Reverse-charge VAT

How does reverse-charge VAT work?

The reverse charge exists because a foreign supplier cannot pay Dutch VAT. The law then shifts the liability to the customer, who does file returns in the Netherlands. For a regular business with a full right to deduction, that is administrative work without consequence: the same amount goes in and out in two boxes.

The box follows where the supplier comes from, not where the service comes from. A subscription with a provider in Ireland is 4b; the same subscription with a provider in the United States is 4a. With full deduction that makes no difference to the outcome, but it does for the return.

With the KOR the whole picture changes. Normally you file no VAT return under that scheme, but if you buy a service where the VAT is reverse-charged to you, you must report it, and deduction is not allowed. For a single case you can request a one-off return in writing from your tax office.

There is a group for whom reverse-charge VAT is not a bookkeeping formality but a real cost, and it is exactly the group that does not expect it. If you fall under the KOR, you must report a reverse-charged purchase, but you have no right to deduction. A hosting subscription of €100 a month from Ireland then costs you €121, every month. That is nowhere on the invoice of your supplier, and it is the reason this rule exists.

For that situation there is one more thing to know: under the scheme you have no return period, so you request a return in writing from your tax office yourself. If it concerns one or two separate cases a year, you do that per case. If the purchase is recurring, like a monthly subscription, you request a return per quarter on a standing basis, because then every quarter is affected. There is no exemption from that obligation; the reverse charge is precisely the exception in which you must still report under the scheme.

Where is reverse-charge VAT in the law?

These legal sources come from the specialist dossiers that were reviewed on 31 August 2026. Mind the difference that becomes large in a dispute: a statutory article next to a value is where that value is found, not a justification for how it applies to your situation.

• Article 12 of the Dutch VAT Act (Wet OB 1968)governs when the tax is shifted to the customer
• Article 25 of the Dutch VAT Act (Wet OB 1968)the KOR, which excludes the deduction and still leaves reverse-charged VAT subject to a return

The links go to the statutory text on wetten.overheid.nl, in the version that applied on 24 September 2026.

What does basestep do with reverse-charge VAT?

The tax engine does not fill the boxes for reverse-charged purchases yet. For someone with a full right to deduction, that is a presentation error that comes out at zero on balance. For someone with the KOR it is a real gap, and it is stated here because you need to know: if you buy a service abroad under the scheme, file that return yourself.

All calculations, explanations and signals in basestep are calculation support and instruction, not tax or legal advice. Amounts are estimates based on your own input; the Dutch tax authority (Belastingdienst) sets the assessment.

Where does it go wrong with reverse-charge VAT?

The two mistakes you run into most often in practice with this term, and what they cost you.

Further reading

Three places this term is tied to, inside this glossary and beyond.

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