Intra-EU supply

What it means

An intra-EU supply is a supply of goods from one member state to another between persons identified for VAT. Where the conditions are met it is exempt at the supplier, and the customer accounts for the tax in the state of destination.

The conditions are substantive, not formal: the customer holds a valid VAT ID in another member state, the goods actually left the state of dispatch, and the supplier can prove it. Missing transport evidence destroys the exemption even where the goods genuinely moved.

An intra-EU supply is always a deal between businesses identified for VAT. When the same goods go to a private individual in another state, it is a distance sale with different rules: no exemption applies and the tax is due either in Slovakia or in the customer’s state. What decides is the customer’s status, not the fact that the goods crossed a border.

How it works in practice

The evidence is a CMR, a delivery note confirmed by the recipient, a carrier invoice, or a written statement from the customer where they arrange transport themselves. The documents are collected as you go, not at audit time.

The supply is reported in the VAT return and in the EC sales list; the VAT ID is verified in VIES as at the supply date. Triangular trade is the special case, with its own simplified regime.

Moving one’s own goods also counts as an intra-EU supply, for instance when a Slovak company ships stock to its own warehouse in Germany. Nobody buys the goods, yet the company reports an exempt supply and usually declares an acquisition in the destination state, which requires a registration there. The exception is the simplification for call-off stock where the customer is known in advance.

What to watch out for

The costliest mistake is invoicing without tax when the customer collects the goods themselves and never returns proof of transport. The tax, interest and penalty fall on the supplier - which is why such supplies often carry a deposit, or are invoiced with tax and corrected once the evidence arrives.

Tax administrations across member states compare EC sales list data with what customers declared as acquisitions. When a supplier reports a supply in a different month or for a different amount, a request for explanation follows, sometimes years later. So the supply date, the invoice and the returns are aligned before filing, not once the tax office gets in touch.