{"id":29211,"date":"2026-08-18T07:00:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T07:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bilnex.io\/en\/vida-reverse-charge-2028\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T07:00:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T07:00:01","slug":"live-reverse-charge-2028","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bilnex.io\/en\/live-reverse-charge-2028\/","title":{"rendered":"ViDA Reverse Charge 2028: When Does the Buyer Owe VAT?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ViDA, the European Union’s VAT in the Digital Age reform package, makes Article 194 of the VAT Directive mandatory from 1 July 2028<\/a>: whenever a business sells goods or services in a country where it isn’t established and isn’t registered for VAT, and the buyer is already VAT-registered in that same country, the duty to calculate and pay the VAT shifts automatically to the buyer. This is not a brand-new, general cross-border reverse charge covering every EU purchase. It’s a narrow rule that kicks in only when a foreign seller is trading in a local market without a local VAT number.<\/p>\n

The four conditions that decide the liability<\/h2>\n

Before you decide an invoice needs reverse-charging, run it through the four conditions set out in Directive (EU) 2025\/516<\/a>: the seller isn’t established in the buyer’s country; the seller holds no individual VAT number there; the buyer is already VAT-registered in that country; and the transaction isn’t taxed under the margin scheme (a special VAT regime for second-hand goods that taxes only the seller’s profit margin, not the full sale price). If all four hold true, the invoice carries no VAT, and the buyer declares it themselves.<\/p>\n

What happens if the seller already has a local number or a presence?<\/h2>\n

If the foreign supplier is already VAT-registered in the buyer’s country, or has a fixed establishment there that actually takes part in the deal (a real office, warehouse or staff involved in making the sale happen, not just an administrative address), the mandatory 2028 rule doesn’t apply. Liability then falls back on whatever rules each member state already has in place. Estonia already runs on the principle that an Estonian business must account for VAT<\/a> on goods and services bought from a foreign, Estonia-unregistered seller, provided that seller’s Estonian establishment doesn’t actually participate in the transaction. Latvia’s State Revenue Service (VID) sets out<\/a> a reverse-charge regime limited to specific goods categories, such as scrap metal and construction services, and Lithuania’s State Tax Inspectorate (VMI) explains<\/a> that a buyer of goods located in Lithuania declares the seller’s VAT on form FR0600 whenever the seller is neither established nor registered in Lithuania. The 2028 change doesn’t wipe out any of these domestic categories.<\/p>\n

What must the invoice and the VAT return show?<\/h2>\n

From 1 July 2028, the invoice must state the buyer’s VAT number<\/a>, the number under which the buyer will account for the VAT, and the seller has to issue that invoice no later than the 15th day of the month following the month the supply took place. Double-check that you’ve handed the seller your correct local VAT number, because the seller reports the transaction in their own recapitulative statement (the EU’s cross-check summary of intra-EU sales), and a wrong number means your reverse-charge entry won’t match up when the tax authority runs its cross-check.<\/p>\n

Does this end up costing you anything?<\/h2>\n

Usually not. If what you bought goes toward taxable business activity, you deduct the same amount as input VAT in the same period: the VAT you charge yourself and the VAT you reclaim cancel each other out. In Lithuania, for instance, VAT calculated on form FR0600<\/a> is due within 25 days of the end of the period, but if you have deduction rights, that same amount comes back to you. If the purchase relates to VAT-exempt activity, part of that VAT becomes a real cost, exactly as it would with any ordinary purchase invoice.<\/p>\n

Is this connected to the 2030 e-invoicing rule?<\/h2>\n

The 2028 reverse charge is about who owes VAT on a specific transaction, full stop. A separate deadline sits further down the ViDA timeline: member states must implement the Article 5 measures from 1 July 2030<\/a>, when the digital reporting obligation, a requirement to report transaction data electronically to tax authorities close to real time, extends to every VAT-registered person, but only for the transaction categories listed in Article 262, including special treatment for VAT-exempt goods and services. These are two different deadlines inside the same ViDA package, and they get mixed up constantly simply because they share the name.<\/p>\n

FAQ<\/h2>\n

Millal hakkab kehtima ViDA p\u00f6\u00f6rdmaksustamise kohustus ostjale?<\/h3>\n

Alates 1. juulist 2028. Kui v\u00e4lismaine m\u00fc\u00fcja ei ole ostja riigis asutatud ega seal k\u00e4ibemaksukohustuslasena registreeritud, l\u00e4heb k\u00e4ibemaksu arvestamise ja tasumise kohustus automaatselt ostjale.<\/p>\n

Millised neli tingimust peavad t\u00e4ituma, et p\u00f6\u00f6rdmaksustamine rakenduks?<\/h3>\n

M\u00fc\u00fcja ei ole ostja riigis asutatud; m\u00fc\u00fcjal puudub seal individuaalne k\u00e4ibemaksunumber; ostja on selles riigis juba k\u00e4ibemaksukohustuslasena registreeritud; ja tehing ei k\u00e4i kasutatud kaupade marginaalikorra alusel.<\/p>\n

Kas p\u00f6\u00f6rdmaksustamine 2028 muutub ostjale reaalseks kuluks?<\/h3>\n

Enamasti ei. Kui ostetud kaup v\u00f5i teenus on m\u00f5eldud maksustatavaks \u00e4ritegevuseks, arvestad sama summa samal perioodil sisendk\u00e4ibemaksuna maha. Kui ost on seotud maksuvaba tegevusega, j\u00e4\u00e4b osa k\u00e4ibemaksust p\u00e4ris kuluks.<\/p>\n

Kas 2028. aasta p\u00f6\u00f6rdmaksustamine on seotud 2030. aasta e-arve reegliga?<\/h3>\n

Ei, need on ViDA paketi kaks erinevat t\u00e4htaega. 2028. aasta muudatus puudutab konkreetse tehingu k\u00e4ibemaksuvastutust, 2030. aastal laieneb digitaalse aruandluse kohustus igale k\u00e4ibemaksukohustuslasele.<\/p>\n