With VAT, without VAT,
and what you get back
The price on the sign is not what a haulier pays. A company recovers the VAT, and in two of these ten countries it gets part of the fuel tax back as well. This page sets the three figures side by side for every country the site models, from this week's official prices — and shows what the same rules do to a van or a car, which is a very different story.
1A litre, three ways
Read it left to right: what the pump charges, what is left once the VAT is recovered, and what is left after the excise refund. The last column is what every calculator on this site runs on.
| Country | With VATat the pump | VATrate · in the price | You deductof that VAT | Without VATwhat it costs you | Excise backprofessional refund | You payper litre |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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2How much of the VAT you actually get back
For a heavy goods vehicle used wholly for business the answer is the same in all ten: all of it. That is worth stating plainly, because it is not true of every vehicle and not obvious from the rules — several of these countries cap or forbid the deduction on a car, and one of them forbids it outright.
The site does not assume it, though. The share is a figure per country in its data file, and every calculator multiplies by it; if a country ever changes, the answer changes with it and nothing in the code has to be touched.
| Country | Truck | The rule, and why | A car, for contrast |
|---|---|---|---|
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3The tank you filled abroad
Deducting VAT and reclaiming it are not the same thing. VAT on a tank filled in your own country comes off your next return. VAT on a tank filled across a border never appears in that return at all — you claim it back from the other country, under its procedure, and you wait. For a fleet running international work that is a real amount of money sitting somewhere else for the better part of a year.
4Where these figures come from
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