Reverse-charge VAT is one of those rules everyone half-knows. The core of it: the VAT is not charged by the supplier but accounted for by the customer. When it goes wrong, VAT ends up on an invoice that shouldn't carry it, or missing from one that should. It sits right next to Customs and import VAT, so it deserves a clear explanation.
What "reverse-charge" means
Normally the supplier charges VAT and pays it to the tax authority. With reverse charge (btw verleggen), that responsibility shifts: the supplier invoices without VAT, and the customer calculates and reports the VAT in their own VAT return. Usually they deduct it in the same return, so for a business with full deduction it nets to zero.
When it applies
A few common situations in the Netherlands:
- Foreign supplier → Dutch business customer. A supplier established abroad delivering goods or services to a Dutch entrepreneur (or Dutch legal entity) does not charge Dutch VAT; it's reverse-charged to the Dutch customer. Example: a German company selling goods from a Rotterdam warehouse to a Dutch business invoices without VAT, marked "VAT reverse-charged".
- Intra-EU B2B. On cross-border EU supplies between VAT-registered businesses, the buyer accounts for acquisition VAT in their own country.
- Domestic reverse charge in specific sectors. Within the Netherlands, reverse charge applies in defined cases, notably subcontracting/construction and certain fraud-sensitive goods, where the receiving business accounts for the VAT.
What the invoice must state
When VAT is reverse-charged, the invoice carries no VAT amount and must clearly state "VAT reverse-charged" ("btw verlegd"), together with both parties' VAT numbers. The supplier can still deduct VAT on its own related business costs.
How it differs from Article 23 (import VAT)
Easy to confuse, but different:
- Reverse charge shifts the VAT on a supply from supplier to customer.
- Article 23 shifts the import VAT at the border to your periodic VAT return (deferment), so you don't pre-finance it at customs.
Both move the VAT off the immediate-payment moment — but one is about supplies between businesses, the other about importing goods.
VAT on the freight itself is a separate question
Don't confuse reverse charge with the VAT on the transport service. That's a separate set of general VAT rules: the place of supply (B2B = the customer's country, so a Dutch forwarder billing a German business reverse-charges that service), the 0% rate for import/export-related transport, the forwarder-vs-direct-client export catch, and where that 0% stops along the chain (first leg → storage → second leg). Because it's general VAT rather than verlegging, it lives on its own page: Vat On Freight.
How Nexport Logistics fits in
The customs side, import declarations and the Article 23 import-VAT deferment, is the part Nexport Logistics arranges for you, so import VAT never ties up your cash. The reverse charge on your own B2B supplies belongs in your VAT return; we make sure the customs and import-VAT pieces line up, and you keep your tax adviser in the loop for the supply side.
Nexport Logistics is a freight forwarder under the FENEX conditions, and you follow declarations and shipments in the Nexportal portal. Importing into the Netherlands and want the VAT side arranged properly from day one? Email info@nexportlogistics.nl.
Official sources: Belastingdienst — Reverse-charging VAT · European Commission — Place of taxation. Related: Vat On Freight · Customs