Frequently asked questions about Spanish VAT registration

There are many questions raised about Spanish VAT and related services in European cross-border e-commerce Circles. 

In this article, our tax accountant will answer the most frequently asked question during the application.

Spanish Tax number can be categorized as Spanish tax number and VAT identification number .

The Spanish tax number known as Numero de Identificacion Fiscal (NIF) can be used for custom clearance and tax declearation (for domestic use). 

The format usually is letter N + 7 digits + a letter ( e.g. N1234567A), the application usually takes 4-6 weeks.

The VAT identification number (Spanish: Registro de Operadores Intracomunitarios abbr. ROI) is used for Intra-Community transactions. 

With this number, Spanish authority can examine whether the trading activities comply with the relevant VAT rules in EU. 

ROI number can be used for tax free B2B transaction in EU and invoice auto generation on the trading platform. 

The format of ROI number is plus 'ES' in front of local tax number (e.g.ESN1234567A). The official timescale for application is 

3 months, but currently Sea & Mew only takes 1.5 months to get the application done.

To identify whether you need a local tax number ( NIF)

You need NIF if match the following conditions:

1）conducting import activities from non-EU state to Spain;

2）Using the local warehouse in Spain ( Amazon FBA/ third party warehouse service) to conduct sales or cross border cargo transfer;

3）B2C sales from other EU states to Spain;

4）Need to apply for VAT identification number or EORI number in Spain.

What documents are required to apply for NIF?

The requirements from Spanish tax authority :

This is a general guidance provided by tax agency, usually applicant should provide business license and related documents, 

but consider the difference between countries, here are some specific requirements about the information in the business license:

Faced with more detailed requirements, you may ask “what documents should I provide?” Please don't worry, our accountant 

already summarized a list for you based on actual application process, there are three main categories

1) Company established in Chinese mainland, selling on Amazon, Apostille not required.

- Scanned ID card or passport of legal person in colour

- Scanned business license in colour

- Enterprise credit information publicity report in PDF (must download from National Enterprise credit information publicity system)

- Amazon certificate in PDF

- VAT certificate from other EU country in PDF

- Letter of Authorization

2) Company established in Chinese mainland, selling on non-Amazon platform, Apostille required.

- Scanned ID card or passport of legal person in colour

- Scanned business license in colour

- Enterprise credit information publicity report in PDF (must download from National Enterprise credit information publicity system)

- Authorization letter for Apostille

- Authorization letter to Spanish tax agency

3) Company established outside Chinese mainland, Apostille required

- Scanned ID card of legal person in colour

- Scanned business license in colour

- Company registration certificate from local authority or scanned credit report in colour

- Authorization letter for Apostille

- Authorization letter to Spanish tax agency

The documents mentioned above will prepare by our professional tax accountant and translator. Company director just need to sign 

and stamp your documents, then wait for the application done.

Attention: If you will upload your VAT certificate to Amazon platform, please make sure the business name and address fully match 

the info on Amazon system, non-matched details will lead to review failure on Amazon.

After knowing about the required documents, you may focus on the procedure of  application and the timescale.

Here are two rounds for documents review.First you might consult our customer service agents for free and prepare the documents 

required with their assistance. They will review your documents first; After you sign the contract with us, we will send your application

 to tax accountant, they will double check the documents to make sure high passing rate in the following assessment. The reviewed

 documents will send to professional translator and stamped by the officially designated translation company. All preparation work has 

done after above process and we start to submit your application.

The policy of tax agency indicates the legal person of the company must have Tax Identification Number in Spain, then he/she can

 apply for Spanish VAT number. So firstly we will apply for Tax Identification Number for legal person. This process will take a 

little longer, because the assessment of this project is important for tax agency, also due to cultural differences, sometime legal

 person may have a same name with other applicant. In this case, our accountant will send appeal letter to tax agency to explain the situation.

Tax accountant will submit the application for Spanish VAT number after the Tax Identification Number has been issued, and from 

now it usually takes 4-6 weeks to get  Spanish tax number.

The things need to pay attention, July and August of each year are the summer holidays in Spain. The work is basically paused at this 

time. Therefore, if you want to enter the Spanish site as soon as possible, we suggest you to avoid these two months and submit the 

Spanish tax number application in advance.

When we finally get the tax certificate, some people may not sure which number is the tax number. Here is the example picture for you,

the format of tax number is letter N + 7 digits number + a letter in the end.

Accountant will notify you once we get the tax certificate, the company can start to trade now! In addition, the revenue coming means 

you also need to file your VAT return. you need to submit your return quarterly and file a annual report, totally 5 times a year.

In the previous introduction, the tax accountant repeatedly mentioned a word ‘Apostille'. What is Apostille? Typically the Apostille 

Certificate is issued by the state from which the document originates although in some cases another state can issue the Apostille. 

Once a document has had an Apostille Certificate attached to it confirming the authenticity of signatures and seals it can be 

presented to any country which recognises the Apostille. Our tax accountant will introduce more information about Apostille in

 the following articles . Thanks for reading and stay tuned!