If I am selling to an EU business and can get a VAT number, then presumably I don’t have to go through all the 2 proofs of location malarky (which is only for selling to consumers).
But what if I am selling to a US business that doesn’t have a VAT number? Will the VAT authorities just accept that they are a business? Or do I need some proof that they are a business or proof that they aren’t in the EU?
Did someone say VAT? 
I love me some VAT.
I queried this and was told that you need to prove they are not in the EU. So we’re gathering the proof for everyone, if the VAT man comes poking through our records and asks about individual transactions we have the required proof. I guess this protects against people saying they are in the USA to avoid the VAT.
Instances where all three bits don’t match are turning out fairly rare. Most common is the IP address is “wrong” as they are traveling.
Even for a business? Ugh.
“Prove that they are not in the EU”.
What constitutes as proof? Would a credit card country (from Stripe) be enough? I can also look at the IP. I’d like to avoid collecting an address if I can.
Here’s another tricky one: I have a customer in mainland China, but they use a UK credit card for practical purposes. How am I supposed to prove they are actually based in China? Is it enough that they say so? They are committing fraud if they lie, not my problem?
Hurr durr VAT yum yum.