Home Foreign businesses Do I need a Dutch VAT number?
Do I need a Dutch VAT number?
Many foreign companies with Dutch customers never need a Dutch VAT number, because the VAT is shifted to the customer. Others need one from the first sale. It depends on who your customers are and where your goods are.
We check it for you, and register if needed
Tell us what you sell, to whom and from where. If you need a Dutch VAT number, the registration is everything included.
Often not: your customer accounts for the VAT
If your company is not established in the Netherlands and has no fixed establishment there, the Dutch VAT on most of your sales to a business established in the Netherlands is reverse-charged: your customer reports it and deducts it in its own return (Article 12(2) and (3) of the Dutch VAT Act). Your invoice shows no Dutch VAT, but the customer's VAT number and the words “VAT reverse charged”.
For services to businesses the general rule goes one step further: the service is taxed where the customer is established. A Dutch business customer then accounts for the Dutch VAT itself.
When you do need a Dutch VAT number
You register in the Netherlands as soon as you yourself owe Dutch VAT, or have to report a transaction here. The most common situations:
- You sell to consumers from stock in the Netherlands, for example a Dutch warehouse or Amazon FBA
- You move your own goods into the Netherlands from another EU country, for example to a warehouse or consignment stock
- You ship goods from the Netherlands to customers in other EU countries: that is an intra-EU supply from the Netherlands, with a Dutch return and EC Sales List
- You sell goods located in the Netherlands to a customer that is not established here, such as another foreign company without a Dutch establishment
- You supply and install goods for private customers in the Netherlands; from 1 July 2028 this can go through the OSS
- You sell second-hand goods in the Netherlands under the margin scheme
How the registration works, which details the Dutch tax authorities ask for and what follows afterwards: VAT registration in the Netherlands for foreign companies.
Selling to Dutch consumers from another EU country
Goods sent from another EU country to consumers in the Netherlands are distance sales. If your company is established in one EU country only and your cross-border sales of goods and digital services to consumers in the whole EU stay under € 10,000 a year, you charge the VAT of your own country. Above that, Dutch VAT applies, and you can declare it through the One-Stop Shop (OSS) in your own country instead of registering in the Netherlands.
Services to Dutch consumers, such as repairs or online services, can also go through the OSS: the Union scheme for EU companies, the non-Union scheme for companies from outside the EU.
Dutch VAT on your costs
Without a Dutch VAT number you cannot deduct Dutch VAT on costs here, such as hotels, car hire or goods bought in the Netherlands. You reclaim it through the refund procedure instead: Dutch VAT refund for foreign businesses.
Example
A consultancy established in Germany, without an office in the Netherlands, has three Dutch situations in one quarter:
- It advises a Dutch BV (private limited company) for € 10,000. The service is taxed in the Netherlands, but the BV reports the € 2,100 Dutch VAT and deducts it in the same return. No Dutch VAT number needed
- It sells training material for € 4,000 to a Dutch company, shipped from Germany. That is an intra-EU supply from Germany at 0%; the Dutch customer reports the acquisition. No Dutch VAT number needed
- It then keeps the training material in stock in a warehouse in Rotterdam. From the first transfer of its own goods to that warehouse it needs a Dutch VAT number. Its later sales from that stock to Dutch businesses are still reverse-charged
This is a worked example, not a client case. We check your own situation before you register.
From 1 July 2028 (ViDA)
More sales to consumers, including sales from stock in the customer's country, and transfers of your own stock can then go through the OSS of your own country. Fewer foreign companies will need a Dutch VAT number. Reclaiming Dutch VAT on costs still needs a refund request or a registration. See what changes with ViDA.
What we do
We look at your customers, your goods flows and your costs, and tell you whether you need a Dutch VAT number. If you do, we arrange the registration (€ 275, everything included) and the quarterly returns (€ 100 per month for all your Dutch VAT returns, € 150 with the OSS return). If you do not, we can reclaim the Dutch VAT on your costs (€ 395 per year).
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a Dutch VAT number to invoice a Dutch company?
Usually not. If your company is not established in the Netherlands, the VAT on most sales to Dutch businesses is reverse-charged to the customer. You put the customer's VAT number and "VAT reverse charged" on the invoice.
Is there a threshold before I have to register in the Netherlands?
Only for distance sales to consumers by a company established in one other EU country: € 10,000 a year for all EU countries together, and above it you can use the OSS. For sales from stock in the Netherlands there is no threshold.
What if we should have registered earlier?
Then the Dutch VAT for the past periods is still due. If you correct it yourself, before you know or should suspect that the Dutch tax authorities are aware of it, there is as a rule no penalty.
Not sure whether you need a Dutch VAT number? Tell us what you sell, to whom and from where.
Tell us briefly what is going on. Within one working day you hear what we can do for you and what it costs, before we start.
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