What is a VAT number?

You launched a SaaS product or a digital storefront, made a sale to a customer in Germany, and found that the invoice needs a VAT number you don't have.

That's where most online businesses meet Value-Added Tax for the first time. A VAT number is the registration identifier that lets your business charge, report, and reclaim VAT in every country running a VAT system — and if you're selling digital products or services across borders, you almost certainly need to register for one.

We've spent over a decade on EU VAT compliance, helping ecommerce and SaaS founders work out when registration becomes mandatory and what VAT compliance looks like afterwards. Here's what it does, what it looks like, and how to get one.

What is a VAT number?

A VAT number, also called a VAT identification number, VAT ID, or VAT registration number (VRN), is the identifier a business receives in systems that use Value-Added Tax. When you register for VAT in a single country, you receive this identifier for their system.

Important note: A VAT number is not the same as a local tax number or tax ID. It is exclusively for the Value-Added Tax scheme.

What is VAT?

VAT is a consumption tax applied at each stage of the production chain, on the value added at that stage. As a business, you reclaim whatever VAT you've paid along the chain — only the end consumer pays out of pocket.

In the EU it's destination-based, so the rate depends on where your buyer is, not where you are. For the full picture, see our guide to EU VAT's digital rules.

What does a VAT number look like?

The VAT number format varies from country to country, with one general similarity: a country code followed by other characters.

VAT registration number

Also known as a VRN, your VAT registration number is assigned when you register, so it appears on the documents you receive from the member state where you registered.

A VAT registration number can have between 4 and 15 digits total. It starts with the two-digit country code (DE for Germany, IT for Italy), followed by 2–13 other characters. Some countries include letters as well as digits.

The VAT number format is not cosmetic. Because the country code sits at the front, the number tells you which national authority issued it, and therefore which rules apply to a cross-border sale. That's why it belongs on invoices: it proves the business is registered for VAT, and it identifies who accounts for the VAT on each transaction.

Guide to EU VAT ID number formats

Country	Country code	Format	Characters	Notes
Austria	AT	U12345678	9 characters	9 characters; the first character is always a ‘U’
Belgium	BE	1234567890	10 characters	Prefix with zero ‘0’ if the customer provides a 9-digit VAT number
Bulgaria	BG	123456789, 1234567890	9 or 10 characters	-
Croatia	HR	12345678901	11 characters	-
Cyprus	CY	12345678X	9 characters	The last character must always be a letter
Czech Republic	CZ	12345678 123456789 1234567890	8, 9, or 10 characters	If more than 10 characters are provided, delete the first 3
Denmark	DK	12345678	8 characters	-
Estonia	EE	123456789	9 characters	-
Finland	FI	12345678	8 characters	-
France	FR	12345678901 X1234567890 1X123456789 XX123456789	11 characters	Could include alphabetical characters (all but O or I) as the first or second or first and second characters
Germany	DE	123456789	9 characters	-
Greece	EL	123456789	9 characters	-
Hungary	HU	12345678	8 characters	-
Ireland	IE	1234567X 1X23456X 1234567XX	8 or 9 characters	Includes one or two alphabetical characters (last, or second and last, or last 2)
Italy	IT	12345678901	11 characters	-
Latvia	LV	12345678901	11 characters	-
Lithuania	LT	123456789 123456789012	9 or 12 characters	-
Luxembourg	LU	12345678	8 characters	-
Malta	MT	12345678	8 characters	-
Netherlands	NL	123456789B01	12 characters	Nine digits, then "B", then two digits — the 10th character is always a "B"
Norway (non-EU)	NO	123456789MVA	9 digits plus 'MVA'	The last (ninth) digit is a MOD11 checksum digit
Poland	PL	1234567890	10 characters	-
Portugal	PT	123456789	9 characters	-
Romania	RO	12 through to 1234567890	2 to 10 characters	-
Slovakia	SK	1234567890	10 characters	-
Slovenia	SI	12345678	8 characters	-
Spain	ES	X12345678 12345678X X1234567X	9 characters	Includes 1 or 2 alphabetical characters (first or last or first and last)
Sweden	SE	123456789012	12 characters	-
Switzerland (non-EU)	CH	123.456.789	9 numbers plus MWST/TVA/IVA	The German part of Switzerland is MWST, The French part is TVA, and the Italian part is IVA
United Kingdom (non-EU)	GB	123456789	9 characters	-

Do I need a VAT number?

For online businesses, the answer turns on who you're selling to.

• If your business sits outside the EU and only sells digital products B2B to VAT-registered buyers, you generally don't need to register — the buyer accounts for the VAT under the reverse charge. EU-established sellers don't get that exemption: supplying services where the customer is liable is itself a registration trigger.

• If you ever sell digital products B2C in Europe, even once, you are required to register and get an EU VAT number.

That second rule catches most founders off guard. For businesses based outside the region, the threshold on digital products is zero: you need to register from your first B2C sale, not after some comfortable runway. EU-established sellers get an EU-wide threshold of €10,000 on cross-border B2C sales, below which they can keep charging their home rate. Domestic thresholds are separate again and vary — the UK, Germany, France, Ireland and Spain each set their own, and Spain sets none at all.

