The situation
The supplier invoices accounts payable has parked, uploaded as PDFs
It is the third working day of the close at a Rotterdam distribution company. Accounts payable has parked nine invoices: a Warsaw conference organiser that charged Polish VAT, a Kraków software firm that charged none, a Dutch supplier that applied the reduced rate to cleaning products, and six more like them. The controller wants each one booked or queried by Thursday.
None of the questions is exotic. Each needs the same steps: where the supply is taxed, whether the VAT on the invoice was due at all, and whether the company can deduct it in the Dutch return or must reclaim it abroad. Doing that nine times, with the ledger open, is where the afternoon goes.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- Foreign VAT is not deducted at home
- VAT correctly charged in another member state cannot go into the Dutch return. A business established in the EU reclaims it through the electronic refund procedure, filed through its own country’s portal, by 30 September of the following year.
- Invoiced VAT is not always deductible VAT
- The right to deduct covers VAT that is actually due. The Court of Justice has held that VAT shown on an invoice but not legally due is not deductible by the customer, so a wrong rate or a wrong country is corrected with the supplier, not in the return.
- Where the supply is taxed decides who pays
- Most business-to-business services are taxed where the customer is established, and the customer self-assesses. Admission to an event is taxed where the event takes place, so a ticket to a conference in Warsaw correctly carries Polish VAT.
- National rules can still restrict deduction
- Even when VAT is due and correctly invoiced, national law can exclude or limit the deduction for some costs, such as business gifts and provisions for staff. That is a separate check from the place-of-supply question.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
Dutch BV, VAT-registered. A Polish organiser invoiced our tickets for a trade conference in Warsaw with Polish VAT. A Kraków software firm invoiced remote configuration work without VAT, citing the reverse charge. How do we book each, and can we deduct or reclaim the VAT?
You start with
The supplier invoices accounts payable has parked, uploaded as PDFs
- 01
Upload the parked invoices
Add the PDFs accounts payable flagged. azta reads each one and refers back to the line it relied on: the VAT number, the rate, the reverse-charge wording.
File upload· Pro - 02
Ask about each invoice in turn
azta cites the VAT Directive, the Dutch and Polish VAT acts and the Court of Justice decisions on the right to deduct.
Cited research· Free - 03
Check the rate in the provision
For the reduced-rate question, open the Dutch rate table in the reader and confirm the version in force on the invoice date.
Atlas statute reader - 04
Write the close note
Ask for one line of treatment per invoice and a list of the invoices to send back to suppliers. Edit it in Canvas and file it with the close.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro You send
A cited VAT answer per invoice, ready for the close file
What you get
A cited VAT answer per invoice, ready for the close file
Close note · draft
Parked invoices, October: VAT treatment
Invoice 1, Warsaw conference tickets. Admission to the conference is taxed in Poland, where it takes place, so the Polish VAT is correctly charged and cannot be deducted in the Dutch return. Book it as a refund receivable and include it in the next EU refund claim, filed through the Dutch portal.
Invoice 2, Kraków configuration work. This is a service to a Dutch business, taxed in the Netherlands. The supplier was right not to charge VAT. Self-assess the Dutch VAT in the return and deduct it in the same return.
Invoice 3, cleaning products at the reduced rate. The rate applied does not match the Dutch rate table for these goods. Ask the supplier for a corrected invoice before booking, and deduct only the VAT shown on the corrected invoice.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
21 minutes a month
At €80 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 41
- Capacity at your rate
- €3,240
- More queried supplier invoices a quarter
- 10.1
- Return on Pro
- 10×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
Want these numbers on your team’s real workload?
Book a demoSources azta searches here
- EUR-Lex · Curia
- wetten.overheid.nl
- Belastingdienst
- Dziennik Ustaw
What stays with you
- The booking decisions and the sign-off on the close.
- Contacting suppliers for corrected invoices.
- Confirming what each purchase was used for, which an invoice does not show.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I upload several invoices with one question?
- Yes. Upload the invoices with your question. azta reads each one and refers back to the passage it relied on, so you can see which invoice each answer came from.
- Does azta post the entries?
- No. It answers the VAT question with citations. Booking stays in your accounting system and with your team.
- Does it check the Polish rules as well as the Dutch ones?
- Yes. azta researches the VAT law of both countries in the original language and cites each provision, so cross-border invoices get the same check as domestic ones.
