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VAT on cross-border EU shipment for non-EU company?

JustAnotherNomad

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Oct 18, 2019
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Just out of curiosity - I have found the following to be true with B2B orders of physical goods:

When a seller is in one EU country and a business customer is registered in another (like an advertising agency in Spain ordering something from Amazon in France), then the seller charges no VAT on the sale because it is VAT-reversed. That is also true for sales to a third country (advertising agency in Spain ordering from Amazon France to an address in Italy).
But for all sales within the same country (Amazon France to a French address), no matter if the client is registered in France or Spain, there is always VAT. But it can be reclaimed later when the buyer can prove that the goods have left the country.
So far, so good.

But what happens when a non-EU company orders physical goods from an EU company?

Obviously, when it's in the same country (a Georgia company ordering from Amazon France to a French address), there will be VAT again, yadda yadda.
And obviously when a Georgia company orders from Amazon France to an address outside the EU (Georgia or India), Amazon France won't charge VAT either. Fine.
But what if a Georgia company orders from Amazon France to an address in Italy or Spain? Does the seller have to charge VAT?
If not, how do they know the buyer is a real company? For EU VAT ID's, the seller must check their validity. But non-EU companies don't have such a VAT ID.

So probably the seller always has to charge VAT, just to be on the safe side?
 
The foreign company can vat register in the eu under certain conditions, then it would work the same as a eu company.
If it’s not vat registered then it would work like a non vat registered eu company.
The selling company has to charge vat unless it has verified that the buyer is vat registered (in the eu off course). There is a website where you can check if a vat number is valid.
 
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That makes sense. Otherwise it would be a massive risk for VAT fraud.

Do you know if it’s difficult to register for VAT? It would just be so convenient to buy without VAT, instead of having to claim a refund later.
But it’s probably not worth it if you don’t buy a lot of stuff because of VAT reports that would have to be submitted?
 

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