Invoicing clients outside the Netherlands: VAT, reverse charge and ICP

Plenty of internationals running a Dutch business keep clients in their home country or elsewhere abroad. The invoice itself barely changes; the VAT treatment does. These are the four situations you are likely to meet.

1. A business client in another EU country

For most services between businesses, VAT is due where the client is established, not where you are. So you invoice without Dutch VAT and the client accounts for the VAT in their own country. This is the reverse charge.

On the invoice you then:

• Charge 0 VAT and show no Dutch VAT amount.
• State your client’s VAT number as well as your own.
• Add the wording “btw verlegd” (VAT reverse-charged) so the reason is explicit.

Two obligations come with it:

• Check the VAT number in the European VIES database before you invoice, and keep the proof. If the number turns out to be invalid, the reverse charge does not hold and the VAT can end up being your problem.
• File an ICP return (opgaaf intracommunautaire prestaties) alongside your regular VAT return, listing what you supplied to which VAT number. The tax offices cross-check the two sides.

Goods follow a different route from services: an intra-EU supply of goods to a business can be zero-rated, but only with proof of transport. Ask the Belastingdienst or a bookkeeper if you ship physical products.

2. A private customer in another EU country

Here the reverse charge does not apply, because your customer has no VAT number. As a rule you charge Dutch VAT.

The big exception is digital services (e-books, online courses, software, streaming) and distance sales of goods. Once your cross-border sales to consumers in the EU pass 10,000 euro per year in total, you must charge the VAT rate of your customer’s country. You can report that through the One Stop Shop (OSS) in the Netherlands instead of registering in every country separately.

3. A client outside the EU

Services to a business outside the EU are usually outside the scope of Dutch VAT, so you invoice without it. Exports of goods can be zero-rated with the right export evidence.

Note that your client’s own country may still have rules of its own, such as withholding tax on invoices from foreign suppliers. Ask about it before you agree a price, because it comes off your payment.

4. Another Dutch business

Nothing special: Dutch VAT at the usual rate. See Calculating VAT.

A few practical points

• The mandatory details do not change. Whether the client is in Berlin or Utrecht, the checklist in What must a Dutch invoice contain applies, plus the client’s VAT number when the reverse charge applies.
• Invoicing in another currency is allowed, but the VAT amount must also be shown in euros. See Invoicing in English and in another currency.
• The KOR does not exempt you from everything. If you are in the small businesses scheme, cross-border supplies still have their own reporting rules. Check them before you rely on the exemption.
• Larger EU clients increasingly want an e-invoice rather than a PDF. See What is a UBL invoice.

In factuurmaken you can set an invoice to reverse-charged VAT, with the correct legal wording on the document and your client’s VAT number in place. VAT rules across borders get technical quickly, so use this as a map, and check your specific case with the Belastingdienst or your bookkeeper.