Do you want your company to become a VAT payer, but you have not yet exceeded the statutory turnover or have you not yet started your business? What are the conditions for voluntary VAT registration and what do you need to deliver to the tax office in order to be successful with your application?

The obligation to register as a VAT payer according to § 4 par. 1 of the VAT Act, a domestic taxable person (e.g. a person who has a registered office, place of business or establishment in the country) has a turnover of EUR 49,790 in a maximum of 12 consecutive calendar months. However, you can also become a VAT payer before reaching the statutory turnover, but it is necessary to meet certain conditions.

How to proceed with voluntary VAT registration

The basis is, of course, the completion and submission of an application for VAT registration on the Financial Administration portal.

However, the request alone will not be sufficient. The application must be accompanied by documents proving that your company as the person submitting the application is a taxable person, i. already carrying out an economic activity. We can simply say that any activity from which income is obtained can be considered an economic activity, it can also be income from the rental of real estate.

It is possible to become a VAT payer even if you are just starting a business and do not carry out any economic activity. According to the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU, the preparation for future taxable transactions is considered to be an economic activity. However, your intention to carry out an economic activity should be confirmed by objective evidence.

Therefore, in order to be successful in voluntary registration, you must prove to the tax office that you are carrying out a certain economic activity or at least preparing to do so. In our experience, we recommend that the tax office provide at least the following documents for the purposes of voluntary registration:

If the applicant does not yet carry out an economic activity:

• a brief description of the business plan,
• agreements with business partners, including agreements on a future agreement,
• orders received for the delivery of goods or services,
• documents to the registered office, or office or other space,
• confirmation from the bank about opening a bank account,
• and other documents proving preparation for business.

If the applicant already carries out an economic activity:

• accounting outputs (general ledger, diary),
• invoices issued and received,
• bank statements,
• inventory of assets.

If the tax office does not consider the submitted documents to be sufficient, it may ask you to submit further information, documents or explanations.

If the application for voluntary VAT registration is correctly submitted and all required documents are submitted, the tax office will register the applicant within 21 days of submitting the application.

If the information and documents for the application for voluntary VAT registration are not submitted, the application may be rejected by the tax office.

Becoming a voluntary VAT payer does not have to be problematic in practice - but it is important to prepare for VAT registration and proceed correctly. The best complications and delays can be avoided if you are represented in the VAT registration process by experts with practical experience.