VFE,
I've replied by now, as you know. Good luck.
The rest of you - this is all tried and tested and perfectly legal. I did it for all my CPL and FI training, and had no problems. The fact that I had another business which I registered at the same time for VAT (I had to, under the rules) meant that overall I was sometimes paying them money, which may have helped. But cheques from them for refunded VAT turned up promptly with no problems.
This has been discussed before on PPRuNe - I think it was on Rotorheads. Why don't you do a search there?