OSS: Simplification of VAT for distance sales
Companies that sell goods to private customers in the EU via their website or a marketplace see their VAT obligations significantly changed.
The following type of sales must be clearly identified:
- online sales, eligible for filing via OSS,
- sales through a marketplace,
- classic sales, such as local sales.
Access to the OSS
The conditions to be met for access to the OSS are :
- You deliver goods of EU origin and which are dispatched from one EU Member State to a private consumer in another EU country;
- The goods you deliver are not:
- second-hand goods sold at margin;
- new means of transport;
- assembly shipments.
- You are subscribed on the OSS platform in one of the EU countries
How OSS works
The VAT filing to be made via the OSS is quarterly. You'll be filing intra-community distance sales made in all EU Member States by your company.
Please note, "domestic" distance sales (no EU border crossing) are not to be filed via OSS and must be file via a "classic" VAT return.
You will not be able to deduct input VAT via the OSS filing. Your company wants to reclaim VAT? Please contact us for more information.
Example
Your company is established in France and sells goods online to individuals established in France, Germany and the Netherlands. You exceed the threshold of 10,000 euros for your intra-community distance sales of goods.
By consequence, your company will:
- have to file and pay VAT in the Member State of arrival of the goods (Germany and the Netherlands),
- be able to access the OSS. You will then be exempt from registering for VAT in Germany and the Netherlands.
- file and pay VAT on your distance sales to Germany and the Netherlands via the OSS filing.
Your domestic sales in France will be reported in your “classic” French VAT return.
What if you do not wish to use the OSS? You will then need to have a VAT number in all the Member States where your sales are dispatched.
RM BOULANGER can map your VAT obligations and help you prepare your VAT flings.