Because those thresholds shift, check each jurisdiction before you rely on a figure: United Kingdom, Germany, France, Ireland and Spain.

Registering early is worth considering even when you're not required to. It removes the risk of drifting over a threshold unnoticed, it lets you reclaim VAT on your own purchases, and some larger businesses simply won't contract with an unregistered supplier.

Monitoring sales in every country is the manual part of VAT compliance. Quaderno tracks yours and tells you the moment you approach a VAT registration threshold, so you know when it's time to act.

How to get a VAT number

Here's the application process for online businesses. Traditional brick-and-mortar businesses may follow a different route.

1. Pick the EU country, then apply through its national VAT OSS (One-Stop Shop) — an online portal that handles both registration and later filing. Selling services from outside the EU, you register under the non-Union scheme and may choose any of the 27 member states; EU-established sellers register at home under the Union scheme. One OSS registration covers cross-border B2C sales across the EU — not domestic sales, and not anywhere you hold stock. Many non-EU businesses pick the Irish OSS because it's published in English; a Latin American business might prefer Spain.
2. Add your company information and bank account details.
3. Enter your personal contact information.
4. Answer the questions about your VAT history — previous or current registrations, and often the date of your first taxable sale in the country.
5. Review the summary page the portal generates. Make sure it's all correct.
6. Submit.

How long does it take to get a VAT number?

Usually 2 to 8 weeks, though some countries take longer. You'll receive your EU VAT number electronically or by post, depending on the member state.

The wait is getting shorter. Online VAT registration and streamlined procedures mean tax authorities now turn applications around faster than they did a few years ago.

How to use your VAT number

Once you're registered, the number does three jobs.

Selling B2B

When you're selling to a VAT registered business, they give you their VAT number, and you can usually apply the reverse-charge mechanism. Responsibility moves from you to the buyer, who pays the authorities directly — so you don't add VAT to that sale.

This is the practical reason these identifiers exist. On a cross-border sale between two VAT registered businesses, the buyer's number is what makes the reverse charge available. Without it, you treat the sale as B2C and charge VAT accordingly.

Important note: Always confirm the number is valid before you rely on it, since supplying a false one is a form of fraud. The EU publishes the VAT Information Exchange System (VIES) for exactly this — here's what the VAT Information Exchange System covers and how to run a lookup.

Issuing invoices

Put your VAT number on every invoice and transaction document. From issuing thousands of these automatically, we'd put it directly below your business billing information.

If you're registered in more than one country, include the correct VAT number for each sale: the French one for French customers, the German one for German customers. Invoices under each ID also need their own serial numbering.

Filing returns

At filing time, your VAT number and invoice records determine what your business owes — or what you're owed back. VAT returns are typically quarterly, though revenue can push you to monthly or annual. File on time to avoid late fees.

VAT number vs EIN

A VAT number and an EIN are easy to confuse, but they belong to different systems. An EIN (Employer Identification Number) is issued by the US Internal Revenue Service to identify a business for federal tax, such as payroll and federal filings. A VAT number is issued by a country using Value-Added Tax, and it lets a business charge VAT on sales and reclaim VAT on purchases.

The two aren't interchangeable. A US EIN has no standing in the EU VAT system, and a VAT number doesn't replace an EIN at home. If your business is selling from the US into the EU, you may well need both.

	VAT number	EIN
Issued by	Tax authorities of a VAT country, such as an EU member state	US Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
Purpose	Charge and reclaim Value-Added Tax	Identify a US business for federal tax
Where it applies	Countries that use VAT	United States
Who needs it	Businesses registered for VAT	US businesses (payroll, federal filings)
Format	Country code plus 2 to 13 characters	Nine digits (XX-XXXXXXX)

Is a VAT number the same as a tax ID?

No. A tax ID identifies a business or person for income or corporate tax. A VAT number is specific to the Value-Added Tax scheme, and you use it only to charge, report, and reclaim VAT.

Many countries issue a business its tax ID first, then a separate VAT number once it registers for VAT. Use the VAT number, not the general tax ID, on invoices and when you validate a B2B customer.

What is a VAT number in the US?

There are none: the United States doesn't use Value-Added Tax, so no US authority issues them.

Do US businesses need one anyway? Not for domestic sales. But if you're selling digital products or services to consumers in the EU or another VAT region, you may still be required to register there and collect VAT on those sales — which is how a great many US founders end up holding an EU VAT number.

Domestically, US sellers get a sales tax permit and a business tax ID instead. Since sales tax is state-administered, you hold a separate sales tax ID in every state where you're registered.

What happens if you don't register for VAT?

If your sales pass a country's registration threshold and you don't register, you remain liable for the VAT you should have collected. Authorities can pursue back payments, interest, and penalties, and deliberate evasion can bring fraud charges.

For a small business or a solo founder, that adds up fast and can outweigh the VAT itself. Registering on time is far cheaper than paying penalties later.

Quaderno handles the watching for you: it tracks sales in every country, flags approaching VAT registration thresholds, calculates VAT at the right rate, validates customer VAT numbers on B2B sales, and issues compliant invoices automatically. That's VAT compliance without the spreadsheet.