Invoicing EU clients from Spain: VAT, VIES and Forms 303 and 349
A practical guide for Spain-based businesses selling services across Europe: VAT checks, reverse charge, tax points and worked returns, with the US LLC case explained separately.
A French business asks for an invoice without VAT. Before changing the tax line, establish who is buying, whether the purchase is for their business and which establishment receives the service. Those facts determine the VAT treatment. The country of the bank account does not.
This guide is for businesses and self-employed professionals established in mainland Spain or the Balearic Islands. It covers services sold to and bought from other countries, with Spain's ROI, VIES checks and Forms 303 and 349. The Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla sit outside that Spanish VAT territory. We also explain how the analysis changes when the supplier is a US LLC.
What makes a service an intra-EU B2B supply?
B2B means that the customer is acting as a business and buying for that activity. Under the general rule, the place of supply is the customer's business establishment, or the establishment receiving the service. Articles 44 and 196 of the VAT Directive connect that place of supply with the customer's reverse-charge obligation where the relevant conditions are met.
For example, an ordinary consulting project supplied from Spain to a business established in France can be invoiced without Spanish VAT. That does not make it a universally exempt transaction. It falls outside Spanish VAT because of its place of supply, while the French recipient accounts for the applicable VAT in France.
| General-rule service | Treatment from Spain | Recapitulative reporting |
|---|---|---|
| Supplied to a business in another EU Member State | No Spanish VAT; customer applies reverse charge at destination | Form 349 where its conditions are met |
| Supplied to a UK or US business | Outside Spanish VAT under the place-of-supply rule | Not included in Form 349 |
| Purchased from a business in another Member State | Spanish recipient accounts for VAT | Form 349 where applicable |
| Supplied to a consumer in another Member State | Start with the B2C rule and check exceptions | Not a B2B service entry in Form 349 |
Intra-EU goods are a separate subject. Their exemption conditions should not be copied indiscriminately onto services. A service may be outside Spanish VAT without being an exempt supply of goods.
VIES checks: useful evidence, not the whole decision
VIES checks whether a VAT number is valid for intra-EU transactions. Keep the response, date and available identity details against the correct customer. The contract or order should also show that the service is being purchased for a business activity.
An invalid response does not, by itself, prove that the buyer is a consumer. A number may have been mistyped, may await activation or may not yet be enabled for intra-EU transactions. Ask the customer to resolve the reason rather than guessing a tax treatment.
Article 18 of Implementing Regulation 282/2011 specifically addresses a customer who has applied for a VAT number but has not received it. The supplier obtains other evidence of the customer's status and makes reasonable checks. This is a defined evidential route, not permission to ignore registration or accept an unsupported assertion.
Where neither the number nor sufficient supporting evidence is available, complete the checks before deciding. Conversely, a business owner buying a service exclusively for private use does not turn that purchase into B2B simply by quoting a VAT number.
Spain's ROI: prepare before the first transaction
Spain's Intra-Community Operators Register is usually referred to as the ROI. Registration is requested through Modelo 036, the Spanish census declaration, with the intended date of the first relevant transaction. The Spanish Tax Agency explains ROI and VAT-number identification.
Apply when the planned supplies or purchases require it, retain the application receipt and check the outcome. An administrative decision period is not a guaranteed activation date. A signed contract should not rely on an assumed approval that nobody has checked.
Registration and place of supply answer different questions. Any outstanding registration requirement needs to be resolved, but its existence does not replace the legal analysis of the service. A US EIN is also not an EU VAT number: do not place it in a European VAT field as though the two were interchangeable.
Check whether the contract falls under an exception
Many ordinary consulting, marketing and professional projects follow the general B2B rule. Certain services need a more specific analysis:
- Property-related services: the location of the property can determine taxation.
- Admission to physical events: access may be taxed where the event takes place. Supplying a service to the organiser is not automatically the same transaction.
- Passenger transport: the route matters.
- Restaurant, catering and short-term vehicle hire: each has particular rules.
