EU VAT and OSS explained for online sellers

If you sell online to consumers in other EU countries, VAT is usually due at the rate of the customer's country once your cross-border sales pass EUR 10,000 a year. The One Stop Shop (OSS) lets you declare and pay that VAT through a single registration and one return in your own EU country, instead of registering in every country you sell to. This guide explains how the rules fit together, with every figure taken from official EU sources.

This article is general information, not tax advice. VAT rules have exceptions and national details, so confirm your own position with a qualified adviser or your tax authority.

VAT in one paragraph

VAT is a consumption tax charged across the EU, but each country sets its own rates within EU limits. According to Your Europe, the standard rate cannot be less than 15%, and a country may apply one or two reduced rates of at least 5%. In the table last checked on 13 July 2026, standard rates ranged from 17% in Luxembourg to 27% in Hungary. That spread is why the question "whose VAT applies?" matters so much for an online store.

Where is the sale taxed?

Selling to consumers (B2C): the EUR 10,000 threshold

Since 1 July 2021, the old country-by-country distance-selling thresholds have been replaced by a single EU-wide threshold of EUR 10,000. It covers two kinds of sale to consumers in other EU countries: distance sales of goods, and telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic (TBE) services, such as downloads, streaming or software delivered online.

Under Article 59c of the VAT Directive, as inserted by Council Directive (EU) 2017/2455, you may keep charging your home country's VAT on these sales only while all of the following are true:

you are established in only one EU country;
the total value of those cross-border sales, excluding VAT, has not exceeded EUR 10,000 in the current calendar year;
and it did not exceed EUR 10,000 in the preceding calendar year.

The threshold is one total across all EU countries, not EUR 10,000 per country. Once it is exceeded during a year, the customer's country becomes the place of supply from that moment, not from the next year. You can also choose to apply the customer's country rules below the threshold, but that choice covers at least two calendar years.

Selling to businesses (B2B)

Business sales work differently. Your Europe explains that when you sell goods to a business in another EU country and the customer has a valid EU VAT number, you do not charge VAT, although you may still deduct the VAT on related costs. For most services supplied to businesses in another EU country, the customer accounts for VAT in its own country under the reverse-charge procedure. Always check the customer's VAT number before treating a sale as B2B.

Goods shipped from outside the EU

Since 1 July 2021, the former VAT exemption for imported goods worth up to EUR 22 no longer exists, so VAT applies to all goods imported into the EU. For consignments with an intrinsic value of up to EUR 150, the Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) and related special arrangements simplify how VAT on these sales is declared and paid; IOSS returns are monthly.

What the One Stop Shop does

The European Commission describes the OSS as the extension of the mini One Stop Shop (MOSS), which had applied since 1 January 2015, into a wider One Stop Shop from 1 July 2021. Online sellers, including marketplaces, can register in one EU country, and that single registration is valid for declaring and paying VAT on all their distance sales of goods and cross-border services to consumers in the EU. In practice that means one registration, one return per period and one payment, instead of dealing with the VAT administration of each country where your customers live.

The three schemes

Scheme	Who can use it	Main sales covered	Return
Union scheme	Businesses established in the EU (and, for some goods sales, non-EU businesses)	Intra-EU distance sales of goods and cross-border services to consumers	Quarterly
Non-Union scheme	Businesses not established in the EU	Services to consumers in the EU	Quarterly
Import scheme (IOSS)	EU and non-EU businesses; a non-EU business generally needs an intermediary	Distance sales of imported goods in consignments worth up to EUR 150	Monthly

Returns, payment and records

Deadlines: the return is due by the end of the month after the period. For the quarterly schemes that means 30 April, 31 July, 31 October and 31 January.
Payment: pay when you submit the return, and at the latest by the return deadline.
Currency: the return is made out in a single currency, generally the euro.
Nil returns: once registered, you still file a return for a period with no OSS sales.
Records: under Directive 2017/2455, records of OSS transactions must be kept for 10 years from the end of the year in which the transaction took place, and made available electronically on request.

Marketplaces

If you sell through an online marketplace, the platform may itself be responsible for the VAT. The Commission notes that marketplaces facilitating supplies of goods are, in certain circumstances, deemed for VAT purposes to have received and supplied the goods themselves. Check each platform's terms to see who accounts for the VAT on your sales.

What is changing next

The VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package was adopted on 11 March 2025 and applies in stages. According to the Commission, from 1 July 2028 a Single VAT Registration lets more businesses selling to consumers in another EU country meet their VAT obligations through an online portal in one EU country. From the same date, platforms for short-term accommodation rental and passenger transport by road come under new deemed-supplier rules, although EU countries may delay these until 1 January 2030. From 1 July 2030, digital reporting requirements apply to cross-border B2B transactions.

A practical checklist for online sellers

Add up your cross-border B2C sales of goods and TBE services to all other EU countries, for this year and last year.
Know which side of EUR 10,000 you are on, and watch the running total: crossing it mid-year changes the rules from that sale onwards.
Separate B2B from B2C by validating customers' EU VAT numbers.
Map your products to each country's rates, since reduced rates differ by country and product.
Decide whether to use OSS, and register in your country of identification before you need it.
Keep records that show where each customer is and which rate you applied, for 10 years.
Confirm the details with an adviser, especially for mixed carts, marketplaces or goods shipped from outside the EU.

Where CIQRA fits

CIQRA does not give tax advice or file VAT returns; those stay with you and your adviser. It covers the storefront side of selling in Europe: stores are hosted in the EU, and every plan includes cookie consent in 40 languages with consent records.

FAQ

Is the EUR 10,000 threshold per country?

No. It is one total of your cross-border sales to consumers in all other EU countries, covering distance sales of goods and TBE services, measured over the current and the preceding calendar year.

Is OSS mandatory?

The Commission and Your Europe present OSS as a scheme sellers can register for, not an obligation. If you are considering not using it, ask your adviser how you would then account for VAT in each customer country.

Does OSS change the VAT rate I charge?

No. OSS only changes how you declare and pay. The rate is still the one that applies in the customer's country for the product sold.

When are OSS returns due?

For the Union and non-Union schemes, quarterly, by the end of the month after each quarter. Import scheme returns are monthly.

EU VAT and the One Stop Shop (OSS), explained for online sellers