Background
A taxable person using one of the special schemes or an intermediary representing a taxable person using the import scheme is required to submit, by electronic means, a One Stop Shop VAT return for each tax period, whether or not services or goods were supplied during this period. Where no supplies in the EU have been carried out for that period, a 'nil return' is to be submitted. The tax period is the calendar quarter for the non-Union and Union scheme and the calendar month for the import scheme. The One Stop Shop VAT return (and accompanying payment) is required to be submitted by the end of the month following the tax period covered by the return.
The One Stop Shop VAT return contains the details of supplies made to customers in each Member State of consumption by the taxable person using the scheme. In the Union scheme, supplies are split and details are given about supplies of goods and services. The taxable person has to list services supplied from the Member State of identification separately from those supplied from fixed establishments in another Member State than the Member State of identification. Supplies of goods in the Union scheme are also indicated separately according to the Member State in which the dispatch/transport of the goods starts.
The Member State of identification splits the One Stop Shop VAT return by Member State of consumption, and forwards the details to the various Member States of consumption, and in case of the Union scheme, in addition to the Member State(s) of establishment and to those Member States from which goods have been dispatched or transported.
The Member State of identification generates a unique reference number for each One Stop Shop VAT return, and informs the taxable person/intermediary of this number. This number is important, as the taxable person/intermediary must make a reference to it when making the corresponding payment.
The information to be included in the One Stop Shop VAT return relates to the supplies made under the respective One Stop Shop scheme.
For the non-Union scheme, those are supplies of services to non-taxable persons taking place in the EU (including supplies of services taking place in the Member State of identification).
Example:
A trader established in the US registers in Ireland to use the non-Union scheme. He supplies electronic services to non-taxable persons in Finland, Sweden and Ireland. He declares all these B2C supplies via the non-Union VAT return in Ireland including those that take place in Ireland.
For the Union scheme, those are
supplies of services made to non-taxable persons taking place in a Member State in which the taxable person (supplier) is not established. All such services have to be declared in the Union scheme, irrespective of whether they are supplied from the establishment located in the Member State of identification, from possible fixed establishments outside the Union or from fixed establishments in another Member State than the Member State of identification. The taxable person has to be established in the EU to be able to declare such services in the Union scheme.
It is important to note that, where a taxable person has an (business or fixed) establishment in a Member State, this Member State cannot be Member State of consumption in the Union scheme. All supplies of services made by the taxable person to private consumers in a Member State in which he has a business or fixed establishment have to be declared via the domestic VAT return of that Member State, and not in the One Stop Shop return. However, if services are supplied in a Member State in which the taxable person is VAT registered, but not established, these services have to be declared in the OSS VAT return.
Example:
A trader established in the Netherlands, has fixed establishments in France and Belgium and is VAT registered in Austria without being established there.
The trader supplies telecommunications services to private persons in France, Germany and Austria from his head office in the Netherlands.
He also supplies telecommunications services to private persons in France and Germany from his fixed establishment in Belgium.
The trader declares his supplies from the head office and the fixed establishments:
to customers in Germany and Austria via the One Stop Shop return in the Netherlands,
to customers in France via the domestic VAT return in France.
Moreover, any taxable person (established in the EU or not) can declare intra-Community distance sales of goods in this scheme (including those that take place in the Member State of identification or in a Member State of establishment).
Example:
A trader has established his business in Cyprus and has a fixed establishment in Bulgaria. He uses the Union scheme in Cyprus (Member State of identification).
He supplies goods located in Cyprus to non-taxable persons in Greece and Cyprus. He also supplies goods located in Bulgaria to non-taxable persons in Cyprus and Bulgaria.
The trader declares the following supplies in the One Stop Shop return:
Supplies of goods from Cyprus to Greece
Supplies of goods from Bulgaria to Cyprus.
The supplies of goods from Cyprus to Cyprus and from Bulgaria to Bulgaria have to be declared in the respective domestic VAT return in Cyprus and Bulgaria, because these are not intra-Community distance sales of goods.
A taxable person can also declare domestic supplies of goods for which he is a deemed supplier in the Union scheme.
Example:
A taxable person established in China sells a tablet (goods) to a non-taxable person in Belgium via an electronic interface. The electronic interface facilitates the supply and becomes deemed supplier for this supply of goods. The tablet is located in Belgium and dispatched to the customer in Belgium (domestic supply, the transport begins and ends in Belgium). Usually such a domestic supply has to be declared in the domestic VAT return. However, a deemed supplier who is using the Union scheme, has to declare such a supply in the Union One Stop Shop VAT return.
In the import scheme, a taxable person declares distance sales of goods imported from third territories or third countries not exceeding EUR 150. This threshold applies per consignment. Please note that products subject to excise duties cannot be declared in the import scheme.
Non-Union scheme | Union scheme | Import scheme |
Supplies of services | Supplies of goods (including goods subject to excise duty)
and services:
| Supplies of goods (excluding goods subject to excise duty)
|
The taxable person/intermediary is required to submit the One Stop Shop VAT return electronically to the Member State of identification by the end of the month following the end of the tax period covered by the return.
Non-Union scheme and Union scheme | |
Tax period – calendar quarter | Submission date of OSS return |
Q1: 1 January to 31 March | 30 April |
Q2: 1 April to 30 June | 31 July |
Q3: 1 July to 30 September | 31 October |
Q4: 1 October to 31 December | 31 January (of the following year) |
In the import scheme, the tax period is one calendar month.
There is no change to the deadline for the submission of the return if this date falls on the weekend or on a public holiday.
