How does VAT work with foreign customers?
Short answer
For services to businesses in other EU countries, you apply reverse-charge VAT and file an intra-Community supplies listing (opgaaf ICP). For consumers in the EU, you charge Dutch VAT until you exceed the EU threshold of €10,000; after that, your customer's country's rate applies, via the One Stop Shop (OSS). Exports outside the EU are usually 0%.
Updated on · Reviewed by the tax advisers at Boekhoudvriend
For cross-border VAT, three questions matter: is your customer a business or a consumer, are they inside or outside the EU, and do you supply goods or services? The answers determine whether you charge VAT, at what rate and in which country.
Business customers in the EU
You shift the VAT to your customer and state their VAT number on the invoice. You also file an intra-Community supplies listing (ICP), usually every quarter. Goods you transport to a business in another EU country are taxed at 0%.
Consumers in the EU
If you sell online to consumers in other EU countries, or supply digital services, you charge Dutch VAT up to a combined turnover of €10,000 a year. Above that, you charge the VAT rate of your customer's country and file a single return for it via the One Stop Shop (OSS).
Customers outside the EU
Exports of goods to a country outside the EU are taxed at 0%, provided you can show with customs documents that the goods have left the EU. For services to businesses outside the EU, you usually don't charge Dutch VAT.
Sources
- Belastingdienst: VAT when doing business abroad (in Dutch)
- Belastingdienst: the reverse-charge scheme (in Dutch)
This answer is general information, not personal advice. Your own situation may work out differently, so feel free to ask our team.