If you have ever thought, as a business owner, of expanding your trade to other European countries, you need to carry out a series of requests and processes to legalize your commercial situation outside Spain. One of them is to register in the register of intra-community operators (ROI). This small gesture can help you a lot when selling or buying within the European Union, in addition to making your business not having to pay taxes and withholdings for these exchanges. Let’s see what this register consists of and how you can register.
What is the register of intra-community operators?
The ROI is a ‘list’ or census of companies and/or professionals authorized to operate, trade and invoice with each other, even if they are from other European Union (EU) countries. The objective is to facilitate and encourage commercial relations between businesses in different territories. If you want to operate within the framework of intra-community VAT you have to be registered in the ROI, managed by the Tax Agency in Spain. If you want to know more about this type of VAT, you can read this article.
As you might guess, ROI has several directives that regulate it and regulations that have to be complied with. The most important of these is the Council Directive 2006/11/EC. It provides the instructions that stakeholders will have to follow if they want to perform these operations in the EU. If a company or self-employed person registers, it means that he or she has an authorization as an intra-EU trader and can now carry out VAT-free transactions with companies in other EU countries. This requires an intracommunity VAT number, which can only be obtained by registering in the register of intracommunity operators (ROI).
The mission of this registry is to facilitate as much as possible the intracommunity operations without clashes or conflicts with VAT. It must be taken into account that each country has a different VAT rate; in Spain it is 21%, but this is not the case for the rest of the countries. With ROI the VAT is eliminated, and so any misunderstanding or conflict between taxes of different countries. If you are thinking of starting commercial relations in the EU, here is a list of all the countries that are members of the ROI:
Who must register?
By law, all those companies, self-employed persons and trading companies that carry out one or more of these operations are obliged to register:
- Acquisition and sale of products to companies from EU countries.
- Acquisition and sale of services to companies from EU countries.
These requirements mean that any entity that wants to buy or sell products to its EU neighbors must be registered in the ROI, regardless of the amount purchased or spent or the VAT regime that applies in each case. However, the registration of intra-community operators does not apply if the customer is a private individual. For this type of sales you should apply the Spanish VAT on the invoice, unless you are registered in the Single Window system. With it you can sell products in the EU and automatically apply the VAT that each country has.
You can only use this system if you are an e-commerce company (like Amazon or Shopify). As in the ROI, this system is also mandatory registration, especially if you invoice more than €10,000 in the EU.
Being registered in the ROI is not mandatory, but it is highly recommended, as you can save a lot of bureaucracy and take advantage of all the tax benefits it entails. You can do it yourself or have a tax consultant do it for you.
How can I register in the Register of Intra-Community Operators (ROI)?
As we have already mentioned, the Tax Agency is the body in charge of the ROI registrations, so you will have to go to its website to register. You will only have to file, telematically, form 036. It is the same as when you register with the Tax Authorities as a professional, but with certain variations. Let’s see point by point how you can register in the register of intracommunity operators (ROI):
You must be registered with the Tax Authorities as a company or self-employed. Before you can make any other movement, if you want to buy or sell in the EU you must first be registered in Spain as a self-employed professional or company. Simply present the form 036 and request the Census Registration for businessmen, professionals and withholders.
Access form 036 at the AEAT’s electronic headquarters. Once you have the first step, it is time to fill in form 036 at the Tax Agency’s electronic headquarters. Both the registration and deregistration can be submitted electronically, with a digital certificate, or in person, by appointment.
Once at the AEAT headquarters, in the section ‘Census, NIF and tax domicile’, start the procedures for the registration of intracommunity operators. Click on ‘census’ and then on ‘Forms 036 and 037’.
Fill in form 036. Once you have access to form 036, include your personal and identification data and check the 3 boxes below to let the Tax Authorities know that you want to register in the registry of intracommunity operators (ROI):
- Box 130. It indicates the reason of presentation of the model is the inscription of the ROI (section ‘b’ of page 1).
- Box 582. It is used to request the registration in the ROI (page 5).
- Box 584. You will have to indicate the date of the first intracommunity operation that you have foreseen.
Step 4: File form 036. Once you have all the fields filled in, check each one of them before sending it. Note that you will have to wait for your application to be accepted. Hacienda, to cover their backs, gives a period of up to 3 months to respond to this type of request. It does not mean that they will answer when the deadline is about to expire, but they can answer in the first month, the second month or even 2 weeks after the request. However, if after 3 months they have not answered, it means that your request for registration in the registry of intracommunity operators (ROI) has been denied.
If you want to check if you are registered in the ROI, consult the VIES register of Intra-Community Operators on the Tax Agency’s website. There you can also check if a customer or supplier from another EU country is part of the ROI. It is necessary for both parties to be registered for an intra-community transaction to be valid and exempt from VAT.
Form 349
If you are self-employed or a company and you carry out intra-community operations, you will need to file form 349, every so often (monthly, bimonthly, quarterly or annually), depending on:
- If the income is less than 50.000 € per year, it is done quarterly.
- If in the first month of the year more than 50.000 € have been invoiced, the declaration is monthly.
- If in the second month of a quarter you have invoiced more than 100,000 €, the declaration will be made every 2 months.
This procedure, unlike the ROI, is purely informative. It is a way for the Treasury to keep track of the intra-community operations carried out by Spanish companies, self-employed or entities. Its function is completely opposite, for example, to the IRPF declaration, on which depends whether you can pay or return, or to the quarterly VAT declaration.
Is it possible to recover VAT on invoices made in other member countries?
If your company is already used to buying from or selling to other EU countries, it is common for you to have to travel to those territories with which you trade. If, during the time you are traveling for work, you have, for example, to stay in a hotel or move from one place to another, you can consider all these expenses as activities derived from your professional activity. Therefore, these invoices will be subject to VAT.
You will be able to recover this money if:
- You file form 360 before September 30 of the following year.
- It is a VAT rate that is also deductible in Spain.
- The invoice is directly related to your activity.
You will have to apply for a refund for each country you have gone to or in which you have activity expenses.
How can I unsubscribe from the ROI?
If you consider that you are no longer going to carry out any commercial activity between countries of the European Union, you can always deregister from the register of intra-community operators (ROI). The process is very similar to the registration: you will have to file form 036 again, but this time indicating that it is a deregistration request. To do so, check box 130 (the one used to communicate the intention to register or deregister) and box 583 to formally request deregistration from the ROI.
We know that these types of operations can be a bit complicated or cumbersome, in addition to the daily work you will be doing. If you need help or want to leave all these issues to an advisor to handle without you having to take care of anything, you can be sure that at Blegal we can help you.
We offer you a professional, prepared and diverse team that works closely together so that each client gets what he or she needs. We work with an eye on the future of your business, we grow with you. Contact us if you have any questions or want to start together the new stage of your business.
Photo by Álvaro Serrano on Unsplash
