The situation
Export declarations, exit confirmations and transport documents for a sample of invoices
A machine-tool maker in Stuttgart ships a dozen machines a month to customers in the United States and Canada, most of them through Rotterdam. Last month a customer in Ohio collected two machines ex works with its own forwarder. The auditors have asked for the export evidence on a sample of invoices, and three files look thin.
The rules on what counts as proof are not long. The work is matching them to real files: an export declaration lodged in Germany, an exit confirmed in the Netherlands, a forwarder’s papers for the collected machines. Each invoice needs a yes or a named gap before the auditors come back.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- The exemption depends on the goods leaving
- Supplies of goods dispatched or transported out of the EU are exempt from VAT. The exporter has to be able to show that the goods actually left, and that is what the evidence is for.
- Exit is confirmed by customs
- Where goods are declared for export electronically, the exit confirmation from the customs office of exit is the standard proof. The declaration can be lodged in Germany and the exit confirmed in Rotterdam; the confirmation comes back to the office of export.
- Customer collection is the weak point
- When a non-EU customer collects the goods, the exemption can still apply, but the exporter depends on the customer’s and forwarder’s papers. National law sets the evidence required, and that is where files most often fall short.
- Substance over form, within limits
- The Court of Justice has held that the exemption should not be refused only because a formal requirement was missed, where it is established that the goods left the EU. That does not help where the exit itself cannot be shown, or where there is fraud.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
German exporter, machines declared for export in Stuttgart, exit through Rotterdam. For two machines the US customer collected ex works with its own forwarder. Export declarations, exit confirmations and CMR notes attached. What evidence does German law require for the export exemption, and which files are incomplete?
You start with
Export declarations, exit confirmations and transport documents for a sample of invoices
- 01
Upload the shipment files
Add the invoices, export declarations, exit confirmations and consignment notes for the sample. azta reads each document and refers back to the passage it used.
File upload· Pro - 02
Research the evidence rules
Ask what German law requires as proof for exports, including collection by the customer. azta cites the VAT Directive, the German VAT rules and the decisions on them.
Cited research· Free - 03
Check each file against the rules
Ask azta to go through the sample invoice by invoice and name what is present and what is missing, with the reason.
File upload· Pro - 04
Turn it into the checklist
Ask for a checklist per invoice and a standing list for future shipments. Edit it in Canvas.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro You send
An evidence checklist per invoice, with the missing items named
What you get
An evidence checklist per invoice, with the missing items named
Evidence checklist · draft
Export exemption: sample of September invoices
Invoices 2026-0911 to 2026-0918, shipped by us through Rotterdam. Each file holds the export declaration and the electronic exit confirmation matching the invoice. Evidence complete. No action.
Invoice 2026-0921, collected by the customer ex works. The file holds the customer’s order and the forwarder’s consignment note but no exit confirmation. Please request it from the forwarder. Until it is on file, this invoice stays on the open-evidence list.
Invoice 2026-0924. The exit confirmation shows a different quantity from the invoice. Please obtain the forwarder’s explanation and a corrected confirmation, or a note on file reconciling the two.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
20 minutes a month
At €85 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
- 14
- Capacity at your rate
- €1,224
- More export evidence reviews a quarter
- 0.6
- Return on Pro
- 3.8×
- 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
- Gesetze im Internet
- Rechtsprechung im Internet
- wetten.overheid.nl
What stays with you
- Collecting missing documents from forwarders and customers.
- Deciding, where proof stays incomplete, whether to treat a supply as taxable.
- Reconciling the evidence to the invoices and the ledger.
Frequently asked questions
- Does azta connect to the customs system?
- No. Download the declarations and exit confirmations and upload them. azta reads the files and refers back to the passage it used.
- Do the same rules apply to supplies within the EU?
- No. Intra-Community supplies have their own evidence rules. Ask that question separately and azta researches them.
- Can it check last year’s files?
- Yes. Give the date and azta focuses on the rules as they stood then.
