Important: The information below is general guidance on how VAT works within Passionfroot. It is not tax advice. Tax rules depend on your specific circumstances — if you're unsure how VAT applies to you, please consult a qualified tax professional in your jurisdiction.

What is VAT?

VAT (Value Added Tax) is a consumption tax applied to goods and services in many countries, most notably across the European Union. When a business provides a service, VAT may need to be added to the price depending on where the parties are located. Outside the EU it goes by other names — GST, sales tax — and the rules differ.

On Passionfroot, VAT can appear on invoices generated for collaborations between creators and brands. Whether it applies, and how, depends on who your customer is and where you're both located.

Step 1: Work out who your customer is

This step comes first, because it's the one that surprises people. Your customer isn't always the brand. It depends on how the brand pays.

If the brand pays by	Your invoice is between	So compare your country against
Card (Stripe)	You and the brand	The brand's country
Bank transfer or wallet	You and Passionfroot GmbH, Berlin	Germany

On bank transfer and wallet payments, Passionfroot is the merchant of record to the brand — so there are two separate invoices, and your payout invoice is the one that matters for your accounting.

Why this matters: say you're a German business, the brand is in the US, and they paid by bank transfer. Your payout invoice is between you and Passionfroot GmbH in Berlin, which makes it a domestic invoice — not a cross-border one. The separate brand-facing invoice from Passionfroot to that US brand won't carry EU VAT. Two different figures on two different documents, each consistent with who's named on it.

Step 2: See how it's normally treated

Your situation	How it's normally treated	Invoice note
You and your customer are in the same country	Local VAT, at the applicable rate	None
You're in the EU, your customer is a business in a different EU country	Reverse charge — you charge no VAT, your customer accounts for it	"Reverse charge" + both VAT IDs
You're in the EU, your customer is a business outside the EU	Normally outside the scope of EU VAT	None
You're outside the EU	EU VAT rules don't apply to you — your own country's rules do	Depends on your country

Two distinctions worth knowing, because accountants care about them:

Reverse charge is not a 0% rate. The VAT still exists — your customer reports it instead of paying it to you.
"Outside the scope of EU VAT" is not the same as 0% VAT either. Out of scope means the supply sits outside the VAT system entirely. Some accounting systems and VAT returns treat the two differently.

If you're registered under a small-business scheme

Germany's Kleinunternehmerregelung, the EU cross-border SME scheme, or a national equivalent can mean you charge no VAT on your domestic invoices. It doesn't generally change how a genuine cross-border supply is treated. Your accountant can tell you which of your invoices are affected — this is one where it's worth asking rather than guessing.

Where VAT appears in the product

For creators: requesting payment

Go to Payments → select the collaboration → Request payment. In that modal:

Switch on Apply VAT, then enter a figure in the VAT rate field.
To put your own VAT ID on the invoice, switch on Customize invoice and fill in Your Tax ID.

Two things to know, because they catch people out:

⚠️ Apply VAT is off by default, and the rate isn't prefilled. No VAT is added unless you switch it on and type a rate. There's no account-level default and no automatic per-country calculation.

⚠️ If the collaboration is set to invoice automatically, the invoice is generated with VAT at 0% — and automatic is the default. To set the VAT yourself, choose Manual when creating the proposal, then request payment from the Payments tab.

On card payments you're the merchant of record, so the VAT on the brand's invoice is the figure you entered. On bank transfer and wallet payments the brand-facing invoice is issued by us and its VAT is worked out automatically; your payout invoice carries VAT based on your own country.

For brands

The VAT rate and amount appear in the invoice breakdown before you pay, based on the billing country you enter on the payment page. Enter your registered legal entity name and VAT ID — not a trading name — or your finance team may reject the invoice later.

FrootWallet: VAT is applied when you load balance, based on your billing address country, and you get an invoice for the top-up. That's why paying a creator from your balance adds no further VAT — it was already accounted for at top-up.

On invoice documents

Invoices show the VAT percentage and amount in the totals, and a "Reverse charge" note where it applies. That note is printed in English on all our documents. English wording is accepted across the EU, but if your accountant specifically needs the local-language equivalent — Steuerschuldnerschaft des Leistungsempfängers, btw verlegd, autoliquidation de la TVA — let us know, because we don't currently generate it.

Brand-facing invoices for bank transfer and wallet payments show amounts in both USD and the invoice currency. Creator payout invoices show a single currency.

Passionfroot's invoicing details

If you need to issue an invoice to us — which you will on bank transfer and wallet collaborations:

Passionfroot GmbH
Chausseestraße 40A, 10115 Berlin, Germany
VAT ID: DE350317246

We're a German company, so we don't have a US EIN. The VAT ID above is the equivalent identifier for invoicing purposes.

Frequently asked questions

Why is there VAT on my invoice?

Because the countries involved require it — most commonly, you and your customer are in the same country. Remember that on bank transfer and wallet deals your customer is Passionfroot GmbH in Germany, so a German creator will normally see German VAT on their payout invoice regardless of where the brand is.

Why is my VAT 0.00?

