Glossary.
The VAT, tax, and registry terms worth knowing before you ship.
- BrønnøysundThe Norwegian central business register (Brønnøysundregistrene, BRREG) that issues 9-digit organization numbers and tracks VAT registration for Norwegian entities.
- BZStGermany's Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, the federal tax office that runs the §18e qualified VAT confirmation service for German sellers making intra-EU supplies.
- ChecksumAn arithmetic check digit built into a VAT number so that format-level validation can reject typos before any registry call.
- Consultation numberA reference identifier returned by VIES that proves you queried a VAT number on a specific date, used as evidence for reverse-charge invoicing.
- HMRC VRNThe UK VAT registration number issued by HM Revenue and Customs to businesses registered for VAT in Great Britain.
- IOSSThe EU Import One-Stop-Shop scheme for declaring VAT on low-value goods imported from outside the EU and sold to EU consumers.
- MOD-11 checksumA weighted modulo-11 algorithm used by several European tax authorities to protect VAT numbers against transcription errors.
- MOSSThe EU Mini One-Stop-Shop scheme for cross-border B2C digital services, replaced by the wider OSS regime on 1 July 2021.
- MTIC fraudMissing Trader Intra-Community fraud, a VAT scheme exploiting the EU's reverse-charge rules where shell companies vanish before remitting collected VAT.
- MVA suffixThe optional MVA suffix on Norwegian organization numbers, indicating the organization is registered for merverdiavgift (Norwegian VAT).
- OIBCroatia's Osobni identifikacijski broj, an 11-digit identifier used for both individuals and legal entities, with the same number serving as the Croatian VAT number when prefixed with HR.
- OSSThe EU One-Stop-Shop scheme that lets a seller declare and pay VAT on cross-border B2C sales to EU consumers through a single quarterly return.
- §147 AOThe German tax-records retention rule requiring documents that support tax-relevant claims to be kept for 10 years, including BZSt qualified confirmation evidence under §18e UStG.
- §18e UStGThe German law requiring sellers making VAT-free intra-EU supplies to obtain a qualified confirmation from BZSt that the foreign customer's VAT number and company details match.
- Place of supplyThe country whose VAT rules govern a transaction, determined by fixed rules that differ for goods, services, B2B, and B2C.
- Reverse chargeA VAT mechanism that shifts the obligation to account for VAT from the supplier to the business customer in cross-border B2B sales.
- SteuernummerThe German domestic tax number used by the Finanzamt for income tax purposes, distinct from the EU-facing USt-IdNr. used for intra-EU VAT.
- Swiss UIDThe Swiss business identification number issued by the Federal Statistical Office, used as the basis for the Swiss VAT registration number.
- USt-IdNr.The German VAT identification number used for intra-EU B2B transactions, distinct from the domestic Steuernummer.
- VAT numberThe country-specific identifier issued to a business that is registered for value-added tax and used as the key for cross-border B2B tax treatment.
- VIESThe European Commission's cross-border aggregator that lets you confirm a VAT number is currently registered in a given EU member state.
- Windsor FrameworkThe 2023 UK-EU agreement that replaced the Northern Ireland Protocol, setting the rules under which Northern Ireland businesses use XI-prefix VAT numbers for goods trade with the EU.
- XI prefixThe post-Brexit ISO code assigned to Northern Ireland VAT numbers used for goods trade with the EU under the Windsor Framework.