I'm on a small-business with VAT exempt

If you're registered as a small business, sole trader, or under a flat-rate scheme, you may not be able to charge VAT at all — and that changes how you need to set up your ChefMaison profile and proposals. Here's what it means, how to configure it, and why it matters on every proposal you send.

What counts as a "small business" or flat-rate scheme

Most countries let very small businesses operate without the full VAT system, so they don't have to deal with VAT registration, collection, and reporting for modest earnings. This generally falls into one of two situations:

• Below the VAT registration threshold — many countries only require a business to register for VAT once it earns above a certain amount per year.
• Registered under a simplified small-business or flat-rate scheme — some countries have a specific legal status for small or part-time businesses (freelancers, sole traders, individual entrepreneurs) that comes with simplified tax reporting and, typically, no VAT charged to clients.

In both cases, the practical result is the same: you are not authorized to charge VAT on your invoices, because you're not operating as a VAT-registered business.

What these schemes are called, by country

The concept is the same everywhere; only the name (and the exact threshold or rules) changes. Some common examples:

If your country or scheme isn't listed here, the same principle applies (this table is only an example).

How to set this up on ChefMaison

1. Go to Profile → Account → Personal Info → (Business & Tax info section)
2. Select your country, Select the type of VAT, and enter your VAT/tax number in the VAT field
3. Toggle "I am tax exempt" in the same section.

This tells ChefMaison not to apply VAT to the invoices generated in your name, and makes sure they're issued correctly for your tax status.

Mark every proposal at 0% VAT

This is the part that matters most, and it's easy to miss: every item you add to a proposal — menu, travel, extras — has its own VAT rate, which you set yourself. If you're tax exempt, every single item on every proposal must be entered at 0% VAT.
This isn't optional, and it isn't just a formality. If you're not registered to charge VAT, charging it anyway means collecting a tax you're not legally authorized to collect, on an invoice that doesn't match your actual tax status — which can create real accounting and compliance problems for you, since you'd have no legal basis to have collected it, and for your client, whose invoice would misrepresent what was actually charged.

Does this affect your commission?

Not directly. The tax-exempt toggle controls the VAT on your own invoices to clients — it does not automatically change your ChefMaison commission rate.
Commission depends on whether your VAT number can be validated in VIES (the official EU VAT database) for intra-EU B2B transactions — see our Commission & VAT article. Many chefs on one of these schemes hold a valid business registration number (like a Partita IVA in Italy) but, because they aren't registered for VAT charging, that number isn't set up for intra-EU validation. In that case, VIES won't validate it, and the standard (non-reduced) commission rate will apply — even though you're correctly marked as tax exempt.
If your VAT number is showing as "not valid," this is a common and expected result for a small-business/flat-rate registration — see My VAT number shows as not valid for the full explanation and what you can check.

In short

• Add your VAT/tax number (if you have one) under Profile → Personal Info, and toggle "I am tax exempt".
• Mark every item on every proposal at 0% VAT — never charge VAT if you're not registered to collect it.
• Your commission rate depends separately on VAT verification in VIES, not on the tax-exempt toggle — the two are independent.

💡 Whether your specific scheme qualifies as tax exempt, and exactly which rate to apply, ultimately depends on your own registration and country's rules — it's always worth confirming the details with your accountant or local tax authority before marking yourself as exempt.

Updated on: 01/10/2026