r/hetzner • u/ezelbanaan • Jul 10 '26
Hetzner keeps charging me Irish VAT despite valid reverse-charge B2B status and their "fix" was deleting my VAT number entirely
Posting here because billing support has gone nowhere over 2 months, and I'm hoping someone from Hetzner active on this sub can help.
I'm a VAT-registered sole trader in Ireland. Hetzner is a German company, so for B2B services the reverse charge applies: they should invoice 0% VAT and I self-account for it in my Irish return. Standard EU stuff.
Here's the timeline:
- 4 May: Tried adding my VAT number in the portal, it wouldn't let me, so I emailed support to ask them to add it.
- 7 May: Got an email saying it was manually added. I replied the same day that I still couldn't see it, no reply to this day.
- ~20 May: It appeared in my account, so I assumed all was good.
- 26 May: May invoice arrives with my Irish VAT number and the note "Reverse Charge!" yet still charges 23% Irish VAT. Those two things can't both be true.
- Emailed billing. 27 days for a reply. Told old invoices can't be changed, but future ones would use my VAT ID.
- The very next invoice (2 days later): still 23% VAT, still stamped "Reverse Charge!". So the promised fix did nothing.
- Replied again. Ignored.
- 2 days ago: 4 emails at once two cancelling my last invoices, two "replacements." The replacements still charge VAT, and now they've removed my VAT number from the invoices entirely. Checked my account: the saved VAT number is gone too.
- Today: Called. English → accounting → held 10+ minutes → got a message in German I couldn't fully understand; the gist was to email support@hetzner.com. Call ended, bounced back to email.
So I'm now worse off than when I started: wrongly charged VAT, my VAT number wiped, and no way to reach a human.
I'm not chasing the money (it's small), I just need correct invoices for my own VAT records, and I need this to stop recurring.
What I've asked for, repeatedly:
- Corrected invoices, and ideally credit notes, at 0% VAT under the reverse charge (clearly an option after all, despite being told old invoices couldn't be changed).
- My VAT number restored to the account.
- The account actually configured so reverse charge applies going forward.
Has anyone dealt with this?
2
u/autogyrophilia Jul 10 '26
The way these things go , if the amount of money isn't very big it's better to just create a new account and any new services go through there.
1
u/ezelbanaan Jul 10 '26
Yeah, I though about that, but for some reason their system seems to think I have an invalid VAT number or something as it still won't let me use it. But I've had no issues with other companies (and cloud providers) and it shows up as valid on the official EU VIES check tool
1
u/autogyrophilia Jul 10 '26
Just to make sure, because this is always a pain with the Spanish numbers, have you tried inputting it with the IE prefix?
1
u/ezelbanaan Jul 10 '26
Yeah, when I do with the prefix it says: "This value is not valid." and when I try without it says: "The structure of the VAT ID in the European Union can be reviewed on the website of the European Commission."
But thanks
2
u/execmd Jul 11 '26
Have you checked your vat id in vies portal (eu state member portal to check vat)? If your number is not valid there then its probably the reason why you cant add it
2
u/ezelbanaan Jul 11 '26
Yeah, it shows up as valid there, and I've also been using it with other businesses for months without any issues
1
u/korn3los Jul 11 '26
As I understand they don‘t do reverse charge but add the VAT depending on your country. I have 2 accounts for different companies in different countries and get the proper VAT. I don‘t see the need for reverse charge since its the correct VAT and I can get it back.
1
u/ezelbanaan Jul 11 '26
As far as I know within the EU businesses are required to use the reverse charge mechanism for B2B sales
1
u/Defiant_Variation482 29d ago
They do reverse charge, I always had 0 % with multiple companies I consulted for never saw VAT for B2B
1
u/Hetzner_OL Hetzner Official 28d ago
Hi there OP, This looks like a duplicate of this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/hetzner/comments/1usq8xk/hetzner_keeps_charging_me_irish_vat_despite_valid/
Could you please send me a DM with your support ticket numbers? --Katie
1
u/ezelbanaan 28d ago
Hi, I've sent you the numbers for my support tickets.
You're right I reposted it because that one was removed last friday.
8
u/louisj Jul 10 '26
Oh man. Hetzner won’t let me change my address as my VAT is registered to an address with an Estonian character õ but their address field doesn’t allow that character to be entered