BTW: nieuwe, online service mbt geldigheid van BTW-nummers

On 23/6/2009 the Commission has made publicly available the possibility for a taxpayer to get a certificate proving that he checked the validity of the VAT identification number of a client at a given time. This certificate can be used as one of the elements of evidence supporting the non-application of VAT on supplies to business customers in other Member States. It will therefore constitute one element for a compliant trader to prove his good faith in case he is involuntarily involved in a fraud (in particular carousel fraud) organised by his client.

The new service is an improvement of the already existing VAT database VIES on the Internet. It is available at this web link:

Intra-Community carousel VAT fraud occurs where a person liable for VAT who has acquired goods or services within the Community on which no VAT has been paid subsequently supplies these goods or services within the Community with VAT imposed but then ‘disappears’ without paying the VAT to the Exchequer. The name carousel fraud derives from the typical circular chain of transactions set up to maximise the profits before the missing trader 'disappears'. In order to dissimulate the fraud, the circle sometimes involves compliant honest traders.Under the current VAT Directive, Member States may request that a person other than the person liable for the payment of VAT is to be held jointly and severally liable for the payment of VAT.

In case of carousel fraud, tax administrations may therefore ask clients of the "disappeared" supplier to be liable for the payment of the tax. With the new service offered by the Commission, compliant taxpayers involuntarily caught in a fraudulent chain of transactions will get one additional element to prove their good faith and subsequently to avoid being liable for the payment of the tax.