Well I can say for certain the syntax  is correct because

1) the error I receive is "Run-time error '1004': Application-
defined or object-defined error" not a sql  syntax error and
2) the way the process works  is that I create the queries  using
Query Analyzer (a SQL Server query  tool), test it in that
environment and then just paste the query into the textbox.
3) I use the msgbox approach to edit errors and have already checked
that.

That said, I'm happy to hear you've used SQL variable naming
conventions in a VBA procedure. It gives me hope that this problem
can be corrected.

This is my code  below. I'm using a QueryTable so maybe that is the
problem. What method do you use?

FYI - the error is on the 'oQT.Refresh' and like I've said, if I
just take out the '@'+variable name and replace the variables  with
constants the process works as intended.

Sub CreateQT3()

Dim sConn As String
Dim sSql As String
Dim oQt As QueryTable
Dim intdate As Long
Dim strOut As String
Dim shtOut As String
Dim wkbkOut As String
Dim wkbk As Workbook

Set wkbk = ActiveWorkbook

wkbkOut = Sheet3.Range("AJ27").Value
shtOut = Sheet3.Range("AJ28").Value
strOut = Sheet3.Range("AJ29").Value

sConn = "ODBC;DRIVER=SQL
Server;SERVER=xxxxxxxx;UID=xxxxxxx;Trusted_Connection=Yes"

sSql = Sheets("Queries").AccessQry.Text

Set oQt = Workbooks(wkbkOut).Sheets(shtOut).QueryTables.Add
(Connection:=sConn, _
Destination:=Sheets(shtOut).Range(strOut), Sql:=sSql)
With oQt
.Name = "QueryResults"
.FieldNames = True
.RowNumbers = False
.FillAdjacentFormulas = False
.PreserveFormatting = True
.RefreshOnFileOpen = False
.BackgroundQuery = False
.RefreshStyle = xlOverwriteCells
.SavePassword = True
.SaveData = True
.AdjustColumnWidth = True
.RefreshPeriod = 1
.PreserveColumnInfo = False
End With
oQt.Refresh
oQt.Delete
End Sub