If you buy goods from an entrepreneur in an EU country other than the Netherlands, and transfer these goods to the Netherlands, your liability for VAT in the Netherlands will depend on whether the buyer of the goods is already known.
If you transfer goods to the Netherlands before you have found a buyer for the goods, you will owe VAT. You will perform an intra-Community acquisition in the Netherlands. You will have to register with the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration. You will then be assigned a Dutch VAT identification number, which you should pass on to your supplier. In that case, your supplier need not charge you any foreign VAT. The VAT you owe because of the intra-Community acquisition should be paid on return. You can deduct this VAT again as input tax in the same return, in accordance with the applicable rules.
Example
You buy a consignment of shoes from a shoe manufacturer in France, which you then arrange to be transported to a warehouse in the Netherlands. You are considered to have effected an intra-Community acquisition in the Netherlands. You are liable for Dutch VAT on the purchase price of the shoes. You can deduct the same amount as input tax. You should register with the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration, which will give you a VAT identification number that you should pass on to the French shoe manufacturer. Once the latter has this information, he should not charge you any French VAT.
You are also considered to perform an intra-Community acquisition if you transfer goods for which you have not yet been able to find a buyer from your own business in another EU Member State to the Netherlands. Again, you must register for VAT in the Netherlands and file a VAT return in the Netherlands.
Example
You own a manufacturing plant in Italy. You have a stock of spare parts in a Dutch warehouse. Whenever you transport spare parts from Italy to the Netherlands, you are considered to:
- perform an intra-Community supply of your own goods from Italy to the Netherlands; and
- perform an intra-Community acquisition of goods in the Netherlands, which you should declare in the Netherlands.
The procedure is different if you have already found a buyer for the goods and the goods are transported to the Netherlands for the purpose of delivering them to the buyer. If the buyer is buying the goods for business purposes, he is considered to perform an intra-Community acquisition in the Netherlands for which he is liable for VAT. You, in turn, are considered to perform an intra-Community supply in the Member State where you are established or from which the goods originate. In this case, the buyer must give you his VAT identification number.
If you run a business in an EU country other than the Netherlands and you sell goods (with the exception of new motor vehicles) to private individuals or other persons without a VAT identification number in the Netherlands, you should charge VAT in the country where your business is established.
If you meet certain conditions, however, you can make use of the distance sales regulation.
