If you’re a vat registered trader in the United Kingdom or even in some other member EU country which has embraced vat then you need to conduct a vat check of the supplier before finalizing your transaction, especially if you intend to import services or goods into your country. It is really quite simple to conduct a vat number check on the internet vatnumbers.com before you spend your hard-earned money.
VAT or value added tax is really a system of taxing products or services that is followed in several countries around the world including most eu countries. If you’re a trader in the UK that is importing services or goods from other eu countries where vat has already been paid in the nation of origin you’ll be able to make application for a vat refund. This will permit you to reclaim vat paid earlier so as to avoid double-taxation. However, it is important that you purchase your goods originating from a vat registered trader or exporter in another country so that the chain of vat continues when the services or goods are imported to the UK.
However, there just might be a chance that an unregistered vat trader might try to dupe you of your savings by charging you vat even while providing you with a fake or expired vat number on the vat invoice. When this happens, you might not be able to reclaim any vat on that transaction, which inturn will raise the costs and deny you your rightful refund. It is actually thus very important to conduct a vat check that usually takes a short time when you log on to the official European Commission or EUROPA website that allows you to conduct a vat registration check and validate if your supplier has indeed given you a genuine vat number.
All that you should do is log on to the EUROPA website ec.europa.eu directly or go to the hmrc vat department website and check the page provided at the site. All you have to do is always to choose the eu country of your supplier, type in the vat number of your proposed supplier, choose your country code, and enter your own personal vat number. You may now have to click on verify, upon which the verification software will inform you if the vat number is valid.
Whenever possible, you should try to print the validation screen as evidence of having conducted the check at a particular date and time. If the registration number is not valid you’ll be able to inform your supplier since there may be many reasons for this kind of response, ranging from a genuine mistake in supplying you with the vat number to willful wrongdoing on your supplier?s part. You sould never forget that ultimately it is your business which will suffer if you don’t conduct a vat number check.
Performing a vat registration number check is extremely important if you are planning to purchase goods or services from vat registered traders in a foreign country which adheres to the system of vat. The actual checking process hardly takes more than a few seconds and conducting a vat check will definitely save your business lots of money and pain should the supplied vat number turns out to be incorrect.