VAT and reverse charge on fabric orders: a buyer's guide

VAT on cross-border fabric orders confuses even experienced buyers: sometimes the invoice shows local VAT, sometimes 0% with a "reverse charge" note, and the same basket can be taxed differently depending on who is buying. Here is how VAT works at eshop.xmtextiles.com — the same rules our checkout applies automatically.

The short version

• Consumers and businesses without a VAT number pay VAT at the rate of the country our shipping warehouse's company invoices from — shown at checkout before payment.
• EU businesses with a valid VAT number from another member state buy with 0% VAT under the reverse-charge mechanism: you self-account for VAT at home at your local rate.
• Buyers outside the EU are invoiced at 0% VAT as an export, with export documentation; import duties and taxes are handled on your side.

Why the site shows prices without VAT

Catalogue prices are shown ex-VAT because the correct rate genuinely depends on who is buying and where the goods ship from — a fact we only know at checkout. Once you are signed in and have entered a delivery address, every total in the checkout shows the applicable VAT line by line, before you commit to anything.

Reverse charge for EU businesses, step by step

1. Choose «I'm buying as a business» in the checkout and enter your company's VAT number.
2. We validate the number against VIES (the EU's VAT Information Exchange System) live, while you watch — and ask you to confirm the registered company details that come back.
3. If the number is valid and the delivery crosses a border inside the EU, the order is invoiced at 0% VAT with the reverse-charge annotation required by the VAT Directive.
4. You declare acquisition VAT in your own return at your national rate — for most VAT-registered businesses this is cash-neutral.

If VIES cannot confirm the number (the service occasionally lags national registries), checkout falls back to charging VAT; contact us and we will sort the invoice out.

One order, several VAT treatments

Because stock ships from warehouses in Poland, Romania and Portugal, a single order can legally be several supplies. Our checkout determines VAT per shipment: each delivery is invoiced by the company that ships it, under that route's correct treatment. You see this itemised in the checkout summary and on your invoices — the totals always add up to what you approved at checkout.

What you need for a clean B2B invoice

• An account with your company details — or a trade account for wholesale terms.
• Your EU VAT number, entered at checkout and confirmed against VIES.
• A delivery address in a different EU member state than the shipping warehouse's invoicing country (domestic deliveries carry domestic VAT — that's the law, not a shop rule).

This guide is general information, not tax advice — your accountant has the final word on your VAT position. The legal framework is Council Directive 2006/112/EC; the contractual terms are in our Terms & Conditions.