Intra-EU VAT: buying and selling in the EU from Spain.
Choose whether you are buying or selling. We tell you which VAT (IVA) applies, how to word the invoice and which boxes of the modelo 303 (the quarterly VAT return) and the modelo 349 (the EU sales and purchases list) it goes in, with the article of Spain’s VAT law behind it.
The VAT on your transaction
Effect on your 303
You charge yourself €210.00 and deduct the same in the same 303.
- You charge yourself
- €210.00
- You deduct
- €210.00
- Purchase base
- €1,000.00
- VAT dueBoxes 10 and 11
- €210.00
- VAT deductibleBoxes 36 and 37
- -€210.00
- Net effect
- €0.00
- Modelo 349
- You report the purchase with key I.
- You need
- Your EU VAT number on the invoice, from joining the ROI (modelo 036). Without it, the supplier charges its own country’s VAT and nothing goes through your 303.
- From outside the EU
- If the supplier is outside the EU, the VAT goes in boxes 12 and 13 and is not reported on the 349.
An estimate under 2026 rules. Your case may have details that change it, so check before you decide. Calculated in your browser: nothing you type is sent or stored.
How it is calculated.
Official sources
- Ley 37/1992 del IVA: arts. 25, 68, 69, 70, 73, 84, 85 y 163 unvicies (BOE)
- Reglamento de facturación, RD 1619/2012: menciones de la factura (art. 6) (BOE)
- Modelo 349, declaración recapitulativa de operaciones intracomunitarias (Agencia Tributaria)
- IVA y comercio electrónico: ventanilla única y modelo 369 (Agencia Tributaria)
Buying from an EU business.
It invoices you without VAT once you give it your EU VAT number. You charge yourself Spanish VAT in boxes 10 and 11 of the 303 and deduct it in 36 and 37: if it is all deductible, the effect is zero (arts. 15, 84 and 85 of the VAT law).
Your EU VAT number.
To buy and sell without VAT between EU businesses you need to be on the Registro de Operadores Intracomunitarios (ROI), Spain’s register of intra-EU traders, through the modelo 036. Without it, your supplier charges you its own country’s VAT.
Selling to an EU business.
Check its VAT number in VIES, the EU’s VAT number check. Goods are exempt (art. 25) and services are reverse-charged: your customer accounts for the VAT in its country (art. 69). Both go in box 59 of the 303 and on the modelo 349.
Selling to EU consumers.
Up to €10,000 a year across all countries, counting distance sales of goods and digital services together, you charge Spanish VAT. Above it, the customer’s country’s VAT, which you declare from Spain through the One-Stop Shop (OSS) and the modelo 369 (arts. 68, 70 and 73).
Other services to consumers.
These carry Spanish VAT. There are exceptions for services tied to property, transport, restaurants or events, which are taxed where they take place (art. 70).
Would you rather Melso did it?
Your agent gathers invoices and expenses on WhatsApp, and your advisors prepare and file your taxes after you approve them in the app.
What people ask us most.
The VAT on transactions between businesses in different EU countries. The seller invoices without VAT and the buyer accounts for it in its own country, under the reverse charge. With consumers, the rule depends on the €10,000 limit.
Without VAT, with its VAT number and the wording «Entrega intracomunitaria exenta, art. 25 Ley 37/1992» for goods or «Inversión del sujeto pasivo» (reverse charge) for services. Check its VAT number in VIES first.
With the modelo 036, ticking registration in the Registro de Operadores Intracomunitarios. From then on your EU VAT number is your Spanish tax ID (NIF) with the ES prefix, and it shows in VIES.
Every quarter, from the 1st to the 20th of the following month (for the fourth quarter, until 30 January), if your EU supplies and services stay at or below €50,000 in the quarter and the four before it. Above that, it is monthly.
A way to declare from Spain the VAT on your sales to consumers in other EU countries, without registering in each one. You file the modelo 369 every quarter, during the following month.
Leave the maths to your tax advisor.
Tell us about your situation. We confirm the scope before work starts.