- Virtual activities: rules applying from 2025 distinguish certain streamed or virtually available events from physical attendance.
The European Commission's place-of-taxation guidance maps these categories. Classify what the customer actually buys. A live lesson, an automated recording and conference admission can require different answers even if all three are marketed as “training”.
An invoice the customer's finance team can understand
A full invoice identifies both parties, their addresses and the relevant tax numbers. It also records the invoice number, dates, service, price and payment terms. A description such as “services” gives the customer less useful information than the project and period covered.
For the general intra-EU case, “inversión del sujeto pasivo / reverse charge” explains who accounts for VAT. The relevant references to Articles 44 and 196 of the Directive can accompany it. Article 84 of Spain's VAT Law deals with liability for Spanish VAT; it is not a universal explanation of the customer's French or German obligation.
Illustrative example, not a client case. A Spanish consultant completes a EUR 5,000 project for an identified French business. Both establishments and business use are confirmed, and no special place-of-supply rule applies.
| Item | Amount in EUR |
|---|---|
| Consulting fee | 5000 |
| Spanish VAT charged | 0 |
| Invoice total | 5000 |
The service amount remains visible. Do not use “exempt” or “0% rate” as a substitute for explaining the place-of-supply treatment. The French business receives an invoice for EUR 5,000 and accounts for VAT under the rules applicable to it; the Spanish supplier does not collect French VAT on its behalf.
Spain's invoicing regulation permits certain simplifications in these circumstances. None requires the value of the service to disappear from the invoice.
If you invoice professional services as an individual, assess Spanish IRPF withholding on invoices separately. Withholding is a payment towards income tax, not VAT. Establishing the VAT treatment does not settle the withholding question.
Tax point, invoice date and payment date are different
Services do not generally acquire a tax point on the final day of the month. Article 75 of Spain's VAT Law starts with when the service is performed and provides rules for advance payments and continuing supplies.
Suppose the project above is completed and invoiced on 18 September, then paid on 2 October, with no advance payments or special regime. The service belongs to the September reporting period. Payment in October does not automatically move it into the next quarter.
A monthly retainer, an advance or a continuous contract lasting more than a year needs its relevant rule checked. Record the tax point alongside the commercial documents. A bank statement establishes when money arrived, not necessarily when the VAT reporting event occurred.
Form 349: the transactions and periods it covers
Form 349 is Spain's recapitulative statement for qualifying intra-EU transactions. Services supplied and services purchased are distinct categories. It does not collect VAT and is not a list of every international invoice.
The general reporting period is monthly. Quarterly filing is available when the relevant supplies of goods and intra-EU services do not exceed EUR 50,000 excluding VAT in the current quarter or in any of the four preceding calendar quarters. This is not a test of all revenue, and purchases should not simply be added to sales for that calculation.
Exceeding the limit during a quarter changes the reporting period. Article 81 of the Spanish VAT Regulation sets out the transition and deadlines: generally the first 20 calendar days of the following month, with special treatment for July and the final annual period. Check the year's official calendar for non-working days.
Form 349 and Form 303 need not both be quarterly. Their figures should be explainable from the same records when equivalent periods are compared. Do not force a monthly statement to match an entire quarterly return.
Form 303: boxes 59 and 120 are not interchangeable
The 2026 instructions for Spain's Form 303 distinguish:
- Box 59: intra-EU services supplied, alongside the relevant intra-EU supplies of goods.
- Box 120: other transactions outside Spanish VAT under place-of-supply rules, subject to the stated exclusions. An ordinary B2B consulting supply to a UK or US business normally belongs here.
- Services purchased: reported in the relevant output-VAT and, where deductible, input-VAT sections. They are not sales to add to box 59.
A supply outside Spanish VAT can still carry input-tax deduction rights. Equally, deduction is not unlimited: business use, supporting documents and statutory restrictions matter. Having both Spanish and French customers does not by itself create a partial-exemption restriction.
