VAT on goods transported outside the European Union is 0%.
Proof
The trader applying this 0% rate must be able to prove to the tax authorities that the goods supplied actually left the EU. Such proof can generally be provided by means of documents issued by the customs authorities. In principle, these documents must be included in the records of the entrepreneur applying the 0% rate. In practice, the documents are also kept by the intermediary who completes customs formalities on behalf of the supplying operator.
Passenger baggage
Proof that delivered goods have left the EU cannot be provided by the supplying entrepreneur if the customer is a private individual who takes the goods outside the EU himself. The 0% rate may then still be applied if the following conditions are met:
- the individual takes the goods in his/her personal luggage to a destination outside the EU no later than the end of the third month after the month of purchase;
- the total value of the goods listed on an invoice must be at least €50 including VAT;
- the individual proves his/her place of residence or usual abode by means of proof of identity.
Proving that the goods actually left the EU in the buyer's personal luggage depends on the Member State from which he or she is leaving the EU:
- from the Netherlands: with a digitally delivered document bearing a digital stamp from the competent authorities;
- from another Member State of the EU: with a (copy) invoice in the name of the buyer (or equivalent original document) which bears a digital or physical stamp from a competent authority of the Member State concerned.
First calculate VAT
As the supplier does not yet meet the conditions for the application of the 0% rate at the time of delivery of the goods, it must first charge VAT at that time. Once all the documents for substantiation of the 0% rate have been received, the supplier reclaims the VAT from the Inland Revenue in a (supplementary) return. It then refunds the VAT amount to the customer.
App
As physical stamping of invoices is not efficient, validation for goods bought in the Netherlands and leaving the EU from the Netherlands has been digitised. This is done through a App. The supplier of the goods enters some data on the digital environment of Customs on the day of purchase. Using the app, the buyer makes a (collective) request for VAT refund once he/she is at the place where he/she will leave the EU. Customs analyses this data and validates the request. If the analysis shows that further (physical) verification is required, the traveller must report to the customs desk.
For goods bought in another EU member state, this digital validation does not work. The traveller must then report to the customs desk for physical export validation.
Personal luggage
What exactly qualifies as personal baggage (aka: “traveller's baggage”) is not concretely defined. It seems to depend partly on the mode of travel. Luggage sent as air cargo will not qualify as personal luggage. Case law shows that goods exported for resale do not qualify as personal baggage.