The procedure for VAT refund from Germany applies to you if your business is established in the Netherlands, you are VAT-registered in the Netherlands for the activities for which you incurred the costs, and you are not yourself VAT-registered in Germany for those transactions. If you are, for example, an installer and you refuel on the way to a job in Germany, or stay there overnight for a trade fair, that usually falls within the scheme. If you are already VAT-registered in Germany because you supply goods or provide services there, the refund of that German VAT usually runs through your German tax return itself, not through this portal.
The core is therefore twofold: you must have the right to deduct in the Netherlands, and you must not have a local VAT obligation in Germany that already covers the costs. If you are unsure whether that applies to you, a quick check often provides clarity; you can see where you stand in five questions at no cost.
When you do qualify
Most cases of doubt are actually straightforward. A limited company, sole trader or partnership established in the Netherlands that files VAT returns, and that incurs costs in Germany without being VAT-registered there itself, falls under Directive 2008/9. This applies to the installer who collects materials from a supplier just across the border, to the transport company that refuels and pays tolls on the German motorway, and to the exhibitor who stands at a German trade fair and pays for a hotel and booth rental there. In all these cases, the German VAT on the invoice is a cost item that you would otherwise simply leave unclaimed.
What matters is that these are business expenses demonstrably attributable to your business. An invoice in your company name, with the German VAT amount shown separately, is the starting point. What exactly falls under that per cost category, and where Germany differs slightly from other countries, is set out in detail on the page specific to Germany.
When this procedure does not work for you
There are a few situations in which this route is not the right one, even though you have indeed paid German VAT. If you are yourself VAT-registered in Germany, for example because you supply directly to German consumers, you offset that German VAT through your German periodic tax return. The EU refund procedure does not then apply to those costs; there is a separate procedure for non-EU businesses, the thirteenth directive, but that is a different process with different conditions.
Also, if you have no or only partial right to VAT deduction in the Netherlands, that carries through to what you can claim back in Germany. If your business performs exempt supplies, such as certain forms of healthcare, education or financial services, your right of deduction in the Netherlands is already limited or absent — and the refund from Germany follows that same proportion. This is exactly the kind of question where we refer you to a VAT specialist: we are executor and information source, not a tax adviser, and a correct assessment of your deduction rights belongs in other hands for more complex situations.
Partial deduction and mixed use
If you use a car, equipment or service partly for business and partly for private purposes, that private portion is also excluded from refund in Germany. Germany also has, like other member states, its own exclusions per cost category — some representation expenses, for example, do not qualify for full refund even with entirely business use. That assessment per cost category and per country happens automatically when you submit receipts, but the underlying rule remains that your Dutch deduction right sets the ceiling.
If you are unsure, start with the check
Whether this procedure applies to your business depends on where you are established, whether you are already VAT-registered in Germany, and how much input tax deduction you have in the Netherlands. For most installation companies, transport operators, consulting firms and trade fair participants, the answer is simply yes. If you still have doubts, you can first read at your leisure how the entire process works via an overview of how the refund process works, or immediately get an estimate calculated based on your own travel pattern. If you have doubts about your specific situation, for example due to exempt turnover or mixed use, you will find a first guideline in the frequently asked questions and we will refer you where necessary to a VAT specialist.
A free check takes you a few minutes and makes no commitment: it is an estimate, not a promise. Only when Germany actually grants the request is the money received.