Home Foreign businesses Triangulation: ABC chain transactions with the Netherlands
Triangulation: ABC chain transactions with the Netherlands
You buy goods from a supplier in one EU country and sell them to a customer in the Netherlands, and the goods go directly from the supplier to your customer. Without the simplified triangulation rules, you would need a Dutch VAT number.
We check your chain, and register if needed
If the simplification does not apply, the Dutch registration is everything included.
Which sale is the intra-EU supply
In a chain A-B-C with one transport, only one sale can be the intra-EU supply at 0%. If you, the intermediary B, arrange the transport, it is the sale from A to you, unless you give A a VAT number of the country of departure (Article 5c of the Dutch VAT Act). Your sale to the Dutch customer C then takes place in the Netherlands.
Without simplification: a Dutch VAT number
You make an intra-EU acquisition in the Netherlands and a Dutch domestic sale to C. You register in the Netherlands and charge Dutch VAT.
How that registration works and what you need to provide is explained on our page on VAT registration in the Netherlands for foreign companies.
With the simplified triangulation rules: no Dutch VAT number
- Three businesses, each identified for VAT in a different EU country; the intermediary uses a VAT number of neither the country of A nor that of C
- The goods go directly from the country of A to the Netherlands, and the transport belongs to the sale from A to B
- B buys the goods in order to sell them on to C
- B's invoice to C states that the VAT is reverse-charged to C. Without that wording the simplification does not apply (Court of Justice, Luxury Trust, C-247/21)
- B reports the sale to C in its EC Sales List as a triangular supply; C reports the acquisition and the Dutch VAT in its own return
A company with only a UK or US VAT number cannot use the simplification and then usually needs a Dutch VAT number.
Example
A manufacturer in Germany (A) sells machines to a trading company in Belgium (B), which sells them for € 100,000 to a customer in the Netherlands (C). B arranges transport directly from Germany to the Netherlands.
- Without simplification: B registers in the Netherlands and charges € 21,000 Dutch VAT to C
- With simplification: A invoices B at 0% with B's Belgian VAT number; B invoices C without VAT, stating that the VAT is reverse-charged; C reports € 21,000 Dutch VAT and deducts it
- B has no Dutch VAT number and pays no Dutch VAT
This is a worked example, not a client case.
What we do
We check your chain and your invoices against the conditions. If the simplification does not apply, we register your company for Dutch VAT (€ 275, everything included) and file the returns (€ 100 per month for all your Dutch VAT returns, € 150 with the OSS return). An EC Sales List from the Netherlands is € 25 per month extra.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a Dutch VAT number for a triangular sale to a Dutch customer?
Not if the simplified triangulation rules apply: three businesses identified in three different EU countries, direct transport, and an invoice stating that the VAT is reverse-charged to the Dutch customer.
What must the invoice to the Dutch customer say?
That the VAT is reverse-charged to the customer, with the customer's Dutch VAT number. The Court of Justice ruled that without this wording the simplification does not apply.
Can a UK company use the simplified triangulation rules?
Only if it is identified for VAT in an EU country other than those of the supplier and the customer. With only a UK VAT number it cannot.
Do the simplified triangulation rules apply when there is a fourth party in the chain?
Yes, under conditions. According to the Dutch tax authorities' knowledge group (KG:210:2024:3) and a decree of the State Secretary, the rules apply to the sales A-B and B-C, also when the goods go directly to C's customer in the same country. This is different if C tells B that its country does not apply the rules in that situation.
What if my Dutch customer arranges the transport?
Then the transport generally belongs to your sale to that customer. Your purchase from the supplier is then a domestic sale in the country of departure, and you make an intra-EU supply from that country to the Dutch customer. The simplification then does not apply, and you need a VAT number in the country of departure.
My company is in the same country as the supplier. Can I still use the simplified rules?
Yes, if you use a VAT number of an EU country other than those of the supplier and the customer. The Court of Justice decided this in the Bühler case (C-580/16).
Selling goods to a Dutch customer through a chain? Tell us who ships what, 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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