For a business client elsewhere in the EU you don’t: you invoice at 0% with “VAT reverse charged to customer” and their VAT number, report it in box 3b and on the ICP listing. Outside the EU you also invoice at 0%; Dutch and EU private clients pay Dutch VAT.
Pick your client’s country and whether they’re a business. The answer below is the same rule Netto applies to every invoice.
Don’t charge Dutch VAT to a business in Germany: invoice at 0% with the reverse-charge text below and their VAT number, put the amount in box 3b, and list it on your ICP return.
In EnglishVAT reverse charged to customer — Art. 196 EU VAT Directive 2006/112/EC
In DutchBTW verlegd naar afnemer — art. 196 BTW-richtlijn EU 2006/112/EG
Yes: one line for this client, with their VAT number and the amount in whole euros
Put the client’s VAT number on the invoice, and check it in the EU’s VIES register before you send it.
Make this invoice, free →| Client | Dutch VAT | Text on the invoice | BTW return | ICP listing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands, business or person | 21%, 9% or 0% per line | None needed | Box 1a, 1b, or 1e | No |
| EU business, services | 0% | VAT reverse charged to customer — Art. 196 EU VAT Directive 2006/112/EC | Box 3b | Yes |
| EU business, goods | 0% | Intra-Community supply of goods — 0% VAT (Art. 138 EU VAT Directive 2006/112/EC) | Box 3b | Yes |
| EU private person | 21%, 9% or 0% per line | None needed | Box 1a, 1b, or 1e | No |
| Outside the EU (UK, US, Switzerland…), services | 0% | No Dutch VAT — place of supply outside the EU (Art. 6 / 6i Wet OB) | Not on the return | No |
| Outside the EU, goods | 0% | Export of goods outside the EU — 0% VAT (Art. 146 EU VAT Directive 2006/112/EC) | Box 3a | No |
| Under the KOR: Netherlands or EU private person | 0% | VAT exempt — KOR Small Business Scheme (Art. 25 Wet OB) | Not on the return | No |
You design a website for an agency in Berlin for €2,000. The agency is a business in Germany, so the invoice shows €2,000 with 0% VAT, the agency’s German VAT number, and “VAT reverse charged to customer — Art. 196 EU VAT Directive 2006/112/EC”. In your BTW return for that quarter, €2,000 goes in box 3b. On the ICP listing you add one line: the agency’s VAT number and €2,000. The same work for a private person in Berlin would be €2,000 plus 21% Dutch VAT, €2,420 in all, in box 1a.
Inside the EU (reverse charge for business clients): Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.
Outside the EU (no Dutch VAT): the United Kingdom, the United States, Switzerland, and every other country outside the EU.
The one-stop shop (OSS) for digital services and goods to EU private people, services you perform in the Netherlands for a private client outside the EU, the domestic reverse charge (construction), and goods to Northern Ireland. In those cases ask your accountant.
Netto picks the VAT for each client, prints the right text, checks the VAT number in VIES, and fills box 3b and your ICP listing for you.
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