The Netherlands State Secretary for Finance has published Decree No. 2025-115705 of 1 May 2025 in the Official Gazette No. 2025, 15981 on 8 May 2025.
This new decree updates the regulations on VAT administrative and invoicing requirements.
This Decree updates and replaces Decree No. BLKB 2014-704M of 6 December 2014 and takes effect on 9 May 2025.
Public transport tickets/taxi tickets
In public transport or taxi services, a ticket serves as an invoice. Physical tickets are often not issued for digital payments like OV chip cards or debit cards. The State Secretary allows transaction overviews of journeys with physical tickets to be classified as tickets if they include the date of issue, provider identity, travel date, distance, VAT details or total price with VAT. The VAT payable amount, or the information necessary to calculate it, such as the total price inclusive of 9% VAT, should be clearly stated.
Non-entrepreneurs’ liability to pay VAT on invoices
The Decree enforces the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decision in Case C-442/22, where the ECJ ruled that if an employee issues a fake VAT invoice using their employer’s identity, the employee is responsible for paying the VAT. This changes only if the employer failed to exercise reasonable due diligence in monitoring the employee. The Decree clarifies that VAT liability arises if VAT is invoiced incorrectly or the payable VAT amount is too high by a non-entrepreneur.
Levy options if incorrectly invoiced VAT is not revised
The supplier or customer who unjustifiably deducts VAT can be charged for the incorrectly invoiced VAT. The Decree outlines the required customer due diligence for data verification. If the purchaser doubts the accuracy of the information, they shouldn’t rely solely on the contractual partner’s statements but must verify through public sources. If doubts remain, they can consult the tax inspector, who can provide details about entrepreneurship, permanent establishments, or property occupation dates.
Ex-officio reductions outside the five-year term of overpaid VAT on distance sales and digital services
For intra-Community distance sales and digital services, VAT rules can lead to double taxation when turnover thresholds are exceeded. An entrepreneur might pay Dutch VAT even though the service is taxable in another Member State due to exceeding the threshold. To address this, the State Secretary extended the 5-year term for tax reduction, aligning it with the timeframe of additional assessments from other Member States.
ICP statement and transfer to customer without VAT ID
If a customer in the small business scheme lacks a VAT ID, they will not be able to file an intra-Community supplies statement. Instead, the service provider can report the B2B service in section 1e (supplied services) of the VAT return.
