EU One Stop Shop (OSS) VAT Guide 2026 — How to Sell Cross-Border B2C Within the EU

You’re based in the EU. You sell to consumers in other EU countries. You’ve heard you might need to register for VAT in every country you sell to. That sounds insane.

It was insane — until July 2021, when the EU replaced 27 separate registration requirements with the One Stop Shop (OSS). One registration, one quarterly return, one payment. The EU distributes your VAT to each country for you.

This guide explains how it works, when it kicks in, and how to set it up.

What OSS Actually Does

Without OSS, if you sell goods from Germany to consumers in France, Spain, and Italy, you’d need to register for VAT in France, Spain, and Italy separately. Three registrations, three sets of returns, three payment processes, three languages worth of compliance headaches.

OSS replaces all of that. You register once in your home country (your “Member State of Identification”), charge each customer their local VAT rate at checkout, and file one quarterly return that covers all your EU cross-border B2C sales. Your home tax authority forwards the VAT to each destination country.

One registration. One return. One payment. Done.

The €10,000 Threshold

The most important number in EU cross-border e-commerce. Here’s how it works:

Below €10,000 in annual cross-border B2C sales: you can charge your home country’s VAT rate on all EU sales. A German seller charging 19% to a French customer is fine. No OSS registration needed. Report everything on your normal domestic VAT return.

Above €10,000: from the sale that pushes you over, you must charge each customer’s local VAT rate. A German seller must now charge 20% to French customers, 22% to Italian customers, 21% to Spanish customers. OSS is how you manage this without registering in every country.

Key details about the threshold

It’s €10,000 net (excluding VAT), calculated per calendar year
It’s cumulative across all EU countries — not per country. €6,000 to France plus €5,000 to Spain = €11,000 = over the threshold
It covers both goods and digital services combined — intra-EU distance sales of goods plus telecommunications, broadcasting, and electronic (TBE) services are counted together
There’s no grace period. The moment you exceed €10,000, the very next sale must use the destination country’s rate. You don’t get to finish the year at your domestic rate
It resets each calendar year — but if you exceeded it last year, you’re considered above it from January 1st of the current year

Can I opt in below the threshold?

Yes. You can voluntarily register for OSS even if you’re under €10,000. Once you opt in, you must stay in for at least two calendar years. Reasons you might opt in early:

Your customers’ countries have lower VAT rates than yours (e.g., you’re in Hungary at 27% but most customers are in Germany at 19% — charging destination rates actually saves your customers money and makes you more competitive)
You’re growing fast and will cross €10,000 soon — better to set it up now than scramble mid-year
You want to show local VAT on invoices for professional credibility

The Three OSS Schemes

There are actually three versions of OSS. Which one you use depends on where you’re based and what you sell:

Union OSS

For: EU-based businesses selling goods or services to consumers in other EU countries.

This is the one most EU sellers use. It covers:

Intra-EU distance sales of goods — you ship physical products from your country to a consumer in another EU country
Cross-border B2C services — you provide services to consumers in other EU countries
Certain domestic supplies facilitated by marketplaces — when a marketplace is the deemed supplier

You register in your home country. You file quarterly.

Non-Union OSS

For: Non-EU businesses supplying services to EU consumers.

This is for businesses outside the EU (e.g., UK, US, Australia) that sell digital services, consulting, or other services to EU consumers. You pick any one EU country to register in. You file quarterly.

Important for UK sellers: Post-Brexit, UK businesses selling digital services to EU consumers use the Non-Union scheme. For goods imported into the EU, use IOSS instead — see our UK to EU guide.

Import OSS (IOSS)

For: Sellers outside the EU shipping physical goods worth €150 or less directly to EU consumers.

This is a separate scheme with monthly filing. We cover it in detail in the IOSS guide.

This guide focuses on the Union OSS scheme — the one for EU-based sellers doing cross-border B2C within the EU.

How to Register for OSS

Where to register

Register in your home EU country — the country where your business is established. This becomes your “Member State of Identification” (MSI).

If your business has establishments in multiple EU countries, your MSI is the country where your head office is located.

The registration process

Each country has its own portal, but the process is broadly the same:

Log into your national tax authority’s online portal
Navigate to the OSS/VAT e-commerce section
Submit your registration request with your business details and VAT number
Receive confirmation and your OSS identification number

Some country-specific portals:

Country	Portal
Germany	BZSt Online-Portal (BOP)
France	impots.gouv.fr
Netherlands	Mijn Belastingdienst
Spain	Sede Electrónica AEAT
Italy	Agenzia delle Entrate

Registration is typically confirmed within a few business days. Your first OSS return period starts from the quarter in which registration takes effect.

