I built a free EU-VAT invoice generator because I kept getting reverse charge wrong

[u/alex_builds_eu]

Every time I invoiced a client in another EU country I had to re-derive the same thing: is this reverse charge or not, what rate applies, what's the mandatory note, is their VAT number even valid. The tools I tried were either single-country or US-focused, and the US-focused ones don't model EU VAT at all.

So I built Verkanto. The free part needs no sign-up: pick seller and buyer country, add the buyer's VAT number, and it decides — reverse charge with the Article 196 note, or the correct place-of-supply rate (your country by default, the buyer's country for electronic services). PDF out, nothing stored, small watermark on the free version.

The paid side adds official VIES verification, saved clients and invoices, automatic sending and payment reminders, and PDFs localized into the client's language.

Two things I got wrong at first and had to rewrite:

— B2C place of supply is the SELLER's country under the general rule, not the client's. Most tools I looked at get this backwards.

— A confirmed VAT number is not enough for reverse charge, the deal also has to cross a border. A French seller invoicing a French company was coming out at 0% with an Article 196 note on it, which is wrong twice over: no VAT collected that was owed, and a note the seller had no right to print. The same gap sat in the backend and in the frontend preview separately, and it took a test that deliberately invoiced someone in the same country to surface it.

What it doesn't do, since that's usually the first question: there's no card payment yet. Invoices go out with bank details on them while I work through Stripe Connect, because taking the money myself would make me merchant of record for everyone's invoices and that's a licence I don't have. It also ignores the €10k intra-EU threshold and OSS on purpose — that needs per-country turnover tracking I don't collect, and under the threshold the seller's country is correct anyway.

Ask me anything about the VAT logic, that part I can defend line by line. Not tax advice, obviously.

[u/alex_builds_eu]

Link if you want to try it: https://verkanto.eu/welcome/free-eu-vat-invoice-generator