Intra-Community Operators Register (ROI)

What is the Register of Intra-Community Operators (ROI)?

In Spanish,  ROI stands for “Register of Intra-Community Operators,” a sort of European Union registry that includes all professionals or businesses that carry out economic activity with individuals or legal entities from other member states.

The main benefit of being part of this registry — also known as VIES (the “VAT Information Exchange System”) — is the ability to issue VAT-exempt invoices for intra-Community transactions.

There is only one requirement for this: the other party must also be registered in the ROI.

Who is required to register in the ROI?

There are two situations in which a self-employed person or a company must be registered in the ROI, and together they cover a large portion of the active business population:

• If they sell products or services to companies or self-employed individuals in other EU member states.

• If they receive services from companies or self-employed individuals in other EU countries.

Another obligation associated with the ROI is that the seller in an intra-Community transaction must ensure that their customer is registered in the VIES. If the customer is not listed, the seller cannot benefit from the VAT exemption. Whether or not a customer appears in this registry can be verified on the webpage provided by the tax authorities for this purpose.

How to Register in the Intra-Community Operators Register (ROI) as a Self-Employed Worker

Registering in the Intra-Community Operators Register as a self-employed worker is simple. There are two ways to do it, and the option you choose will depend on whether your ROI registration takes place at the same time as your initial tax registration with the Spanish Tax Agency, or if it is done later:

1. If you register at the same time as you register as self-employed with the Tax Agency using form 036, you must request inclusion in the ROI by checking box 582 on page five of the form. Box 583 is used to request deregistration, while box 584 is used to indicate an approximate expected date for your first intra-Community transaction.

2. If you have already completed your tax registration as a self-employed worker, you must check box 130 on form 036 to indicate that it is a modification of your original registration, in addition to the previously mentioned boxes 582 or 584.

Once form 036 has been submitted, the Tax Agency has three months to review and approve the application. During this period, inspectors may conduct visits or request documentation to verify the existence of intra-Community clients.

If no response is received within this period, it means that the application has been denied, and therefore, you will not be able to issue or receive VAT-exempt invoices for intra-Community transactions.