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Working with VAT tariffs

A VAT tariff refers to the value added tax (VAT) charged on products and services.

On a sales document, the VAT tariff is fixed the moment you add a new line. The VAT tariff is determined through the following steps.

If the document already contains lines, a new line takes over the VAT tariff of the first existing line.
If an item with its own VAT tariff is added to the line, the VAT tariff of the item always takes precedence.
If no VAT tariff has been determined via the item, the VAT tariff of the customer file is used, provided a customer is linked to the document.
If no VAT tariff has been determined via the customer file — because no customer is linked, or because the customer has no VAT tariff — the default VAT from the settings is used.

Only set a VAT tariff on the item file for items that are always charged at the same VAT tariff, regardless of the customer. That rate takes precedence over the rate of the customer.

VAT-included calculation

By default, VAT is calculated on top of the selling price of the item. You can, however, choose to calculate VAT inclusively. To do so, activate the 'VAT-included calculation' function when you create the VAT tariff.

Example:
You have an item of €7,500 to which you apply 6% VAT exclusive. In that case the result is €7,500.00 + €450.00 = €7,950.00.
You have an item of €7,500 to which you apply 6% VAT inclusive. In that case the result is €7,075.47 + €424.53 = €7,500.00.

You cannot apply a VAT tariff with inclusive calculation to progress claims. VAT inclusive is not supported there.

Settings

Via Settings > General > Master data > Financial > VAT tariffs you can add one or more VAT tariffs.

Setting	Explanation
Percentage	Percentage of the VAT tariff.
Category	The tax category the VAT tariff falls under. Choose from Standard rate, Transferred, Intra community, Exempt, Export, Zero rated, Outside scope of VAT, Canary Islands tax (IGIC), Ceuta and Melilla tax (IPSI) or Transferred VAT (Italy). The last three are country-specific and only relevant if you invoice in those regions.
Name	The (internal) name of the VAT tariff.
Description on PDF	How the VAT tariff is displayed on a PDF document.
Additional mention on PDF	This text is shown as an extra mention on the PDF document of an invoice. When certain VAT tariffs are applied (6% and transferred), an additional text always has to be displayed. If you want to refer to specific fields in the invoice in this text, you can use replacement codes.
Size of additional entry	The text size. Choose from Tiny, Small, Normal, Large or Extra Large.
Sales	The VAT tariff applies to sales documents.
Purchase	The VAT tariff applies to purchase documents.
VAT-included calculation	The VAT percentage is already included in the total amount. You cannot change this setting after you have created the rate — the same applies to the percentage, the category and 'Excluded from discount'. If you want to work inclusively, create a new VAT tariff with the same percentage and switch on 'VAT-included calculation'. The word 'incl' is added to the name automatically, so the difference between the inclusive and the exclusive rate is immediately visible.
Excluded from discount	The VAT tariff is not included in the calculation of a financial discount.

For Description on PDF and Additional mention on PDF you can enter a translation per language via the language button next to the field. If you draw up a document in another language, the translated text is used automatically.

If you work with an accounting integration, an extra field appears on the VAT tariff to link the rate to the corresponding rate in your accounting software. For the German operation, the GL accounts and the Datev booking keys are added as well. If the link does not work as expected, contact the support desk of your accounting software.

You can set a default VAT tariff on the customer file via Settings > Customers > Settings > Default VAT. This VAT tariff is set by default on every newly added customer. If you want to deviate from this, you do so in the customer file itself.

In the same place you also set the field Default sales VAT tariff for 0%. Robaws uses this rate when a zero rate has to be applied to a sales line. Here you can only choose a sales rate of 0% that does not calculate inclusively.

Updated on: 08/09/2026

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