Selling to consumers in the EU

The threshold is EUR 10,000, and you reach it sooner than you think

If you ship from the Netherlands to private customers in other EU countries, you may keep charging Dutch VAT as long as your turnover to all those countries together stays below EUR 10,000. It is the total for all countries, not the amount per country.

Two things are often forgotten. The amount excludes VAT. And two years are looked at: you must stay below it this year and have stayed below it last year. If you were above it in 2025, you charge foreign VAT straight away in 2026.

Your digital services to consumers also count towards the same threshold, such as downloads, online courses and subscriptions. It all adds up together.

What happens when you go over the threshold

It does not change at the end of the quarter or the year, but straight away with the sale that takes you over the threshold. For that order you already charge the VAT of your customer's country.

From then on you charge a different rate per country: 19% in Germany, 20% in France, 21% in Belgium and 22% in Italy. If you show the same price everywhere, your prices are no longer right.

There is no transition period. So keep a close eye on your turnover per country, because it directly affects your prices.

What the One Stop Shop arranges for you

Without this scheme you would have to register in every country where you have customers, each with its own return, deadlines and letters. With the One Stop Shop you report everything in one quarterly return to the Dutch tax authorities. They pass the money on to the other countries.

So you have one registration, one quarterly return and one payment. That saves a lot of work.

What the One Stop Shop does not arrange

The scheme only works if your goods are shipped from the Netherlands. If your stock is in a warehouse abroad, the situation is different:

• If you ship from a German or Polish warehouse, that country is the country of departure and in principle you need a registration there
• If a fulfilment company spreads your stock across several countries, your VAT position changes with it, without you noticing
• Sales to businesses are not included. They go through the regular return and the EC Sales List
• Sales within the Netherlands are not included either. They stay in your regular VAT return

This is the mistake we see most: a webshop grows, moves to fulfilment abroad and only finds out a year later that returns should have been filed in two countries.

Staying below the threshold can cost you money

You may also choose to charge the VAT of your customer's country while you are still below EUR 10,000. That can be smart. If you sell a lot to Germany, 19% German VAT is cheaper than 21% Dutch VAT. That difference is your margin.

You report that choice to the tax authorities, and it then applies for at least two calendar years. So you cannot switch it on and off per quarter. Think it through carefully.

What we do

We first look at where your goods are shipped from, because the answer depends on that. Then we arrange the One Stop Shop registration, the quarterly return and the link with your regular VAT return.

An OSS return costs EUR 145 per quarter. Registration costs EUR 325 once. With a monthly package the quarterly work is included.