VAT rates

Overview

Invoices and quotes must include VAT amounts, even if the VAT rate is 0%. Countries have different VAT rates for different types of products and services. For example, Germany has a standard VAT rate of 19%, a reduced VAT rate of 7%, and a zero VAT rate for certain transactions.

Monite maintains a database of VAT rates. API Partners can query the available rates via the API.

Supported countries

Currently, Monite API provides VAT rates for the following countries:

Need other countries? Let us know.

Get VAT rates

To query the possible VAT rates, call GET /vat_rates with the entity ID passed in the X-Monite-Entity-Id header:

curl -X GET 'https://api.sandbox.monite.com/v1/vat_rates?counterpart_id=3a9c5...48df' \
     -H 'X-Monite-Version: 2023-06-04' \
     -H 'X-Monite-Entity-Id: ENTITY_ID' \
     -H 'Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN'

By default, the /vat_rates endpoint returns all VAT rates applicable to the VAT IDs that the entity has, or if no such rates were found, all valid VAT rates for the entity’s country of registration.

📘

EU One Stop Shop considerations

If the entity VAT ID is of type eu_oss_vat (which is used for cross-border B2C sales within the EU), GET /vat_rates returns the VAT rates for the counterpart's country rather than the entity's country.

You can narrow down the list by adding filters to the query string. The available filters are:

• GET /vat_rates?counterpart_id={id} - get VAT rates applicable for sales to the specified counterpart.
• GET /vat_rates?entity_vat_id_id={uuid} - if an entity has several VAT ID records (example: a UK entity that ships goods from Northern Ireland), you can specify which VAT ID to use when searching for the applicable VAT rates. If entity_vat_id_id is not specified, all VAT rates valid for any of the entity's VAT IDs are returned.
• GET /vat_rates?counterpart_vat_id_id={uuid} - if a counterpart has several VAT IDs, you can specify the one that will be used in the invoice to get the applicable VAT rates. If counterpart_vat_id_id is not specified, all VAT rates valid for any of the counterpart's VAT IDs are returned.
• GET /vat_rates?product_type=[product | service] - get VET rates that apply only to physical goods or only to services.

You can combine these filters to narrow down the results further.

📘

If the filters specified for GET /vat_rates do not produce any results, this endpoint instead returns all valid VAT rates for the entity's country of registration.

Below is a sample response assuming the entity and counterpart are German. German VAT rates are 0%, 7%, and 19%. The VAT value in the response is the percentage multiplied by 100, that is, 7% is represented as 700 and 19% as 1900.

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "a39a2ec3-765d-4f75-9a17-585a5d22509d",
      "created_at": "2022-09-23T12:28:31.941357+00:00",
      "updated_at": "2022-09-23T12:28:31.941375+00:00",
      "value": 0,
      "country": "DE",
      "valid_from": null,
      "valid_until": null,
      "created_by": "monite",
      "status": "active"
    },
    {
      "id": "51cefc6c-9f82-484e-ae6a-a3a89b507bea",
      "created_at": "2022-09-23T12:28:31.941398+00:00",
      "updated_at": "2022-09-23T12:28:31.941406+00:00",
      "value": 700,
      "country": "DE",
      "valid_from": null,
      "valid_until": null,
      "created_by": "monite",
      "status": "active"
    },
    {
      "id": "479155c3-0995-4689-a3cf-7482ea5132a9",
      "created_at": "2022-09-23T12:28:31.941423+00:00",
      "updated_at": "2022-09-23T12:28:31.941431+00:00",
      "value": 1900,
      "country": "DE",
      "valid_from": null,
      "valid_until": null,
      "created_by": "monite",
      "status": "active"
    }
  ]
}

Note down the returned VAT id values. You will need them later to specify the corresponding VAT rates for individual line items in invoices and quotes.

Specify VAT rates when creating or updating invoices and quotes

When you create an invoice or a quote by calling POST /receivables, you must provide the vat_rate_id for each line item in the line_items array. In the example below, the first line item is taxed at 19% (VAT rate ID = 479155c3-0995-4689-a3cf-7482ea5132a9) and the second line item is taxed at 7% (VAT rate ID = 51cefc6c-9f82-484e-ae6a-a3a89b507bea).

Monite will automatically calculate the VAT amounts based on the specified VAT rate IDs and return the total VAT in the total_vat_amount field in the invoice response.

curl -X POST 'https://api.sandbox.monite.com/v1/receivables' \
     -H 'X-Monite-Version: 2023-06-04' \
     -H 'X-Monite-Entity-Id: ENTITY_ID' \
     -H 'Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN' \
     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     -d '{
       "type": "invoice",
       ...
       "line_items": [
         {
           "quantity": 5,
           "product_id": "8755c86a-d630-4920-b6fd-fd2917d87dfb",
           "vat_rate_id": "479155c3-0995-4689-a3cf-7482ea5132a9"
         },
         {
           "quantity": 1,
           "product_id": "b97601e1-e795-4c47-85d5-e5c54a75058d",
           "vat_rate_id": "51cefc6c-9f82-484e-ae6a-a3a89b507bea"
         }
       ],
       ...
     }'

Similarly, to update the VAT rate for a specific line item in an existing draft invoice or quote, call PATCH /receivables/{receivables_id} and provide the new vat_rate_id for that line item:

curl -X PATCH 'https://api.sandbox.monite.com/v1/receivables/411dc6eb...6289b3' \
     -H 'X-Monite-Version: 2023-06-04' \
     -H 'X-Monite-Entity-Id: ENTITY_ID' \
     -H 'Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN' \
     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     -d '{
       "invoice": {
         "line_items": [
           {
             "quantity": 5,
             "product_id": "8755c86a-d630-4920-b6fd-fd2917d87dfb",
             "vat_rate_id": "51cefc6c-9f82-484e-ae6a-a3a89b507bea"
           },
           {
             "quantity": 1,
             "product_id": "b97601e1-e795-4c47-85d5-e5c54a75058d",
             "vat_rate_id": "479155c3-0995-4689-a3cf-7482ea5132a9"
           }
         ]
       }
     }'