VAT ID

What it means

The VAT ID is the identification number for value added tax, in Slovakia formatted as SK plus ten digits. It is not the company number or the general tax number: the first identifies the company in the register, the second serves taxes generally, and the VAT ID is exclusively for VAT.

It is assigned on registration under § 4 for a full payer, but also under § 7 or § 7a where a company registers only for cross-border acquisitions or services. In the latter case the company is not a full payer and gains no right to deduct.

For Slovak entities the VAT ID is normally the prefix SK followed by the same digits as the tax number. Identical digits do not make them the same thing: every taxpayer has a tax number, but only those registered for VAT have a VAT ID. Registration is also tied to a state, so a company registered in both Slovakia and Czechia holds two different VAT IDs and uses each for supplies in that state.

How it works in practice

The number goes on the invoice and is verified in VIES. For an intra-EU supply the customer’s valid VAT ID is one of the substantive conditions for exemption, and the supply is reported in the EC sales list.

The check is made at the time of supply and the evidence is kept. The financial administration publishes both the register of payers and the list of unreliable ones.

When a client obtains a VAT ID mid-year, we help switch everything over at once: invoice templates, the webshop, the till, contracts and the details partners hold. From the registration date tax appears on every supply, and goods and services from the EU are ordered under the VAT ID. The VAT period is set at the same time, and the first return covers the period from the registration date.

What to watch out for

An invalid or cancelled customer VAT ID means the exemption fails and the supplier pays the tax out of its own pocket. Watch also for supplying to a VAT ID from a country other than the one the goods travel to - a classic inspection finding.

After deregistration the VAT ID must disappear from invoices and contracts. Anyone who shows tax on an invoice while no longer a payer has to pay it, and the customer still cannot deduct it. An inspection then creates trouble on both sides, and correcting invoices are issued retroactively for several months.