VAT deposit on a purchase from another EU country
If you buy a vehicle with full VAT (not under the margin scheme) from a seller in another EU country, the seller invoices it VAT-free as an intra-EU supply. You then pay a deposit equal to the VAT in the seller's country together with the purchase price. The seller receives the deposit together with the purchase price. After delivery, you document on the trade page that the vehicle has left the seller's country: a declaration of the export and at least two documents, typically the CMR consignment note or the carrier's invoice and one more piece of evidence, such as the payment for the transport or the registration in your country. The seller approves the documentation or writes what is missing; if the seller does not answer, CamperProff can decide it. Once it is approved, the seller pays the deposit back to you. Send the declaration by the 10th of the month after delivery; the final deadline is the last day of the third month after the month of delivery, and you are reminded before both dates if the documentation is missing. If it has not been sent by the final deadline, or is rejected after it, the seller keeps the deposit as the VAT and issues a corrected invoice with VAT. The same happens if VIES does not confirm your VAT number at the handover. There is no deposit under the margin scheme.
The checklist for export documentation
When a vehicle with full VAT is sold VAT-free to a dealer in another EU country, the buyer pays a VAT deposit. It is paid back once the buyer has documented that the vehicle has been transported out of the seller's country. The decision follows this checklist. Before the handover the buyer states who collects the vehicle; that decides which list applies.
Carrier
A carrier independent of the buyer and the seller, or CamperProff's own freight across the border. A carrier that is a related party to the buyer (same owner or group) does not count as independent; the list for self-collection then applies.
- The buyer's arrival declaration. Country of destination, date and place of arrival, the means of transport, the VIN and who received the vehicle. Filled in and accepted on the trade page.
- CMR consignment note, signed by the consignee. The vehicle's VIN, the sender and the consignee, and the consignee's signature and date in box 24 on receipt. The buyer confirms that box 24 is signed and dated.
- One document from an independent party. The carrier's transport insurance certificate for this transport, the bank's document for payment of the freight, or the registration certificate in the destination country. An invoice from the same carrier that issued the CMR does not count: it comes from the same party.
The buyer collects
The buyer's own driver or the buyer personally drives or tows the vehicle home. The requirements have been verified for vehicles collected in Denmark and Germany. If the vehicle is collected in another country, CamperProff has not verified the requirements; the seller then decides whether the documentation can be accepted. If the seller does not answer, Assessment can approve only when the whole list is met, including the registration certificate in the destination country, uploaded before the final deadline; without it the deposit is refunded only if the seller approves. The registration certificate can be uploaded after the rest has been sent, but only until the final deadline.
- The buyer's arrival declaration with plate and route. The VIN, the registration plate or trade plate the vehicle was driven on, the route, the date and place of arrival and who received the vehicle.
- The collector's identity in the handover record. The collector's name, the kind, country and last four characters of the photo ID and the signed receipt, as the seller recorded them at the handover (and the buyer's authorisation when the collector is not the buyer's owner or director).
- Tickets or receipts from the route. Ferry, bridge or toll tickets or fuel receipts with date and place that match the route and the date of arrival in the declaration.
- Registration certificate in the destination country. The vehicle's VIN and its registration in the destination country. It can be uploaded later, but the documentation can only be approved once it is there, unless the seller expressly approves without it and bears that risk.
The seller decides the documentation, because the seller is liable for the VAT. A rejection must name the point of the checklist that is not met, with a reason. If the seller does not decide, Assessment may decide the documentation by the same checklist. If the buyer has sent other evidence outside the checklist, the seller judges it; Assessment may reject it, but not approve it on the seller's behalf. The buyer's statement of the collector must match the seller's handover record; where it does not, the record stands.
The buyer may object to a rejection once, within 7 days of the rejection, with a text and any further documents. The seller may object once, within 7 days after Assessment has approved on the seller's behalf. If the payment provider holds the deposit, it stays there while an objection can be raised or is waiting; this also holds after the final deadline, and the seller issues an invoice with VAT only once it is settled that the deposit goes to the seller.
Assessment decides the objection with a reason that refers to the checklist. If Assessment finds for the buyer against the seller's own rejection, the case goes back to the seller, who decides again with Assessment's reason. The Assessment team's decision on an objection is final on CamperProff. The parties' legal rights towards each other are unaffected.
Once the deadline has passed, the deposit has become the VAT. For up to 12 months after the deadline the buyer can still send the full documentation. The seller may choose to accept it and then pays the deposit back to the buyer by its own bank transfer and issues a credit note for the VAT invoice. This is an option for the seller, not a duty, and the terms give the buyer no claim to it. Where the payment provider held the deposit, this is possible only once the deposit has been paid out to the seller, and not while an objection is open.
Registration tax in the buyer's country
Your own country may charge a tax when the vehicle is registered. The listing shows what we know about the tax in your country and, for a Danish buyer of a motorhome from abroad, an estimate in Danish kroner where the vehicle's details allow one. Caravans carry no registration tax in Denmark. CamperProff does not collect or file the tax.
