VIES registration in Spain
VIES registration: EU VAT registration for your Spanish company to allow VAT exemption on intra-EU transactions.
If a company is selling goods to a company based in a different EU country and both companies are listed in the VIES/ROI database, then the goods are exempt from VAT tax. If, on the other hand, both companies are based in the same country then VAT must still be applied.
If you have a Spanish company (with a Spanish tax ID), we can apply for a European VAT number (VIES) for you, as long as you fulfill the requirements.
What is VIES?
VIES (VAT Information Exchange System) is an online database created by the EU that lets you find out if a company has been approved.
Using the VIES database, an approved company can find out immediately whether an invoice must include VAT or not by looking up the VAT number of the company they are doing business with. Each EU member tax office maintains an electronic database that sends the information to the central VIES database. The database has two main objectives:
- Help companies to do business in Europe.
- Help countries monitor and control irregularities.
Note that once you are registered, you may be removed from the system at any time, often because you do not have any intra-EU transactions.
Spanish authorities will verify that your company is actually active and has an address. Usually an inspection takes place.
Please contact us if you would like to apply for VIES VAT registration for your company in Spain.
FAQs:
- I have a Spanish company with a CIF. My advisor told me that it's valid, but the European VAT registry website says that it's an invalid VAT number. Why?
- Who must have a Tax Identification Number (NIF) and a VAT Number?
- What is the difference between the Tax Identification Number (NIF) and VAT Number?
- How is the VAT Intracommunitary Number requested?
Links:
I plan to sell online in Spain. Do I charge Spanish VAT tax?
I operate a shoe company in the USA. We are starting to manufacture our shoes in Spain. Will the VAT automatically be deducted by the Spanish shoe factory, since we are not located in a country that uses the VAT system?
We are a Swiss company and we are going to open a call center in Barcelona to serve our European (non-Spanish) clients. Do we need to register for VAT in Spain?
We are a UK company that provides onsite computer server support. We have been asked to undertake this role in Spain. Since we are required to charge VAT locally, we will require a VAT number, right?
My French company is selling in Spain. Can we avoid having our Spanish clients pay VAT tax?
- EU VAT Registry (VIES database)
- The Hague Apostille: Where to go to get the Apostille for your documents.
- The Hague Apostille for the USA.
Questions? We're here to help!
Contact UsI have a Spanish company with a CIF. My advisor told me that it's valid, but the European VAT registry website says that it's an invalid VAT number. Why?
Your company's CIF is valid for invoicing any company. The EU VAT registry (VIES) is a database that only lists companies that apply to be included. Once you have a CIF, you may then apply to be listed in VIES. See above for the advantages of a VIES listing. In Spain, we know by experience that once you apply for VIES, a tax officer will go in person to check whether you have a functioning office before approving your application. This is common practice throughout the EU. If your company has a Spanish CIF and you are not invoicing companies outside Spain, then there is no reason for your company to apply for VIES.
There are areas in Europe such as the Canary Islands that are outside the VAT system, so a VAT number for a company based in the Canary Islands will never show up in the VIES system.
Who must have a Tax Identification Number (NIF) and a VAT Number?
The Tax Identification Number (NIF) and Value Added Tax Number (VAT) get assigned, with some exceptions, to the following people or organizations:
- Companies or individuals (whether established or not in the territory where Spanish VAT is applicable) that carry out deliveries of goods or intracommunity acquisitions of goods subject to the VAT tax, even when the goods object of these intracommunity acquisitions are used in the performance of business or professional activities abroad.
- Companies or professionals as the recipients of the services given by companies, employers or professional people not established in the Spanish mainland territory or the Balearic Islands, with respect to whom they are payers of the VAT tax (taxpayer reversal).
- Companies or professionals who provide services and who, on application of the rules of location of those services, consider those services as having been provided in another member state other than Spain, when the taxpayer is the recipient of them.
- The legal persons who do not act as employers or professionals, when they carry out an intracommunity purchase of goods subject to the VAT tax (usually for refund).
What is the difference between the Tax Identification Number (NIF) and VAT Number?
When carrying out an intracommunity operation, the NIF on the invoice will be preceded by the prefix ES, according to the international standard code ISO-3166 alpha 2. In other words, for an SL, it will be in the format ES B12345678.
How is the VAT Intracommunitary Number requested?
The application to be included in the Registry of Intra-Community Operators is performed by filling in the census declaration of registration (form 036):
- Mark box 582 requesting registration
- State the date planned for the first operation in box 584.
Assignation of the NIF-VAT number means that the operator will appear in the EU VIES registry. The company or professional will receive a communication in writing about whether the application was approved or denied. If the tax office has not replied within three months, the application will be considered as denied.