Your VAT number is on the invoices you issue yourself, on the letter or confirmation you received from the tax authority when you registered, and in your tax authority’s online portal for businesses. If none of those is to hand, your accountant or bookkeeper has it too. In this article you can read where to find it, how the number is built up, which of your numbers belongs on an invoice, and the mistakes that cause the most trouble.
Who is this for? Where to look for your number is the same almost everywhere: your own documents and your national tax portal. The specifics are not. One in particular applies to the Netherlands only: Dutch businesses have had two VAT numbers since 2020, and mixing them up is a privacy problem rather than a filing error. If your business is registered elsewhere, use the general route and check the format with your own tax authority.
Looking for something more specific? If you want to check somebody else’s number rather than find your own, see verifying a VAT number or read how the EU’s VIES system works. And if you do not have a number yet, VAT registration is the place to start. Just want to know where to look? Go straight to where to find it.
Table of contents
- What is my VAT number?
- Where do I find my VAT number?
- The Netherlands: two numbers instead of one
- What the parts of the number mean
- Checking whether a VAT number is valid
- Common mistakes with VAT numbers
- Keeping your VAT administration in order with TriFact365
- Frequently asked questions about your VAT number
- In closing
What is my VAT number?
Your VAT number is your unique identification number for value added tax, issued by the tax authority of the country where your business is established. Within the EU it opens with a two-letter country code followed by a series of characters, and the exact length and format differ per member state. It is the number your customers quote and check, and the one that has to appear on the invoices you send.
Where do I find my VAT number?
There are several places to look, roughly in order of how quickly they get you there:
- On the invoices you have already issued, and on correspondence from the tax authority.
- In your tax authority’s online portal for businesses. In the Netherlands that is Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk.
- On the letter or confirmation the tax authority sent when your business was registered.
- With your accountant or bookkeeper, who keeps it in your master data.
One thing not to expect: there is no public register where you can look up your own number by entering your company name. Numbers are issued to you and confirmed to you, so the route always runs through your own documents or your tax authority. That is also why a lost number is an administrative errand rather than a search.
The Netherlands: two numbers instead of one
If your business is registered in the Netherlands, there is a particularity worth knowing. Since 2020 you have two numbers rather than one, and mixing them up is a privacy issue rather than only an administrative one.
| VAT identification number (btw-id) | For customers and suppliers, on your invoices and website. For a sole trader it is made up of the country code NL, nine digits, the letter B and two digits. It does not contain your citizen service number. |
| Turnover tax number (omzetbelastingnummer) | For dealings with the tax authority only, such as your VAT return. For a sole trader this one is based on your citizen service number, which is exactly why it does not belong on an invoice. |
Further explanation of both numbers is available at the Dutch government business portal, in Dutch.
What the parts of the number mean
Take a Dutch VAT identification number in the illustrative form NL 999999999 B 01. It breaks down like this:
| NL | Country code, two letters, following the ISO 3166-1 standard. Every EU VAT number opens with one. |
| 999999999 | Nine digits identifying the business. In the identification number these are assigned and contain no personal data. |
| B | A fixed letter in the Dutch format, separating the digits from the sequence number. |
| 01 | A two-digit sequence number. A second business under the same holder gets 02, and so on. |
The country code is the part that generalises: an Irish number opens with IE, a German one with DE. The rest of the format is national, so a number that looks wrong to you may be perfectly valid in another member state. That is what the validation tool is for rather than your own judgement.
Checking whether a VAT number is valid
Want to know whether a VAT identification number is valid, for instance one a foreign trading partner has given you? That runs through VIES, the checking system of the European Commission. Read more about how the EU’s VIES system works, or see the practical steps for checking a trading partner’s number. It matters most on supplies within the EU, because a valid number on the other side is what supports the 0% rate.
Common mistakes with VAT numbers
These five cause the most trouble, and the first one is the only genuinely serious one:
- Publishing the wrong Dutch number. Putting the turnover tax number on an invoice or website means publishing a number derived from a citizen service number. Use the btw-id externally, always.
- Not updating after a change of legal form. You may be issued a new number, and invoices carrying the old one give your customer a reason to query them.
- Assuming a number can be looked up by company name. It cannot. If you need a partner’s number, ask them or take it from the invoice.
- Applying the 0% rate on an unverified number. If it turns out to be invalid, the exemption was not justified and you carry the VAT.
- Losing track when you have several registrations. Registered in more than one country means a number per registration, and each belongs on the invoices for that country only.
Keeping your VAT administration in order with TriFact365
Incoming invoices carry your supplier’s VAT number alongside the amounts and the VAT itself. TriFact365 recognises those details automatically and prepares a booking proposal in your own TriFact365 portal. After your check and approval the entry goes to your accounting package. As a result your VAT records stay complete and current without anyone retyping a number, which is where most VAT mismatches start and where the fourth mistake above comes undone. See how processing incoming invoices works.
Frequently asked questions about your VAT number
On your own invoices, on the registration letter from the tax authority, in your online tax portal for businesses, and with your accountant. There is no public register to look up your own number by company name.
The VAT identification number, the one intended for external use. In the Netherlands that is the btw-id; the turnover tax number is only for correspondence with the tax authority.
Country code NL, nine assigned digits, the letter B and a two-digit sequence number. Your citizen service number is not part of it, which is what makes it safe to publish.
It is a sequence number. If the same holder runs a second business, that one gets 02, and so on. It distinguishes registrations rather than indicating anything about the business.
Yes. If you are registered for VAT in several countries you have a separate number per registration, each issued by that country’s tax authority.
With certain changes, such as a different legal form, you may be issued a new number. Report changes to the trade register and the tax authority so your details stay correct.
Issue a corrected invoice with the right number. An incorrect number can hold up your customer’s VAT deduction, so it is worth fixing rather than leaving.
In closing
Finding your VAT number is quick once you know where to look: your own invoices, the registration letter, or your online tax portal. Keep the number meant for customers separate from the one meant for the tax authority, put the right one on every invoice, and check a partner’s number through VIES when there is any doubt.