What your OSS registration does NOT replace

OSS covers cross-border B2C sales only. You still need:

Your normal domestic VAT registration — for domestic sales within your own country
Local VAT registrations for stock held in other countries — if you use Amazon FBA warehouses in Germany and Poland, you need separate German and Polish VAT registrations. OSS doesn’t cover this
B2B sales — these are usually zero-rated intra-community supplies and are not reported through OSS

What VAT Rate to Charge

You charge the standard VAT rate of the customer’s country, not your country. Here are the current standard rates:

Country	Standard Rate	Common Reduced Rates
Austria	20%	10%, 13%
Belgium	21%	6%, 12%
Bulgaria	20%	9%
Croatia	25%	5%, 13%
Cyprus	19%	5%, 9%
Czech Republic	21%	12%
Denmark	25%	—
Estonia	24%	9%, 13%
Finland	25.5%	10%, 14%
France	20%	5.5%, 10%
Germany	19%	7%
Greece	24%	6%, 13%
Hungary	27%	5%, 18%
Ireland	23%	9%, 13.5%
Italy	22%	4%, 5%, 10%
Latvia	21%	5%, 12%
Lithuania	21%	5%, 12%
Luxembourg	17%	3%, 8%, 14%
Malta	18%	5%, 7%
Netherlands	21%	9%
Poland	23%	5%, 8%
Portugal	23%	6%, 13%
Romania	19%	5%, 9%
Slovakia	23%	5%, 10%
Slovenia	22%	5%, 9.5%
Spain	21%	4%, 10%
Sweden	25%	6%, 12%

Reduced rates apply to specific product categories — books, food, children’s items, medical supplies, etc. The categories differ by country. A children’s book might be reduced-rate in France but standard-rate in Denmark (which has no reduced rate at all).

For most online sellers dealing in general physical goods, the standard rate applies. If you sell categories that might qualify for reduced rates, check each destination country’s rules individually.

Rates last verified: May 2026. Check the European Commission’s rate database for the latest.

How to File Your OSS Return

Frequency

Quarterly. Returns are due by the last day of the month following the quarter.

Quarter	Period	Deadline
Q1	January – March	30 April
Q2	April – June	31 July
Q3	July – September	31 October
Q4	October – December	31 January

What goes in the return

For each EU country you sold to during the quarter, you report:

Total sales value per country per VAT rate
VAT rate applied
Total VAT due per country

You don’t report individual transactions — just country-level totals broken down by rate.

How to pay

You pay the total VAT owed (across all countries) in a single payment to your home country’s tax authority. They distribute it to each destination country. Payment is in euros.

Nil returns

If you had no cross-border B2C sales in a quarter, you must still file a nil return. Missing a nil return can lead to penalty points or exclusion from the scheme.

What OSS returns do NOT include

Domestic sales — these go on your normal domestic VAT return
B2B cross-border sales — these are intra-community supplies, reported on your domestic return
Sales through marketplaces where the marketplace is the deemed supplier — the marketplace handles VAT on those transactions (Amazon, Etsy, etc.)

Invoicing Under OSS

Do I need to issue invoices?

This depends on the rules of the destination country, not your home country. Some EU countries require invoices for all B2C sales, others only above a threshold, and some don’t require them at all for B2C.

In practice, most e-commerce platforms (Shopify, WooCommerce) generate order confirmations that serve as invoices. Make sure each one includes:

Your business name, address, and VAT number
The customer’s country
A description of the goods or services
The net amount, VAT rate, and VAT amount
The total gross amount
A reference to the OSS scheme (e.g., “VAT charged under OSS — Union scheme”)

Which country’s invoice rules apply?

The destination country’s rules apply for invoicing. However, the OSS regulation provides some simplification: you can follow your home country’s invoicing rules for OSS-reported supplies, unless the destination country requires specific information that your home rules don’t cover.

In practice, if you include the fields listed above, you’re compliant in virtually all EU countries.

Record Keeping

You must keep detailed records of all transactions reported under OSS for 10 years. Records must include:

The destination country
The type of service or description of goods
The date of the supply
The taxable amount (net of VAT)
The VAT rate applied
The VAT amount
The payment date and amount
Any advance payments received
The information used to determine the customer’s location (shipping address, IP address, billing address — you need at least two pieces of evidence for digital services)

Any EU tax authority can request these records for audit purposes — not just your home country. If France wants to audit your sales to French customers, they can request your records through your home country’s tax authority.

Store everything digitally. Don’t delete anything for 10 years.

Setting Up Your E-Commerce Platform

Shopify

Since April 2025, Shopify Tax handles checkout VAT calculation natively for EU sellers. It applies the correct destination-country rate automatically.

Go to Settings → Taxes and duties
Configure your EU country settings
Shopify applies destination-country rates for cross-border sales

Your OSS return data can be exported from Shopify’s tax reports, broken down by country and rate — ready to file.

WooCommerce

Install a VAT compliance plugin that supports EU OSS (e.g., EU VAT Assistant, EU/UK VAT Compliance)
Configure destination-country VAT rates per country
The plugin calculates the correct rate based on the customer’s shipping address

Export tax reports by country for your quarterly OSS filing.

