If you own a company and you are the holder of the VAT ID number, you can claim purchases of products at prices without VAT, and this is now also possible on AliExpress. However, you need to take a few simple steps to reach VAT-free prices. How to proceed and how long this process will take you, you’ll find out in our guide today.
Guide for companies like s.r.o. – VAT payers (Slovak version)
Prepare your VAT number VAT ID, which you can find in the details of your company record. As the first step, you need to go to the AliExpress.com website and then open a conversation via chat. In this chat, you need to ask AliExpress to enable the field for entering your VAT ID number (Eng. “VAT number”), which will later also be shown in the settings of your AliExpress account.
However, we need to emphasize that at first you’re chatting with a programmed bot, not a real operator. For this reason, you need to repeatedly paste phrases related to your request into the chat, such as “Add VAT ID into my account” and “I want business account”, and so on.
Keep doing this until the message “Chat with an agent now” appears on your screen. After clicking, your chat will switch from the bot to a real operator. You then describe your request to this “agent” / AliExpress operator again. That you need to create a business account and add the VAT ID (Eng. “VAT number”) to your account.
Confirmation email from AliExpress
If you send your requests via chat, within a few business days you’ll receive a confirmation email at the address you provided in your AliExpress account. The email will state that within 3 – 5 business days you’ll find a field in your AliExpress account to enter your VAT ID number.
Subpage for adding VAT ID
The next step is to add your VAT ID number. After the mentioned days have passed, you’ll have a new subpage available at the following link. In the images below, you can see what such an AliExpress subpage looks like, as well as what the field for entering your number looks like.
Viewing products at prices without VAT
If you successfully complete this entire process, the products you want to purchase will be shown on AliExpress.com in the version of prices without VAT. Below, you can see what the product listing and your shopping cart look like before and after accepting your VAT ID number.
Product listing and shopping cart before entering the VAT ID:
Product listing and shopping cart after entering the VAT ID:
What’s the difference? In the product listing, the text “Price includes VAT” has disappeared, and the price is reduced to 30.75 €, so about 6 € less, which is exactly 20% VAT.
How to download an invoice from AliExpress for accounting?
The final step after purchasing for a company without VAT is to download the invoice so you can file it in your accounting. You can do this very easily, like this:
- In your account, open the order list via “My Orders”
- Look for the order in the list and open its details
- Right at the top of the order details, there is a big button “Download Invoice”, that is, download the invoice
- If you can’t see the option to download the invoice in your account, you can use a very handy Chrome browser extension, which automatically creates a proper invoice from the order. The extension adds an invoice download option through a prominent green button. It then looks like this in your account:
- Send it to your accountant 🙂
Don’t forget: The goods are taxed at the Slovak customs office
We’ll wrap up our guide to buying goods without VAT for a company with the last point, and that is taxation of goods at the Slovak customs office. Since you’re buying without VAT and from abroad, the parcel must be properly taxed at the Slovak customs office, meaning paying Slovak VAT and any customs duty.
There is a lot of available material on the internet about customs clearance; in principle, you need an EORI number and to submit an electronic customs declaration on behalf of a legal entity. For customs clearance, you can be represented by a company that handles it, via a power of attorney and for a small fee. Slovenská pošta can also handle customs clearance for you.
Have you tried buying products at prices without VAT? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. If you run into any problems, we’ll try to advise you as soon as possible or point your request in the right direction.
Check out our China Planet website too, our Telegram group full of current articles—subscribe to the newsletter and join us too in our Facebook group.
Don’t miss the best coupons 📩
Subscribe and we’ll email you new coupons before they expire. We only send it once a month — no spam.
