About PlainVAT

What we publish

PlainVAT is a plain-English reference for EU and UK VAT. We track the standard, reduced, super-reduced, and zero rates for all 27 EU member states plus the United Kingdom (post-Brexit). We also publish a reverse-charge decision engine for B2B cross-border transactions and a live VAT-number validator that hits the European Commission's VIES service (and HMRC's checker for GB-prefix numbers).

Who publishes this

PlainVAT is published by ", a small independent publisher of data-reference portals. Kiznis Studio is a one-operator organisation. We use editorial-pipeline tooling (including AI assistance and automation in drafting) to structure content, and the operator performs editorial review on every published page before it ships. Editorial disclosure: this site's prose is drafted with automation assistance; the operator is responsible for accuracy review prior to publication. We do not have a fabricated editorial team, pseudonymous staff, or fake credentials. The operator is the publisher. See our methodology page for the full editorial process.

Our data sources

The data source feeds for PlainVAT are listed in the methodology page. Every rate row on this site links back to where the data comes from.

The rates and rules on this site come from three primary sources:

  • European Commission Taxation and Customs Union — per-country VAT rate registry and the live VIES validation service.
  • Eurostat — historical VAT-rate harmonisation tables for cross-checking.
  • HMRC (gov.uk) — UK VAT guidance and the UK VAT-number checker, used for GB-prefix numbers since VIES no longer covers them post-Brexit.

Each rate row on the site links back to the originating authority page. We refresh on a 180-day cadence and faster when a known change lands (e.g. Slovakia's 20%-to-23% standard-rate increase in January 2025, Finland's 24%-to-25.5% standard-rate increase in September 2024).

What we are not

PlainVAT is an information reference, not a tax advisory. Disclaimer: This information is for general reference only and should not be considered legal, tax, or financial advice. Nothing on this site is professional advice. Use it to orient yourself for informational purposes, then confirm specifics with your accountant or the relevant authority for your transaction.

Corrections

Spot something wrong? Email us at hello@plainvat.com or use the contact form. We log all data corrections in a public registry and graduate them back into the canonical record when the upstream source confirms the change.

Why we built it

Cross-border VAT is one of the most common questions a freelancer or small business sends to their accountant. The mechanics are not conceptually hard, but they are scattered across the EU VAT Directive, 27 national tax authority sites, HMRC notices, and a handful of dense official guidance pages. Anyone trying to answer "if I am in Berlin invoicing Dublin, do I charge VAT?" ends up reading material written for tax professionals, not for the person sending the invoice. We built PlainVAT so the answer is one click away with the legal basis visible alongside it, then any reader can drill down to the underlying source.

Our other portals

PlainVAT is part of the Kiznis Studio of data-reference sites. Sibling portals include PlainISA (UK ISA reference), PlainEnergyBills (UK energy tariff explainer), and several others. All are built on the same publishing and review process described here. The shared design language across the network is intentional: once you know how to read one portal you know how to read them all, and corrections caught on one site cascade into our editorial standards across every site.

Independence

PlainVAT does not accept payment to alter, remove, or feature data. We do not endorse any commercial VAT software, accountancy practice, or filing service. The site is monetised by display advertising served through Google AdSense; advertising has no influence over which countries we cover, which schemes we explain, or how we characterise the rules. Our methodology page details the full editorial pipeline so anyone can audit the boundary between editorial and commercial.