Reverse charge

Updated 15 September 2026

What is it?

When you sell to a business in another EU country, that business pays the VAT in its own country instead of paying it to you. This is called the reverse charge. You don’t charge VAT, but you do need proof that your customer is a VAT registered business.

When does it apply?

The plugin applies the reverse charge when your customer validated a VAT number with the Validate button, VIES says it is valid, and the number is from an EU country other than your default tax country. When you turned on the billing country or company name check, those have to pass as well.

A valid VAT number from your own country still pays VAT, because a sale within your own country is not a cross border sale. Want to reverse charge those numbers as well? See Reverse charge in your own country.

What changes in the order

• Prices without VAT (default): the VAT is €0,00 and the customer pays the product prices.
• Prices include VAT: the VAT that is in your prices is deducted, so the customer pays the price without VAT. See Prices include VAT.

The proof that is saved

With every entry that has a validated VAT number, the plugin saves the answer of VIES: the company name and address, the VAT number, the VAT rate of that country, the date and time of the check, the customer’s IP address and the country. You find it all in the EU VAT box on the entry page, see VAT details on entries and exports.

Most countries require a line like “VAT reverse charged” on the invoice. Add it to your notification or invoice template, together with the merge tags for the VAT number and company name.