Adding Companies / Legal Entities
Companies (also referred to as Legal Entities) are the core organizational unit in VAT4U. Each company represents a legal entity for which you manage VAT. This article walks you through creating a new company and completing its profile so that expenses are correctly classified for VAT recovery.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, make sure you have:
An active VAT4U account with Administrator permissions
Knowledge of the company's legal name, country of establishment, and business area
Accessing the Company Creation Page
Log in to VAT4U.
Click Companies in the left sidebar navigation.
On the Companies table page, click the Create Company button.
You will be taken to the company creation page.
Creating a Single Company
By default, the Create single company mode is selected. Fill in the following mandatory fields:
Mandatory Fields
Field | Description |
Company legal name | The official registered legal name of the entity. The system will check for potential duplicates as you type. |
Country of establishment | The country where the company is legally registered. Select from the searchable dropdown. |
Company business area | The primary business area of the company (e.g., General, Car rental, Transportation, Long haul trucking). This affects how VAT rules are applied to expenses. |
Service Provider | The service provider responsible for this claimant company. If only one service provider is available, it will be pre-selected automatically. |
Subscription plan | The subscription tier for the company (e.g., Technology or Outsourcing). This may be auto-set depending on the service provider. |
Optional Fields
Field | Description |
Group name | Select an existing company to group this entity under. Grouping helps cluster entities of the same client for reporting and easier navigation. Keep default if the legal entity does not belong to a group. |
Bill to company | If invoicing should go to a different entity, enable the billing toggle and select the target company. |
Once all required fields are filled in, click Create company. If the system detects a potential duplicate, you will be shown similar companies and asked to confirm whether you want to proceed.
Creating Multiple Companies at Once
If you need to onboard several legal entities simultaneously:
On the company creation page, switch to Create multiple companies mode using the toggle at the top right.
For each company, provide:
Company legal name
Country of establishment
Company business area
Click Add more companies to add additional rows.
Fill in the shared fields that apply to all companies:
Group name (optional)
Service Provider
Subscription plan
Bill to company (optional)
Click Create N companies to create all entities at once.
Completing the Company Profile
After creating a company, you should complete its profile to ensure expenses are correctly classified and VAT recovery is optimized. Navigate to the company's settings by clicking on the company name in the Companies table.
The company profile is organized into tabs on the left-hand side. The two most important tabs to complete first are General Information and VAT Information.
General Information Tab
The General tab contains the company's core identity and address data.
Field | Description |
Company legal name | Confirm or update the registered legal name. |
Country of Establishment | Confirm the country. Country-specific fields (e.g., for France, Spain, Germany, Poland) will appear automatically. Ensure you select the correct country as this has effect on VAT management. |
Street, Street number, City, ZIP code | The company's registered address. Required for VAT claim submissions and Compliance checks. |
Phone | Company phone number in international format. |
Contact email 1 | Primary contact email used for communication. |
Additionally, on the General tab you should configure:
Business activity settings - Select your company's NACE code(s). For EU companies, at least one valid NACE v2.1 code is required. The first activity listed will be used for filing VAT claims. Indicate if any special rules apply (car leasing, transportation, long haul trucking).
Company group -- Assign the company to a group contract and optionally set an account number or short code.
Company alternative names -- Add name variations that will be used during compliance checks for company name verification.
VAT Information Tab
The VAT Information tab is critical for correct expense classification and VAT recovery. Complete the following:
Field | Description |
Company VAT Number | The company's VAT identification number. The system validates the format. |
Local TAX office name | Name of the local tax office. For Polish companies, select from a predefined list. |
Local TAX office address | Address of the local tax office. |
Local TAX Number | The company's local tax identification number. |
Country-specific fields will appear based on the country of establishment:
Germany (DE): German state of establishment and company local TAX number.
Austria (AT): FASTNR (9-digit number: 2-digit TAX office number + 7-digit TAX number).
United Kingdom (GB): Tax group membership, TAX group VAT number, and TAX group legal name.
India (IN): GSTIN, PAN, LUT, State code, and Special Economic Zone membership.
Additionally, on the VAT Information tab you should configure:
VAT Registrations -- Register the countries where the company is VAT-registered. For each registration, provide the country, VAT number, and validity dates. You can mark registrations to be excluded from data import or to claim via 8th/13th Directive instead. When you update VAT Registrations, the system will automatically recalculate VAT Flow and Refund Status for related expenses in the background.
Optionally, you may add the following information. These are required for certain claim submissions.
Tax certificates - Upload tax certificates (PDF format) per country with validity dates.
Reference numbers - Add country-specific reference numbers used in claim submissions.
After completing General and VAT Information, consider completing additional tabs depending on your VAT4U use case.
Best Practices
Complete the General and VAT Information tabs first - These directly impact how expenses are classified and whether VAT claims can be submitted correctly.
Add VAT Registrations early - The system uses VAT registrations to determine the VAT flow (8th Directive, 13th Directive, or domestic) for each expense. Missing registrations may result in incorrect classification.
API based Company Creation
Companies can also be created programmatically via the VAT4U REST API. This is useful for bulk onboarding or integration with external systems such as ERP or CRM platforms.
For details on how to create companies via the API, refer to the API Documentation and the Postman collection available in the API reference section.