As part of the process of establishing the European Single Market, the tax authorities in each EU member state assign VAT registration numbers to companies. All companies that are entitled to deduct input tax can receive a VAT registration number.

A VAT registration number is alphanumeric and consists of up to 15 characters. The first two letters indicate the respective member state, for example DE for Germany or ES for Spain.

The VAT registration number is designed to specify the tax processing involved in certain transactions and to allow the financial authorities to monitor the application of the new regulation.

For this reason, the VAT registration number of the company code and that of the customer must be specified on invoices for tax-exempt deliveries and other goods and services within the European Union. The VAT registration number is thus part of the control procedure that has replaced the former border controls (EC sales list).

You can define VAT registration numbers in the system for every customer, company code, and vendor. The VAT registration numbers in the vendor master record are currently only used in Spain for information purposes.