Three possible reasons, and they mean different things:

Reverse charge — you and your customer are in different EU countries. Your customer accounts for the VAT. The invoice should say "Reverse charge."
Customer outside the EU — normally outside the scope of EU VAT.
No VAT was entered on the payment request. This is the most common cause. It happens either because Apply VAT was left off, or because the collaboration invoiced automatically — automatic invoicing sets VAT to 0%.

Am I looking at the right invoice?

On bank transfer and wallet collaborations there are two documents:

Invoice for sponsor — between Passionfroot GmbH and the brand. We issue this; the VAT reflects our position with them, not yours. Reference only.
Seller payout invoice — between you and Passionfroot GmbH. This is yours, and the one for your accounting.

They can share a number, so a brand invoice with no VAT alongside your payout invoice at your local rate is normal.

What is "reverse charge"?

Instead of you charging VAT, your customer self-assesses and reports it in their own country. It's the standard EU mechanism for cross-border B2B services, so you don't have to register for VAT in every country you have clients in.

In practice it applies where you and your customer are in different EU member states and your customer gives you a valid VAT ID. Without one, a supplier would normally charge their own local VAT instead. When it applies, the invoice needs both VAT IDs — yours and theirs.

My own VAT ID isn't on the invoice

There are currently two places your VAT ID lives, and saving it in one doesn't fill in the other. This is on us, not something you've set up wrongly.

In settings: Settings → Payments → Invoices, under Value Added Tax / Goods and Services Tax. This is used on your payout invoices.
On a card invoice to a brand: you also need to switch on Customize invoice in the Request payment modal and enter it under Your Tax ID. Saving it in settings does not carry it through to here.

Also worth knowing: on bank transfer and wallet collaborations, your VAT ID appears on your payout invoice, not on the brand-facing one. That invoice is issued by Passionfroot, so it carries our VAT ID and the brand's.

We're aware this should be one field rather than two, and that reverse charge requires both parties' IDs.

I'm a creator — do I need to charge VAT?

That depends on your registration status, your country's rules, and who your customer is. Passionfroot gives you the tools to apply VAT; the figure on the invoice is the one you entered.

Broadly: same country as your customer, local VAT normally applies. Different EU countries, normally reverse charge. Customer outside the EU, normally outside the scope of EU VAT. If you're under a small-business scheme, or you're not sure whether you should be registered at all, that's a question for a tax professional.

Can VAT be changed after the invoice is created?

Not yet paid: open it in Payments, hit Void, then send a new payment request with the correct VAT. You can't edit an existing invoice.
Already paid: send us the invoice ID. Issued invoices can't be edited in the app, but we can reissue a corrected one — we've done this both for individual invoices and for batches.

My invoice has a "reverse charge" note that shouldn't be there

Send us the invoice ID. This has been wrong on our side before, and we regenerated the affected invoices to fix it.

My invoice was issued to the wrong company name or VAT number

Update your billing details so future invoices are right, and send us the invoice ID for the one already issued. If your accountant needs a corrected document rather than a future fix, say so — that's a real requirement in some countries and we'd rather handle it than leave you with an invoice you can't use.

I'm a brand — do I need tax documents from each creator?

On bank transfer and wallet payments, no. Passionfroot is the merchant of record, so for your finance team your supplier is Passionfroot GmbH. On card payments the creator is the merchant of record and invoices you directly, so your supplier is the creator.

I've been asked for a W-9 or W-8

Passionfroot doesn't currently collect these forms through Stripe, so if a brand asks, you'll need to provide it to them directly. Non-US creators are generally asked for a W-8 regardless of the payment amount.

Can Passionfroot provide a tax residence certificate?

This comes up where a brand's country would otherwise apply withholding tax to our fees. It isn't something the platform can generate — it's issued by the German tax authority and has to be requested per counterparty country. Contact support with the country and the tax year and we'll route it, but be aware it takes time.

My country has new e-invoicing rules — does Passionfroot's invoicing still work?

Several countries are rolling out mandatory e-invoicing (Poland's KSeF, for example). If your accountant says our invoices no longer satisfy your local requirements, please tell support the specific rule — this affects everyone in your country, not just you, and we'd rather hear it than have you work around it quietly.

Where do I find my invoices?

In the Payments tab and from the collaboration detail view. Both creators and brands can view and download invoices showing subtotal, VAT, fees and total.

Summary table

Scenario	Treatment	Invoice note	Who accounts for the VAT?
Same country	Local VAT at the applicable rate	None	You, on your VAT return
Different EU countries, customer is a business with a valid VAT ID	Reverse charge — no VAT charged	"Reverse charge" + both VAT IDs	Your customer
Customer outside the EU	Normally outside the scope of EU VAT	None	Nobody charges EU VAT, but the turnover is normally still reported
You're outside the EU	EU VAT rules don't apply	Depends on your country	Per your own country's rules

Remember to run this against your customer — the brand on card payments, Passionfroot GmbH on bank transfer and wallet payments.

This article describes how VAT is handled on the Passionfroot platform. It is not tax, legal or financial advice. If a figure on a specific invoice looks wrong, send us the invoice ID and we'll trace it; for what applies to your own tax position, please consult a qualified tax advisor.

VAT on Passionfroot: What Creators and Brands Need to Know