EU trading news – Croatia becoming an EU member state on 1 July 2013
If you are trading goods and services with Croatia you will have to follow the invoicing and tax filing requirements of EU trading from the beginning of July. The purchaser must have a valid VAT-number.
How to create a VAT number for Croatia
Used abbreviations: 9 = numeric character, S = alphanumeric or any character and L = alphameric.
| Country | Structure | How many characters after the country code? | Remarks |
| Croatia | HR 99999999999 | 11 | From 1 July 2013 onwards |
Always remember to check the validity of the VAT-number of your new trading partner before making EU trading invoices. Also check the validity of the VAT numbers of your old trading partners regularly.
Verify the validity of a single VAT number online at http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/?locale=en (European Commission)
Send enquiries that concern many VAT numbers and names as an excel file via e-mail to eu.vies@vero.fi
VAT numbers have the following structure in member states:
The first two characters are the country code (prefix), followed by characters of varying lengths and descriptions.
9 = numeric character X = numeric or alphameric L = alphameric S = alphanumeric or any character
| Member State | Prefix+Structure | How many characters? | Remarks |
| Austria | AT U99999999 | 9 | The 1st position following the prefix is always 'U'. |
| Belgium | BE 9999999999 | 10 | From 1 April 2005 onwards. |
| Bulgaria | BG 999999999 | 9 | From 1 January 2007 onwards. |
| BG 9999999999 | 10 | ||
| Croatia | HR 99999999999 | 11 | From 1 July 2013 onwards. |
| Cyprus | CY 99999999L | 9 | |
| Czech | CZ 99999999 | 8 | |
| CZ 999999999 | 9 | ||
| CZ 9999999999 | 10 | ||
| Denmark | DK 99999999 | 8 | |
| Estonia | EE 999999999 | 9 | |
| Finland | FI 99999999 | 8 | |
| France | FR XX999999999 | 11 | |
| Germany | DE 999999999 | 9 | |
| Great Britain | GB 999999999 | 9 | |
| GB 999999999999 | 12 | Identifies branch traders. | |
| GB GD999 | 5 | GD identifies Government Departments. | |
| GB HA999 | 5 | HA identifies Health Authorities. | |
| Greece | EL 999999999 | 9 | |
| Hungary | HU 99999999 | 8 | |
| Ireland | IE 9S99999L | 8 | |
| IE 9999999LL | 9 | From 1 January 2013 onwards. | |
| Italy | IT 99999999999 | 11 | |
| Latvia | LV 99999999999 | 11 | |
| Lithuania | LT 999999999 | 9 | |
| LT 999999999999 | 12 | ||
| Luxembourg | LU 99999999 | 8 | |
| Malta | MT 99999999 | 8 | |
| Netherlands | NL 999999999B99 | 12 | The 10th position following the prefix is always "B". |
| Portugal | PT 999999999 | 9 | |
| Poland | PL 9999999999 | 10 | |
| Romania | RO 99 | 2 | From 1 January 2007 onwards. |
| RO 999 | 3 | ||
| RO 9999 | 4 | ||
| RO 99999 | 5 | ||
| RO 999999 | 6 | ||
| RO 9999999 | 7 | ||
| RO 99999999 | 8 | ||
| RO 999999999 | 9 | ||
| RO 9999999999 | 10 | ||
| Sweden | SE 999999999901 | 12 | The digits 01 are the two last characters. |
| Slovakia | SK 9999999999 | 10 | |
| Slovenia | SI 99999999 | 8 | |
| Spain | ES X9999999X | 9 | The first and last characters may be alpha or numeric; but they may not both be numeric. |