EU VAT for freelancers who sell more than one country

A freelance invoice only needs one VAT treatment, but it has to be the right one. The mistake is copying last month’s rate onto a client who lives somewhere else.

Start with where you are

If you are established in one EU country and your client is in that same country, you charge that country’s VAT. Germany is 19% for most services. France is 20%. Denmark is 25% on almost everything. Reduced rates are for specific supplies, not for “this client is nice.”

A business in another EU country

Services sold to a VAT-registered business in another member state are normally reverse charged. You invoice at zero, you write that the customer accounts for the VAT, and you keep their VAT number. You are not giving them a discount. They declare the tax themselves.

Goods are different. If you ship goods to a business in another member state, the sale can be an intra-Community supply at 0%, but only if the goods actually move and you can show it.

A consumer is not a business

A private client cannot reverse charge. General services to consumers are often still taxed in your country. Digital services — software access, streaming, downloaded files — are taxed where the consumer lives. The Union One Stop Shop lets you declare those rates in one place instead of registering everywhere.

There is a €10,000 EU-wide threshold for small sellers of those digital services and of distance sales of goods. It is a threshold, not a personality. Cross it, and the destination rate applies.

What to put on the PDF

Your legal name, address, and VAT number. Theirs, when they have one. A date, a number, the net, the rate, and the VAT. If the rate is zero because of a reverse charge or an export, say why in a sentence. RateNest will draft that sentence. You still have to mean it.

Rates move. Estonia’s standard rate is 24%. Finland’s is 25.5%. Romania’s is 21%. Check the country page before you trust a template from last year.