A worked period with figures that reconcile
Consider an illustrative example of a Spanish agency. It only provides ordinary services taxed at Spain's standard rate when located in Spain. There are no exempt supplies, advances or additional VAT amounts. The EUR 210 of input VAT is assumed to satisfy all deduction conditions.
| Transaction in the period | Net amount in EUR | Spanish VAT in EUR | Total in EUR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service to a Spanish business | 2000 | 420 | 2420 |
| B2B service to a French business | 5000 | 0 | 5000 |
| B2B service to a US business | 3000 | 0 | 3000 |
| Fully deductible Spanish expense | 1000 | 210 | 1210 |
Sales are 2,000 + 5,000 + 3,000 = 10,000 EUR. Output VAT is EUR 420 and the simplified amount payable is 420 - 210 = 210 EUR. The EUR 5,000 French supply appears in box 59 and the services-supplied part of Form 349. The EUR 3,000 US supply is recorded separately in box 120.
The sales invoices total EUR 10,420 including VAT. A payment-provider fee may make the bank credit smaller without reducing the service price. A documented commercial refund may instead require an invoice correction and corresponding reporting adjustments. Identify the event before changing the sales figure.
B2C, digital services and the EUR 10,000 threshold
A bespoke website built with substantial human involvement is not an automated electronic service merely because it is delivered online. For an EU consumer, first classify the service; then apply the appropriate B2C rule.
The EUR 10,000 threshold concerns specified B2C telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services together with intra-EU distance sales of goods. Conditions include establishment in a single Member State and an aggregate amount within the threshold in both the current and preceding calendar years. It is not a general allowance for all professional services.
An LLC established only outside the EU cannot use that threshold to postpone VAT on electronic services supplied to European consumers. The non-Union scheme may be available if its conditions are met. Our separate guide to non-Union OSS for digital services develops that case; this article focuses on professional services connected with Spain.
Where a US LLC fits into European client work
An LLC can bring international contracts, corporate accounts, EUR and USD collections and supplier relationships into one business structure. Its value should be assessed against the actual activity, not just the number of returns on a calendar.
A genuinely non-EU-established LLC supplying a general-rule B2B service to a European business can operate with reverse charge at destination. That US supply does not, by itself, become a Spanish intra-EU service that the LLC must report on Form 349.
Identify the actual supplier and any establishments involved. Incorporation alone does not change where work is carried out or settle the owner's tax position. The guide to reverse-charge invoices from a US LLC to EU businesses covers this separate operating model.
At Exentax, we review your customers, services, residence and plans before recommending and implementing a structure. Banking, invoicing and ongoing tax support form part of the same professional engagement, with a team that understands the business behind the invoices.
Questions about intra-EU services from Spain
Does an invalid VIES result always mean Spanish VAT must be charged?
Not on that fact alone. Check the cause and the customer's business status. Article 18 allows additional evidence in the specified case of a VAT identification application still pending, with reasonable verification.
Does every service delivered online belong in OSS?
No. Automation and the nature of the supply matter. Individual consulting and an automatically supplied download are not classified in the same way.
Does a B2B invoice to a UK company go on Form 349?
Not in the general case described here. The recipient is outside the EU. Its Form 303 treatment is normally box 120, rather than the goods-export box.
Does October payment move a September service into October?
Not automatically. Keep the service's tax point separate from its receipt of cash and check any advance-payment or special-regime rules.
Can I deduct expenses when I do not charge Spanish VAT?
A deduction right can exist for supplies outside the territory under place-of-supply rules. The activity and each expense must still satisfy the relevant conditions.
Does Form 349 replace Form 303?
No. One reports intra-EU transactions; the other accounts for VAT and additional information. Both should draw on consistent underlying records.
What does Exentax need to review my European invoicing?
Sample contracts and invoices, customer countries and business status, the services sold, tax identification and the current business structure. These give us a practical basis for recommending how you should operate.
Make the next invoice part of a well-planned structure
Before issuing it, confirm the customer, business use, place of supply, tax evidence and dates. Whether you are considering an LLC or improving an existing international business, we can review the wider arrangement with you: structure, contracts, banking and tax.