Addresses, VAT ID and country

The country is a tax input

An organization's country is not a label. It is half of the derivation that decides whether you charge German VAT, apply reverse charge, or treat the supply as outside the EU.

An organization with no country cannot be invoiced: the checklist asks for "the client's address, including country" before it will let you issue.

The VAT ID

Where the client has one, record it. It is required on an invoice under reverse charge, and the checklist enforces that.

Steerd checks the shape of a VAT ID against the country it is recorded under. Each EU country has its own format, and it knows all of them.

The mistake that costs money

A VAT ID from a different country than the one recorded.

An organization marked as French carrying a German VAT ID reads as reverse charge, which means no VAT. If they are in fact established in Germany, German VAT was due, and nobody collects that 19% from your client later. You pay it.

Steerd warns while you type and offers to change the country to match the VAT ID in one click. At issue the warning becomes a block.

What is not checked

Steerd does not ask the EU whether a VAT ID exists or is currently valid. The check is a format check.

For a new or unfamiliar client, validating the ID against the EU's VIES service yourself is a minute well spent. It is the difference between a plausible ID and a real one.

Greece

Greece is GR as a country and EL as a VAT prefix. Steerd handles both, and you are not typing it wrong.