For a VAT reclaim request to Belgium, you essentially need three types of documents. First, the invoice or receipt itself, with the Belgian VAT amount listed separately and a valid Belgian VAT number from the supplier. Second, something that demonstrates the business purpose of the expenses, such as a calendar appointment, a quotation request, or confirmation of a trade fair stand. Third, your own business details: the Chamber of Commerce extract, your Dutch VAT number, and the authorization allowing a request to be submitted on your behalf. If the invoice with the correct VAT number is missing, the country granting the refund will usually not process a request.
Invoices may be submitted in Dutch, French, German, or English. Further down you will read why that is the case, and what that concretely means if you regularly travel back and forth to Belgium without staying overnight — for many Dutch entrepreneurs this is precisely the most common situation.
What must appear on the invoice itself
An invoice that qualifies contains the name and address of the supplier, that supplier's Belgian VAT number, the invoice date and invoice number, a description of what was supplied, and the VAT amount listed separately alongside the amount excluding and including VAT. This applies to a petrol receipt just as much as to a hotel invoice, a toll statement, a stand fee at a trade fair, or a business meal. If the supplier's VAT number is missing or VAT is not listed separately, the document is usually not usable, regardless of how clear the expenses are otherwise.
Why invoices are accepted in four languages
Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French, and German. In practice, English is often added for business invoicing. The Requirements list of the Tax Authority per refund country specifies for Belgium that documents in these four languages are accepted. A French-language petrol receipt from Wallonia or a German-language invoice from the Eastern Cantons therefore does not need to be translated first before it is submitted. This applies to the language in which the document is drawn up, not to its legibility — a faded receipt remains a problem, in any language.
Day trips without overnight stays: what do you then provide as proof
Much business travel to Belgium takes place within a single day: a customer in Antwerp, a supplier in Brussels, a trade fair in Kortrijk, and back the same evening. There is then no hotel invoice that automatically demonstrates the business purpose, as is the case with a multi-day stay. For petrol receipts, toll charges, and parking fees on such day trips, it is important that something is retained that shows why the trip was made: a calendar item, an order confirmation, a trade fair participant certificate, or email correspondence with the customer. This need not be an extensive file, but it must be more than just the receipt. A refunding country assesses not only the amount but also whether it is plausible that the expenses were incurred for business purposes.
What you set up before the first receipt arrives
The Chamber of Commerce extract, your VAT number, and the authorization do not form part of each individual request but are set up once at the start. From that point on, it is mainly about keeping the invoices themselves in order. Which documents are precisely relevant for your situation depends on how frequently you do business in Belgium and with what type of expenses — the explanation per situation for VAT reclaims provides a more concrete picture than a general list can do.
How vatea.eu processes these documents
Receipts arrive via upload, your own email address, or accounting software. They are read, classified by expense category, and checked against what Belgium as the refund country allows, before a request is bundled and submitted. Where a receipt is incomplete or the business purpose is not clear enough, that is something to correct beforehand — not something to discover afterwards when the refund country has already decided. More about where that check comes from can be found on the page on how the information is compiled.
Would you like to know first whether this is worthwhile for your business before you start gathering documents? In a few questions you will see an indication in euros, entirely without obligation and without an account. If your question is not among them, you will find more examples in the frequently asked questions about reclaiming VAT.