Basics of Intra-Community Deliveries
Intra-Community supplies - how to check the VAT identification number of your customer
Simple and qualified confirmation
The Federal Central Tax Office offers you a quick and free way to check the VAT registration number of your customers in the European Union. You can distinguish between the simple and the qualified confirmation during the verification.
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Simple confirmation: The simple confirmation tells you whether the foreign VAT number you have is valid in the member state in which it was issued at the time of your request.
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Qualified confirmation: This type of confirmation allows you to check the accuracy of additional data you have. This includes, for example, the company name (including the legal form of the company), company location, and the street and postal code of your customer. Important: If you would like to receive a qualified confirmation, a simple confirmation must always be carried out first.
Our recommendation
For a flawless and legally compliant check, always choose the qualified check.
To start your query
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First, access the platform on the website of the Federal Central Tax Office.
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To check your customer's VAT registration number, you must also enter your own VAT registration number for the query.
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You can request the qualified confirmation by clicking the "Online confirmation" button.
In addition to the option of online confirmation, you can also send your inquiries to the Federal Central Tax Office by mail, telephone, fax or e-mail. A corresponding contact form is available on the Internet for this purpose. You will always receive a reply from the Federal Central Tax Office in writing.
How to prove your check
If you set up the request via the contact form, you will receive a written confirmation, which you can archive accordingly. For the Internet query, click an appropriate field to receive a written confirmation. In order to obtain proof of your confirmation query when making inquiries via the Internet, take a screenshot of the result of the verification transmitted to you by the Federal Central Tax Office and transfer it to your system. This is sufficient according to Sales Tax Application Decree Section 18e.1.
If the VAT ID number does not match
If you receive the message "does not match" when you query your customer's VAT registration number, contact your customer. Ask him to provide you with the correct VAT number. In practice, it is easy to make a mistake or forget a number. It is absolutely essential that you ask your customer. This is because the Federal Central Tax Office cannot provide you with the registered data of the customer you are inquiring about.
If you find out from your customer that he is not sure where the error occurred and what data is stored for his VAT registration number, he can ask his competent authority for information on this. If an adjustment or change to your customer's data is necessary, this can only be done with the relevant authorities in their member state. For example, it may be that your customer's address has changed and this has not been reported accordingly. Or your customer may have several VAT registration numbers in one country or location, because he has several business locations there.
Important: Only supply and invoice your customer without VAT if you have a valid VAT registration number. If this is not the case, you should invoice the delivery for the order with VAT.
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