VAT number and turnover tax number
If you register as a business owner in the Netherlands with the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration (Belastingdienst), you receive a VAT number (also known as a VAT identification number). The Tax and Customs Administration states your VAT number on the letters and forms it sends to you. You are obliged to state your VAT number on all of your invoices.
The VAT number consists of 14 characters: country code (NL), followed by the tax registration number and a three character code. On some of its forms, the Tax and Customs Administration uses the turnover tax number (omzetbelastingnummer). This number does not include a country code.
Applying for a VAT number
You don't need to apply for a VAT number. If the Tax and Customs Administration registers you as an entrepreneur for the purposes of turnover tax, you receive the VAT number automatically.
If you set up a one-man business, partnership (maatschap), general partnership (vennootschap onder firma, VOF) or limited partnership (commanditaire vennootschap, CV), you receive the VAT number when you register with the Chamber of Commerce.
VAT number de-registration
When you cease your business activities, you must inform the Tax and Customs Administration. Your VAT number will then be de-registered.
Verification
If you have any doubts about whether your customer is registered as a turnover taxpayer in an EU country, you can have your customer’s VAT identification number verified by the Tax and Customs Administration. This verification can be arranged both by telephone and in writing. The Tax and Customs Administration will then issue a statement as to whether the combination of the name and the VAT number that you submitted is correct. Prior to this verification by the Tax and Customs Administration you can use the European Commission’s VAT Information Exchange System (VIES) to check whether a VAT number really exists.
You can also contact the Tax and Customs Administration in writing or by telephone to have a Dutch customer’s VAT number verified.
