Registering on the ROI: what the EU VAT number is and when you need it

If you sell online, some business in another EU country is very likely invoicing you without VAT: advertising, your store subscription or a piece of software. To report those invoices properly, and also to sell VAT-free to businesses in other EU countries or buy stock from them, you need a number that starts with ES: the EU VAT number (NIF-IVA). You get it by registering on the Register of Intra-Community Operators, known in Spain as the ROI. Here is what it is, when you need it and how to apply.

1. What the ROI and the EU VAT number are

The ROI is a register kept by the Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT). It is made up of the people and businesses that have been given a VAT identification number and that carry out transactions with other EU countries (General Regulation on tax management and inspection, article 3.3). It is part of the same business register you joined when you registered as self-employed.

That number is your usual tax ID with the country prefix in front: the regulation says the number will carry «the prefix ES» (article 25.1). If your tax ID is 12345678Z, your EU VAT number would be ES12345678Z. It is not a new number: it is the same one, recognised for trading within the EU.

Registering as self-employed does not put you on the ROI automatically. You have to apply.

2. When you need it

The Tax Agency says a business established in mainland Spain or the Balearic Islands is obliged to obtain an EU VAT number by registering on the ROI if it is going to carry out any of these transactions:

• Intra-Community supplies of goods: selling stock to a business in another EU country, without VAT.
• Intra-Community acquisitions of goods: buying stock from a supplier in another EU country that sells to you without VAT.
• Receiving services from businesses not established in Spain when you are the one who reports the VAT. That is the case for advertising, store platform or software invoices that arrive from another EU country without VAT.
• Providing services that are treated as supplied in another EU country when the customer reports the VAT.

For an online store, the third case is the most common and the one most often forgotten. If you get invoices like that, we explain how to report them in platform invoices that arrive without VAT. They go on Form 303 and on Form 349, which the VAT Regulation requires from whoever receives those services (article 79.1.4.º).

If you only sell to consumers, in Spain or in other EU countries, and you do not buy anything VAT-free from businesses in other countries, you do not need the ROI for that. Selling to EU consumers has its own rules: we cover them in the article on the EU VAT One-Stop Shop.

3. How to apply

With Form 036, the census registration or change declaration. According to the Tax Agency, you apply by:

1. ticking box 582, the request to join the register;
2. and entering in box 584 the expected date of your first transaction.

The Tax Agency can refuse it, and if it does not answer within three months, the application «may be considered refused» (article 25.1 of the regulation and the Agency's own page). So it is worth applying in good time, before the first invoice that needs it, not once it has arrived.

4. How to check whether you are registered

The Tax Agency has a register lookup service, which it calls the VIES lookup. For a Spanish number, it says the lookup does not require electronic identification and you only need to enter the EU VAT number you want to check. Enter your tax ID with ES in front and you will see whether it appears.

With the same service you check the numbers of your customers and suppliers in other EU countries. If you are going to sell to them without VAT, checking is not optional: we explain it in selling to businesses in other EU countries.

5. When you have to deregister

The regulation says that anyone who has gone 12 months without intra-Community supplies or acquisitions of goods, and without receiving or providing those services, must file a change declaration requesting deregistration from the register (article 10.2.e). If you pay for advertising or a platform from another EU country every month, that does not apply to you.

Summary

1. The EU VAT number is your tax ID with ES in front. You get it by joining the ROI.
2. You need it to sell or buy stock VAT-free within the EU, and to receive services from businesses in other EU countries where you report the VAT.
3. You apply with Form 036: box 582, and the date of your first transaction in box 584.
4. If there is no answer within three months, it counts as refused. Apply in good time.
5. Check your own number, and those of your customers and suppliers, with the VIES lookup.

To see which forms are due each quarter, visit the Taxes page. And if you want to keep your expenses and their VAT in one place, you can try Plentia free for 14 days, no card needed.

Sources

• Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT) · Identification for transactions with other EU businesses: ROI, VIES, NIF-IVA and NVAT (in Spanish) · checked on 27/09/2026
• Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT) · Register of Intra-Community Operators (in Spanish) · checked on 27/09/2026
• Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT) · Lookup of Spanish intra-Community operators (in Spanish) · checked on 27/09/2026
• BOE · Royal Decree 1624/1992, VAT Regulation (article 79) · checked on 27/09/2026
• BOE · Royal Decree 1065/2007, General Regulation on tax management and inspection (articles 3.3, 10.2.e and 25) · checked on 27/09/2026