In the UK, flight training is fully liable for VAT, so if you did all your training in the UK, 20% of the cost would go to the gubbermint.
The issues surrounding claiming back the VAT on professional flight training have been explored in some detail elsewhere (
http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/198...ing-costs.html and
http://www.pprune.org/professional-p...ed-2011-a.html for example). The simple answer is if you intend to become a VAT-charging entity (i.e. you plan to contract out your services, or start a company doing this), then you can claim back VAT (at least on the professional bits of your training); if you plan to become an employee of someone else, then you can't. As always with these things, it depends, and if this is more than idle curiosity for you, then you'd be better off talking to an actual tax professional.