authority
Valid power of attorney executed for each country; local fiscal representative engaged where required (e.g., Japan, some EU states).
Missing/defective invoice remediation
Automated supplier contact to obtain compliant original invoices addressed to the company, with escalation and evidence logging.
Per-country claim package
Each claim includes the refund application, supporting invoices, proof of authority, and tracking through the tax authority to payment reconciliation.
How a claim is built
Intake to specialist release, with deterministic gates the AI cannot overrule.
AI extracts and classifies. Deterministic rules — running as code, outside the model — decide what is complete. A human specialist signs every release. That order is never reversed.
01
Free Recovery Scan
Upload your expense, card, and AP data. We return a free completeness read: which countries' VAT is recoverable, which invoices are compliant, and what is missing.
02
Data ingestion & extraction
We ingest spend data from expense platforms, corporate cards, ERPs, and travel-management companies. OCR + LLM extraction reads each invoice.
03
Eligibility & validity classification
Per-country rules layer classifies each expense as recoverable or not, and validates invoice compliance against that country's formal requirements.
04
Supplier chase & remediation
Auto-draft supplier requests for missing or defective invoices. Track responses and evidence.
05
Deterministic completeness gates
Deadline, threshold, reciprocity, format, and power-of-attorney checks — all resolved or exception-coded. Any failure blocks release.
06
Specialist release & filing
A VAT specialist reviews the exception queue and signs the release. Claims are filed under power of attorney, with local fiscal representative where required.
The bar we hold
Rigor you can measure.
100%
Specialist-released
No claim ships without a human signature.
10 days
Standard SLA to first draft
From complete intake to claim draft.
<1%
Critical-defect target
Tracked against a gold-standard claim library.
30+
Countries covered
EU, UK, Japan, Canada, Australia, Gulf, and expanding.
Why ReclaimRail
Built to be the most thorough option a mid-market company has.
Documentation-complete, by design
The deliverable is completeness itself — every country's eligibility and invoice requirement accounted for or explicitly exception-coded. Nothing is left implicit.
Deterministic, not vibes
The gates that decide completeness are code, not a model's opinion. A classification error cannot slip past a statutory requirement.
In its lane, on purpose
We prepare documentation and run searches as your clerical agent. We never provide legal advice or represent you in any legal matter.
Engagement
Flat percentage of VAT actually recovered. No recovery, no fee.
Simple, predictable, and aligned with a documentation standard — not a cut of any recovery.
- A free Recovery Scan before you commit — see exactly what is recoverable.
- One flat percentage per recovered VAT amount; disclosed pass-through fees for local fiscal representatives.
- No upfront cost, no subscription, no software to install.
- Optional expedited processing for time-sensitive claims.
FAQ
Questions, answered precisely.
Is ReclaimRail a law firm?
No. ReclaimRail, a service of Your Deputy, Obuke LLC, provides documentation-completeness services. It is not a law firm, does not provide legal advice, and does not represent you in any legal matter. Attorney review is available and recommended for complex or high-value claims.
Do you contact the tax authorities on our behalf?
Yes, under a valid power of attorney. We file claims and track them through the tax authorities as your authorized agent. We never provide legal advice or represent you in disputes.
What makes a claim 'complete'?
Completeness is defined by each country's rules: eligibility classification correct, invoice compliant, deadline verified, threshold met, power of attorney executed, and local rep engaged if required. Deterministic gates enforce each one before release.
How fast is it?
The standard SLA is 10 business days from complete intake to a specialist-released claim draft. The free Recovery Scan is returned much sooner and tells you exactly what is recoverable.
How are you priced?
A flat percentage of VAT actually recovered, plus disclosed pass-through costs for local fiscal representatives. No recovery, no fee. No upfront cost.
See what's recoverable before it expires.
Start with a free Recovery Scan. Send your expense, card, and AP data and we'll return a completeness read against every country's VAT recovery rules.
Documentation-completeness service · not legal advice · we file under your power of attorney.