Type: Tool / Online Service
Generally, all sales of goods are subject to VAT. For cross-border sales, often the VAT zero-rate can be applied. But only if certain requirements are met.
One the VAT Quick Fixes implemented in the EU on January 1, 2020 was the formal requirement to have a correct and valid VAT number of your customer to be able to apply the VAT zero-rate to an Intra-Community supply of goods. This means that businesses must ensure that they always have the VAT number and that they can prove that they have checked it.
The most accurate way to ensure the validity of the VAT number is to have validated through VIES (VAT Information Exchange System). However, VIES only allows to check one VAT number per consultation. Therefore, tools are being developed to do a mass validation of VAT numbers.
Various parties offer tools for this, such as Dentons and smaller independent websites. Also SAP announced that it offers a service that communicates with the EU VIES database to validate VAT numbers.
A simple and quick website that offers this service can be found HERE.
