Conferma and VAT IT Partner to Unlock 44% of Unclaimed Global Hotel VAT

Conferma and VAT IT have partnered to automate the transfer of hotel invoice data for VAT recovery, addressing a significant financial leak in corporate travel. By integrating Conferma’s Snap+ invoice collection service with VAT IT’s reclaim processing, the collaboration aims to capture a portion of the 44% of recoverable VAT that currently goes unclaimed globally.

What was announced

The partnership focuses on streamlining the workflow from hotel payment to tax recovery. Once available, the integration will enable customers using Conferma’s Snap+ service to send hotel invoice data directly to VAT IT via API connectivity. Snap+ functions by connecting directly with hotel property management systems (PMS), which allows for more efficient collection and processing of invoice data compared to traditional manual methods.

The scale of the problem is substantial; global travel spend sits at over $1.7 trillion, yet nearly half of recoverable VAT is lost due to the complexities of international tax laws. Businesses operating across multiple jurisdictions face varying eligibility rules, documentation standards, submission formats, and deadlines. Incomplete or inconsistent documentation often prevents otherwise eligible claims from succeeding, meaning VAT recovery is frequently missed, delayed, or rejected.

The new integration is designed to mitigate these frictions by ensuring that the data passed to VAT IT is consistent and complete. By automating the hand-off between the payment platform and the tax recovery specialist, the companies intend to reduce the administrative burden on finance, tax, and business travel teams. This is particularly relevant for high-volume hotel spend, where recoverable tax is often spread across thousands of individual invoices that are difficult to manage at scale.

"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."

Stuart Davenport, Chief Product Officer at Conferma

The companies involved

Conferma is a global leader in virtual card technology, specifically tailored for the business travel sector. Headquartered in the UK and owned by Sabre Corporation, the company provides the infrastructure used by travel management companies and corporations to generate secure, trackable virtual cards. Its position in the market is defined by its extensive network of banking partners and its ability to integrate payment data directly with travel booking and property management systems.

VAT IT operates as a specialist in VAT recovery and tax compliance solutions. The firm assists businesses in navigating the complexities of cross-border tax reclaim, managing the high volume of documentation required to satisfy various national tax authorities. While VAT IT focuses on the technical aspects of tax law and submission formats, its partnership with Conferma allows it to move further upstream into the payment and data capture phase of the travel lifecycle. This collaboration places both companies at the intersection of fintech and travel-tech, targeting the operational inefficiencies that plague large-scale corporate travel programs.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has tracked Conferma’s steady expansion into the broader B2B and virtual card ecosystem. In late 2026, the publication reported on HSBC and Conferma Expand Virtual Card Partnership to Automate B2B Payments Across APAC, highlighting the company’s push into Asian markets. Earlier that year, American Express Boosts B2B Efficiency with Enhanced Virtual Card Capabilities and Conferma Integration detailed how major issuers are leveraging Conferma’s infrastructure to improve corporate payment utility. The firm also launched an industry-first global benchmark for hotel payment performance in August 2026. This focus on data accuracy aligns with broader trends identified in AI to Manage $700bn in Corporate Travel Spend by 2028 as Agentic Payments Rise, which explored the increasing role of automation in managing travel expenses.

What this means

This partnership highlights a shift in the corporate travel sector from simple payment execution to comprehensive data lifecycle management. For years, the "leakage" of recoverable VAT has been accepted as an unavoidable cost of doing business due to the sheer friction of manual reclamation. By bridging the gap between the payment event and the tax filing, Conferma and VAT IT are putting pressure on traditional expense management platforms that lack deep, API-level integration with hotel property management systems. The industry is moving toward a model where "invisible" payments must be matched by "invisible" compliance, raising the bar for any fintech provider operating in the high-volume, multi-jurisdictional travel space.