VAT and cross-border invoicing
Where you are and what you are decides the VAT line on your invoice. Here is the short version; your own accountant has the final word.
The three cases
- Dutch businesses and consumers
- Dutch VAT is charged at the standard rate. Businesses reclaim it in the normal way.
- Businesses elsewhere in the EU
- With a valid VAT identification number, the reverse charge applies: we invoice without VAT and you account for it in your own country. Without a valid number, we must charge VAT.
- Customers outside the EU
- Generally no EU VAT on business supplies. Your own country's import or service rules may still apply to you.
Give us the number before the first invoice
We verify VAT numbers against the EU's VIES database. A number that does not validate — wrong format, not registered for intra-EU transactions, or simply mistyped — means we have to charge VAT, and correcting an invoice afterwards is more work for both of us than getting it right first.
Send it with your company name and address exactly as registered. Those have to match what VIES returns.
Consumers
We accept consumers in the EU. If you are buying as a private individual rather than a business, VAT is charged and shown on the invoice, and the consumer rights that apply to distance contracts apply to you — including the statutory right of withdrawal, with the usual exception for services you have asked us to start immediately. The terms set this out.
What is on the invoice
Our legal name and address, our Chamber of Commerce number and VAT number, your details, the period, the services, and the VAT treatment with the reason where VAT is not charged. That is what your accountant needs and what a bank or auditor expects to see.
Invoices are available in the portal at any time — see invoices and payment.
Paying
Bank transfer or credit card. Payments are upfront: the invoice for the coming period is issued before it starts. If you hold credit on your account it is applied automatically to new invoices as they are generated, which is convenient if you order often. Credit is used against services rather than paid back out.
If something is wrong
Tell us before paying rather than after. A corrected invoice issued in the same period is simple; a credit note and re-issue across a quarter boundary is not.
And keep your billing details current — a company name or address that no longer matches your registration causes problems at exactly the wrong moment, usually during an audit. See who may act on your account.
The disclaimer that matters
We can tell you how we invoice. We cannot advise you on your own tax position, and the rules differ by country and by what you do with the service. For anything beyond the above, ask your accountant.
Still stuck? Mail support@novogara.com — an engineer answers, at any hour. Back to the knowledge base