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Reverse charge VAT helper

See whether to charge VAT or write “reverse charge,” checking the buyer’s VAT number live against VIES.

Free, no accountLive check

Where your business is established for VAT purposes.

The member state that issued the buyer’s VAT number.

Just the digits (and letter, for some countries) after the country code - checked live against VIES.

Try

Result

Fill in the form and press Check reverse charge. The verdict and the detail appear here.

What this is

This reverse charge VAT helper checks the buyer’s VAT number live against VIES, then applies Article 196 of Directive 2006/112/EC - the general B2B services rule that puts VAT on the customer rather than the supplier when they are in different member states and the customer is VAT-registered - so it tells you whether to charge VAT or write "reverse charge," not just repeats a rule you still have to check yourself.

Article 196 is the general rule for business-to-business services: when the supplier is not established in the member state where the service is supplied, and the customer there is a taxable person, the customer accounts for the VAT instead of the supplier. The seller and buyer being in different member states is one half of that condition; the buyer actually being a VAT-registered business, verified rather than assumed, is the other.

This tool covers only that general rule for services. Goods, business-to-consumer sales, and the services with their own place-of-supply rule under Articles 44 to 59a - property, admission to events, passenger transport, restaurant and catering, short-term vehicle hire among them - are explicitly out of scope: each has its own rule for where VAT is due, and Article 196 is not it.

How to read the result

The VAT check comes first because the whole answer turns on it: a buyer whose VAT number VIES cannot confirm is not a verified taxable person, whatever country they say they are in, so the safe answer is to charge VAT as normal.

When reverse charge applies, the wording block is the thing to actually paste onto the invoice - Article 226(11a) of the same directive requires the words "Reverse charge" to appear on it, and that exact phrase is what is offered to copy.

Common mistakes

What goes wrong most often, and how to tell.

  • Applying this to a sale of goodsArticle 196 is written for services; goods crossing a border between two VAT-registered businesses follow the separate intra-Community supply rules, with their own conditions and their own evidence requirements. This tool does not decide those.
  • Applying this to a consumer saleArticle 196 needs the customer to be a taxable person - a VAT-registered business. A sale to a consumer in another member state is a B2C supply with its own place-of-supply rule, and reverse charge under Article 196 never applies to it.
  • Trusting a VAT number that was never actually checkedA customer typing a VAT number into a form is not the same as that number being valid. This tool only concludes reverse charge applies once VIES itself confirms the number right now - a number that looks right but fails that check gets the normal-VAT answer instead.
  • Forgetting the invoice still needs the wordingDeciding that VAT is not charged is only half the requirement - Article 226(11a) requires the invoice to say "Reverse charge" in words. An invoice with no VAT line and no mention of why is not compliant even when the underlying decision was correct.

Questions

What people ask about this tool.

  • That VAT on a B2B service is accounted for by the customer, not the supplier, when the supplier is not established in the member state where the service is supplied and the customer there is a taxable person. Both halves have to hold: different member states, and a buyer verified as VAT-registered.

  • Not under Article 196, which is written for services specifically. Goods moving between VAT-registered businesses in different member states follow the separate intra-Community supply rules, which this tool does not cover.

  • Article 226(11a) requires the words "Reverse charge" to appear on an invoice where the customer is liable for the VAT. Many businesses also add the legal basis, such as "Reverse charge - Article 196 of Directive 2006/112/EC," but the directive itself only requires the phrase this tool offers to copy.

  • Then the buyer cannot be treated as a verified taxable person for this supply, so Article 196 does not apply and VAT is charged in the ordinary way - regardless of what country they say they are in.

Sources

Every fixed value here comes from the provider’s own documentation. These pages change, so each says the day it was last read.

Use it from the API

The same check, as one request.

Request
curl -X POST https://resellerhq.com/api/tools/reverse-charge-vat-helper \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"sellerCountry":"DE","buyerCountry":"IE","buyerVatNumber":"6388047V"}'
Response
{
  "tool": "reverse-charge-vat-helper",
  "input": {
    "sellerCountry": "DE",
    "buyerCountry": "IE",
    "buyerVatNumber": "6388047V"
  },
  "result": {
    "verdict": {
      "tone": "success",
      "headline": "Reverse charge applies",
      "summary": "Do not charge VAT on this invoice - the buyer accounts for it instead."
    },
    "findings": [
      {
        "id": "buyer-vat-valid",
        "severity": "pass",
        "title": "IE6388047V is a valid VAT number",
        "detail": "VIES confirms this number is registered to Google Ireland Limited."
      },
      {
        "id": "reverse-charge-applies",
        "severity": "pass",
        "title": "Reverse charge applies - do not charge VAT",
        "detail": "Article 196 of Directive 2006/112/EC puts VAT on the buyer rather than the seller whenever the supplier is not established in the member state where the service is supplied and the customer is a taxable person there. The seller is in DE and the buyer's valid VAT number is registered in IE, so this condition is met for the general B2B services rule."
      }
    ],
    "parts": [
      {
        "kind": "record",
        "title": "Wording Article 226(11a) requires on the invoice",
        "value": "Reverse charge",
        "note": "Article 226(11a) requires exactly this mention on an invoice where the customer is liable for the VAT. Many invoices also add the legal basis, \"Article 196 of Directive 2006/112/EC\", alongside it, though the directive itself only requires the words shown here.",
        "copyLabel": "Copy invoice wording"
      }
    ],
    "lookups": [
      {
        "label": "GET VIES for IE6388047V",
        "value": "valid"
      }
    ],
    "limits": [
      "This covers only the general B2B rule for services under Article 196 - the place-of-supply rules for goods, for B2C sales, and for the services that have their own rule under Articles 44-59a (property, events, transport, restaurant and catering, short-term vehicle hire, and more) are not what this tool decides.",
      "This is not legal or tax advice: whether a specific supply is actually a \"general rule\" B2B service, and how to report it, should be confirmed with an accountant or tax adviser before anything here is relied on.",
      "The VAT check carries VIES’s own gaps too - some member states return no trader name or address even for a valid number, and VIES being briefly unreachable is reported separately from VIES saying the number is not valid."
    ]
  }
}

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