Tax Setup / Scenarios / Selling to businesses (B2B)
Selling to businesses (B2B)
A worked example, end to end — which settings to pick and exactly what a business buyer experiences.
Is this you? Your product is bought by companies — a developer tool, an agency app, business software. EU companies expect to buy with 0% VAT (“reverse charge”: they account for the tax themselves) and they need their VAT number on the invoice. Two switches make this work — one for your business, one per app.
Step 1 — enable B2B for your business
WhereDashboard→Settings→Payments & Tax→Tax Setup→3 · Registrations→Businesses (B2B)
Click Enable on “VAT-EU number (intra-community / VIES)”, then Save changes. This declares that you hold your own VAT-EU number — without it, you legally can't zero-rate EU business sales, so Onelo keeps them blocked.
Works for exempt sellers too. You can hold a VAT-EU number without being a full VAT payer — a VAT-exempt small business with VAT-EU can still sell to EU companies at 0%. UK companies are separate: reverse charge to them comes with your UK VAT registration, not VAT-EU.
Step 2 — tell each app who it sells to
WhereDashboard→Applications→Your app→Paywall→Sales setup
Under “Who do you sell to?” pick Both (VAT-number field optional — the common choice) or Businesses (VAT number required to buy). Then Save changes.
What the business buyer experiences
At checkout the buyer enters their company VAT number. Onelo checks it live against the EU's official registry (VIES) — and the price updates on the spot:
| Buyer | What they pay | Why |
|---|---|---|
| EU company, valid VAT number, another country | 0% · reverse charge | The buyer self-accounts for VAT in their country; the invoice carries the legally required reverse-charge note |
| Company in your own country | your VAT | Domestic B2B is a normal domestic sale — reverse charge never applies at home; their tax number still goes on the invoice |
| Company with an invalid / mistyped number | checked live | The number is rejected at the field — they can fix it or buy as a consumer (if your audience is “Both”). If the EU/HMRC registry itself is unreachable, the sale proceeds with full VAT charged (fail-safe) — never an unverified 0% |
| Consumer (no VAT number) | normal VAT | With audience “Both”, consumers simply skip the field and pay B2C VAT as usual |
Both sides are required. Reverse charge needs the buyer's valid number and your VAT-EU registration. If you skip Step 1, a company entering its number sees: “Business purchases aren't available here yet. To buy as an individual, remove the VAT number.”
Good to know
- Consider net pricing. Companies think in net amounts — the Net (+ VAT) price mode (per product) shows clean net prices to business buyers. See Products & pricing.
- Invoices are B2B-ready automatically — the buyer's VAT number and the reverse-charge note land on the invoice without any extra setup.
- Based in Great Britain? You don't need (or have) a VAT-EU number — reverse charge to EU companies works automatically off the buyer's validated number. Onelo shows a note instead of the toggle.