A transport company sent us a spreadsheet of fuel receipts for the whole quarter. A tidy spreadsheet: date, petrol station, amount — and a column "VAT 18%", calculated on the grand total.
When we compared it with the scanned receipts, three surprises came up. One line had been entered twice. One "line" was in fact the total of four receipts already entered individually. On top of that, in some periods this year fuel was sold with 10%, not 18% VAT — so the calculation on the total gave more VAT than the receipts actually showed.
The spreadsheet looked right. It wasn't.
That is one side of the story — how much VAT there is. The other is even more important: whether you may deduct it at all.
The question in the title: MKD 8,000 of fuel
The answer is — it depends on two things.
First, the document. The law allows a deduction on the basis of an invoice, or of a fiscal receipt with a total not exceeding MKD 6,000 (Article 34(1)(2)). An MKD 8,000 receipt without an invoice — zero deduction, however much VAT it shows.
Second, which vehicle the fuel went into. If it is a passenger car (category M1 — up to 8 seats besides the driver, up to 3,500 kg), there is no deduction at all — not even with an invoice (Article 35(2)). If it is the transport company's truck, with an invoice — there is.
Above MKD 6,000 — ask for an invoice to the company. A fiscal receipt is enough only for smaller amounts. For a passenger car, not even an invoice helps.
What else the law "doesn't recognise"
Article 35 lists purchases on which VAT cannot be deducted, whatever the document:
| Purchase | Deduction |
|---|---|
| Passenger cars (M1), vehicles with fewer than four wheels (category L), bicycles, aircraft, boats | no |
| Fuel, spare parts, maintenance, repair and hire of those vehicles | no |
| Entertainment: lunch with a client, gifts, holidays, recreation, amusement | no |
| Refrigerators, audio and video equipment, carpets, works of art for the office | no |
| Passenger transport | no |
| Hotel accommodation and meals | no |
The only exception concerns vehicles: if during the year the company uses them exclusively for trading in vehicles, hire, transport, driver training or vehicle maintenance and repair — the deduction is allowed (Article 35(2)). That is why a rent-a-car company can deduct VAT on its fleet, while a consulting firm cannot on its company car.
The spreadsheet trick
Back to the transport company. Before every booking we now run two checks:
- The number of receipts in the scan must equal the number of lines in the spreadsheet. Summary lines and duplicates show up in a minute.
- VAT is taken from each receipt, as shown, by rate — not 18% on the total.
Small things? That quarter, the small things added up to more than twenty thousand denars of VAT that would not have survived an audit.