Form 349: what you move with the rest of the European Union
It is informative: nothing is paid. But it comes with two requirements that hurt if they are missing: being registered on the ROI before the first transaction, and your client having a valid intra-Community VAT number.
What form 349 is
Form 349 reports intra-Community transactions: what you have supplied to, or acquired from, businesses in other European Union countries, and the services supplied and received as well.
These transactions go on the invoice without VAT, because the tax is declared by whoever receives them, in their own country. The 349 is what lets the European administrations cross-check that both parties declared the same thing. If you declare a sale to a German client and he does not declare the purchase, the VIES system spots it.
Who has to file it
Anyone carrying out intra-Community transactions while registered on the Register of Intra-Community Operators (ROI). And there is the trap that almost nobody warns you about:
ROI registration comes first, not afterwards
To invoice a business in another European Union country without VAT you have to be registered on the ROI — with form 036 — and so does your client, with a valid intra-Community VAT number in the VIES system. If you invoice without VAT while not registered, that invoice should have carried Spanish VAT and they will come after you for it.
Registration is not automatic: the Tax Agency can take its time and can ask for information before granting it.
And if you stop carrying out intra-Community transactions for a while, they can remove you from the ROI of their own motion. Invoicing again without checking is another classic.
When the 349 is filed
With the weekend shifts already applied: when the last day falls on a Saturday, a Sunday or a public holiday, the deadline ends on the next working day.
| Period | Deadline | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | From the 1st to the 20th of the month following the quarter | Q4: until 30 January |
| Monthly | From the 1st to the 20th of the following month | On going over €50,000 in the quarter |
| July and August (monthly) | They are filed together, until 21 September | In 2026, because the 20th falls on a Sunday |
How often you file depends on the volume: quarterly, as long as the value of supplies of goods and services does not go over €50,000 (VAT excluded) either in the current quarter or in any of the four preceding ones. As soon as it does, you move to monthly.
The codes on the 349
Every transaction is declared with a code, and getting the code wrong is what causes the most mismatches:
- E — intra-Community supplies of goods, including transfers of your own goods to another Member State.
- A — intra-Community acquisitions of goods, including transfers of your own goods from another Member State.
- T — supplies in the Member State of arrival following an exempt intra-Community acquisition, in a triangular transaction.
- S — services supplied to businesses in another Member State.
- I — services acquired from businesses in another Member State.
- M and H — intra-Community supplies following an exempt import; H when they are made by the tax representative.
- R, D and C — dispatches, returns and substitutions of the customer under call-off stock arrangements.
The most common confusion is between goods and services. A designer invoicing a French agency declares with code S, not with E: no goods have been supplied.
The mistakes that come up most on the 349
On the 349, mistakes do not cost you a fine: they cost you the VAT on the transaction.
Invoicing without VAT while not on the ROI
If you are not registered, the transaction is not intra-Community for VAT purposes and the invoice should have carried Spanish VAT. They will come after you for it, with a surcharge.
Not checking the client's VAT number in VIES
Your client being a French company is not enough: their intra-Community VAT number has to be active in VIES on the day of the transaction. It is worth keeping the proof of the check.
Confusing goods with services
Services go under code S or I; goods, under E or A. It is the most frequent coding error, and it throws out the cross-check with the other administration.
Forgetting the services you buy
Buying advertising or software from a business in another country is declared too, with code I. A lot of people only declare what they sell.
Screenshot of the ERP: the form 349 screen
Where every number on the 349 comes from
Nothing has to be typed in again: the form is worked out from the invoices and the expenses you have already entered during the period.
- It marks the invoices to clients with an intra-Community VAT number and takes them to the 349 under the right code.
- It tells supplies of goods apart from supplies of services.
- It also includes the services you buy abroad, which almost nobody declares.
- It checks the intra-Community VAT number against VIES and saves the result.
- And it warns you that the first intra-Community transaction brings a form 036 with it.
And you can open any box
Every amount on the form can be expanded to see exactly which invoices and which expenses make it up. That is what turns a figure into something you can defend if you are asked.
The 349 comes out of what you have already entered
Free plan forever, no card needed.
Questions about form 349
This page is for information and is reviewed whenever the legislation or the calendar changes. It does not replace your accountant: for your own case, ask someone who knows your numbers.
So the 349 stops taking an afternoon
If the invoices and the expenses are in, the form is already done.
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