Selling on marketplaces (Amazon, Etsy, etc.)

When Amazon or Etsy acts as the deemed supplier, they handle VAT collection and remittance on your behalf. These sales are not reported in your OSS return — the marketplace handles them.

However, if you sell on your own website alongside marketplace sales, the off-marketplace sales are your responsibility and must be reported through OSS if they exceed the €10,000 threshold.

Don’t double-report. Marketplace-facilitated sales go through the marketplace’s VAT system. Your own direct sales go through your OSS. Make sure your accounting separates these clearly.

OSS vs Local VAT Registration — When Each Makes Sense

Situation	Use OSS	Register Locally
Selling from your home country to consumers in other EU countries	✓
Selling digital services cross-border	✓
Stock held in Amazon FBA warehouses in other EU countries		✓ (for each warehouse country)
You have a physical office or employees in another EU country		✓ (fixed establishment = local registration)
B2B intra-community supplies		Domestic return
Selling excise goods (alcohol, tobacco) cross-border		✓ (local registration required)

Key point: if you use Amazon FBA and your stock is in warehouses in Germany, France, and Poland, you need three separate local VAT registrations for those countries PLUS your OSS registration for any remaining cross-border sales not covered by local registrations. OSS is a simplification, not a complete replacement for local registrations.

What Happens If You Don’t Comply

You exceed €10,000 and don’t register for OSS

You technically need to register for VAT in every EU country where you have customers. If you don’t, each country can assess VAT, penalties, and interest on your sales to their consumers. In practice, enforcement varies — but EU tax authorities are sharing data more aggressively, especially for online sellers.

You miss an OSS filing deadline

Your home country’s tax authority may issue a reminder. If you miss three consecutive quarters, you can be excluded from OSS — which means you’re back to individual country registrations. Reinstatement is possible but involves reapplication.

You file incorrect amounts

Each destination country can audit your sales to their consumers. If they find discrepancies, they can assess additional VAT plus penalties through your home country’s authority. Your home authority acts as the intermediary, but the destination country sets the penalty.

First-Time Filing — Step by Step

Filing your first OSS return can feel overwhelming. Here’s exactly what to do:

1. Gather your sales data

Export your cross-border B2C sales for the quarter from your e-commerce platform. You need a breakdown by:

Customer’s country
VAT rate applied
Total net amount per country per rate
Total VAT per country per rate

2. Exclude what doesn’t belong

Remove from your data:

Domestic sales (same country as you)
B2B sales (intra-community supplies)
Sales made through marketplaces acting as deemed supplier (Amazon, Etsy)
Sales to non-EU customers

3. Log into your OSS portal

Access your country’s OSS portal and navigate to the return submission section.

4. Enter country-by-country totals

For each EU country you sold to, enter:

Taxable amount (net)
VAT rate
VAT amount

If you sold goods at multiple rates to the same country (e.g., standard rate and reduced rate to Germany), enter each rate as a separate line.

5. Review and submit

Double-check the totals. The portal will calculate the grand total VAT owed across all countries.

6. Pay

Make the single payment in euros to your home country’s tax authority by the deadline.

7. Save everything

Archive the return, your payment confirmation, and the underlying sales data. Keep for 10 years.

Common Mistakes

Not separating marketplace sales from direct sales. Marketplace-facilitated sales (Amazon, Etsy acting as deemed supplier) are NOT reported in OSS. Your own website sales are. Mixing them up means double-reporting or under-reporting.
Using your home country’s VAT rate above €10,000. Once you cross the threshold, every sale must use the destination rate. There’s no grace period until next year.
Forgetting that €10,000 includes digital services AND goods combined. If you sell €6,000 in physical goods cross-border and €5,000 in digital services cross-border, you’re over.
Not filing nil returns. Even if you had zero cross-border sales in a quarter, file the return. Missing it can get you excluded from OSS.
Assuming OSS covers stock in foreign warehouses. If you store goods in Amazon FBA in another EU country, you need a local VAT registration there. OSS only covers goods shipped from your home country (or from a country where you have a registration).
Not keeping records for 10 years. The EU requirement is 10 years, not your home country’s shorter period. Any EU country can audit your OSS sales.
Applying the wrong reduced rates. A product that’s reduced-rate in your country might be standard-rate in the destination country, and vice versa. Always check the destination country’s classification.

Selling to EU Businesses — Reverse Charge & Invoicing — B2B intra-community supplies work differently from B2C and are not covered by OSS
EU VAT Rates by Country — full rate table for all 27 member states
DeviantArt VAT Guide — if you sell digital content on platforms, deemed supplier rules affect how you use OSS
Digital Goods VAT Risks — why DAC7 and platform liability make digital goods compliance mandatory in 2026
Cross-Border Tax Tools Compared — software to automate OSS calculation and reporting