OSS VAT: how does the One-Stop Shop work?

What is OSS?

New EU VAT rules for e-commerce to consumers apply since 1 July 2021.¹ If you sell goods to private customers in other EU countries, above the threshold you charge the VAT of the customer's country. Without OSS you would have to register in each of those countries to file returns there.²

With OSS you register in one country, the Member State of identification. For a business in the EU that is the country where it is established.³ You file one return there for all EU countries and pay the VAT in one payment. That country passes the money on to your customers' countries.⁴

Three schemes

• Union scheme: for intra-EU distance sales of goods and certain services to consumers. This is the scheme most online stores use.²
• Non-Union scheme: for services by businesses established outside the EU.²
• Import scheme (IOSS): for goods imported from outside the EU, in consignments of up to €150.²

OSS is optional: you may also register in each country separately.³⁶

The €10,000 threshold

Until 1 July 2021 every EU country had its own threshold for distance sales. These were replaced by one threshold of €10,000 for the whole EU.¹ This is how it works:

• Everything together: you add up all your distance sales of goods to consumers in other EU countries, plus certain digital services. The amount is excluding VAT, in the current and the previous calendar year.⁹
• Up to €10,000: you can usually charge the VAT of your own country, for example Dutch VAT.⁶
• Above €10,000: you charge the VAT of the customer's country.⁶ You declare it through OSS or through a registration in that country.
• Only for businesses in one EU country: if you are established outside the EU or have establishments in several EU countries, the threshold does not apply.²⁹

How OSS works in practice

1. Register in your own country. In the Netherlands through Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk, under VAT and then E-commerce.⁷ In Germany through the BZStOnline portal,⁸ in France through your espace professionnel on impots.gouv.fr.¹⁰
2. Start date. The registration applies from the first day of the next quarter. If you already sell earlier, you can start from your first sale, provided you register by the 10th day of the following month.³
3. File every quarter. You file one return for all your distance sales in the EU, by the end of the month after the quarter.⁴ No sales? Then you file a nil return.⁴
4. Pay. You pay the VAT to your own tax authority, which passes it on to the other countries.⁴
5. Keep records. You keep the records for 10 years after the end of the year of the sale.⁷

Your domestic sales stay in your normal VAT return. OSS is only for the VAT of other EU countries.

Stock in another country is not covered by OSS

OSS is meant for distance sales: goods you ship from one EU country to a consumer in another EU country.² If your stock already sits in the customer's country, for example in a fulfilment warehouse in Germany, a sale to a German consumer is a domestic supply in Germany. You declare such a supply in that country's regular VAT return, not in OSS.⁴

In practice this means: if you hold stock in another EU country, you usually also need a VAT registration of your own there. If you ship from that warehouse to consumers in yet other countries, you do report those distance sales in OSS, with the VAT number of the country of dispatch.⁴

What is the difference between OSS and IOSS?

OSS covers goods that are already in the EU. IOSS (Import One-Stop Shop) covers goods you send from outside the EU directly to consumers in the EU, in consignments of up to €150.⁵⁷ With IOSS you file a return every month instead of every quarter.⁵⁷ A business from outside the EU needs an intermediary to use IOSS.²

If you only sell from a warehouse inside the EU, you do not need IOSS.

When does the marketplace collect the VAT?

For VAT, a marketplace can be treated as the seller: the so-called deemed supplier. This rule applies in two cases:²⁹

• goods imported from outside the EU, in consignments of up to €150;
• supplies within the EU to consumers, when the seller itself is established outside the EU.

If you are established in the EU and ship from the EU, neither case applies to you. You are then responsible for the VAT yourself, also on what you sell through Kaufland or another marketplace. Those sales to consumers in other EU countries are simply your own distance sales: they count toward the €10,000 threshold and you can declare them through OSS.²⁵

See what applies per country on the pages about selling on French marketplaces and selling on German marketplaces.

Where StoreLinkr does and does not help

StoreLinkr does not file VAT returns and does not calculate OSS amounts. That stays with you, your accountant or your accounting software.

What StoreLinkr does: connect your online store to marketplaces in several countries, so your products go live there and the orders come in automatically. See the overview of marketplaces by country to find the marketplaces that suit your market, or read what a marketplace integrator does.

Frequently asked questions