The taxable person may not submit the One Stop Shop VAT return before the end of the return period.
If the taxable person/intermediary has not submitted a return in time, the Member State of identification shall issue a reminder to submit a return to the taxable person/the intermediary. This reminder will be sent by electronic means on the tenth day following the date on which the return should have been submitted.
Any further reminders will be issued by the Member State(s) of consumption. The return shall always be submitted electronically to the Member State of identification. Any imposition of penalties and charges relating to the late submission of returns falls under the competence of the Member State of consumption, according to its rules and procedures.
It should be borne in mind that if the taxable person receives a reminder for three consecutive return periods, and does not submit the return within 10 days of each of these reminders being issued, he will be considered to have persistently failed to comply with the rules of the scheme, and will therefore be excluded.
If an intermediary does this, he will be deleted from the identification register and will be unable to act as intermediary. Consequently, all the taxable persons he represents will be excluded from the import scheme as well, because without intermediary they do not fulfil the conditions to use the scheme anymore.
The precise details are laid out in Annex III of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/194. In essence, for each Member State of consumption, the taxable person is required to include the taxable amount for supplies at standard and reduced rate, and the amount of VAT at standard and reduced rate. The VAT rates for each Member State are published in the Taxes in Europe Database (TEDB).
Part 1 of the One Stop Shop VAT return contains general information. The unique reference number is a number allocated by the Member State of identification to that VAT return.
Part 2 of the One Stop Shop VAT return contains information specific to each Member State of consumption.
Part 2 relates to information concerning supplies carried out per Member State of consumption in which VAT is due. If a taxable person carries out supplies in different Member States of consumption, he will be required to complete Part 2 of the One Stop Shop VAT return for each Member State of consumption separately.
For the non-Union scheme and the import scheme, this includes the total of supplies made per Member State of consumption.
For the Union scheme:
Parts 2a and 2b cover supplies made from the Member State of identification to that Member State of consumption. In part 2a services supplied from the Member State of identification and from fixed establishments outside the EU to that Member State of consumption are declared, whereas part 2b relates to supplies of goods dispatched from the Member State of identification to that Member State of consumption.
Parts 2c and 2d cover supplies made from another Member State than the Member State of identification. Part 2c contains services supplied from fixed establishments other than the Member State of identification to that Member State of consumption, whereas part 2d relates to supplies of goods dispatched from a Member State other than the Member State of identification.
Part 2e is the grand total of all supplies (parts 2a-d) to that Member State of consumption.
Part 3 of the One Stop Shop VAT return contains corrections to previous VAT returns. Corrections have to include the tax period they refer to, the Member State of consumption concerned as well as the total VAT amount resulting from the corrections. No distinction between standard and reduced VAT rate or goods and services is made.
Part 4 of the One Stop Shop VAT return relates to the balance of VAT due for each Member State of consumption, building the sum of VAT due for supplies carried out during the return period and possible corrections to figures declared in previous VAT returns per Member State of consumption. Should the balance of one Member State of consumption be negative, it will not be taken into account for the total amount of VAT due in any of the other Member States of consumption (part 5) and does therefore not reduce the overall amount of VAT to be paid.
Part 5 of the One Stop Shop VAT return is the total amount of VAT due in all Member States of consumption
A supplier who carries out intra-Community distance sales of goods and uses the Union scheme to declare those sales, uses part 2a for goods that he dispatches/transports from the Member State of identification and part 2d for goods that he dispatches/ transports from another Member State than the Member State of identification. He is required to include the VAT identification number of the Member State from which goods are dispatched in the VAT return (part 2d). In most cases, he will have a VAT identification number in this Member State, because he is established there or because he is/needs to be VAT registered there (e.g. because of supplies he carries out in this Member State).
However, in the rare case that the supplier does not have a VAT identification number in this Member State and does not have to get VAT registered there, he can exceptionally indicate the country code of the Member State from which the goods are sent. This applies in cases where the supplier has a stock of goods in a Member State in which he is not VAT registered.
Note: This does not apply in the following case:
Supplier A established in MS1 sells goods to a customer in MS2. Supplier A does not have the goods in stock and buys these goods from supplier B in MS3 (in which supplier A is neither established nor VAT registered) and asks supplier B to send the goods directly to the customer in MS2. In this case, the supply of goods from supplier A to the customer is considered to be a supply of goods without transport and it can therefore not qualify as intra-Community distance sale of goods.
Union scheme: A taxable person can declare supplies of goods for which he is deemed supplier in the Union scheme. Note that contrary to a “regular” supplier, he also needs to declare domestic supplies of goods for which he is the deemed supplier in this scheme. If the deemed supplier is not established or VAT registered in the Member State from which goods are dispatched or transported, it is sufficient to mention the country code of this Member State instead of the VAT identification number.
Import scheme: A taxable person can declare all distance sales of imported goods for which he is deemed supplier in the import scheme.
Please note that a deemed supplier can also use a special scheme for “his own” supplies of goods and services. If he is registered for one of the schemes, he will declare “his own” supplies as well as those for which he is deemed supplier in the VAT return of the respective scheme. He will not and cannot register twice for the same scheme.
If a taxable person has made no supplies under the One Stop Shop in a particular Member State of consumption in the return period, then he is not required to include that Member State of consumption in his One Stop Shop VAT return, irrespective of whether he has previously made supplies in that Member State of consumption. He might include this Member State in the correction part (part 3) though.
Example:
In the first quarter, a taxable person established in Germany makes supplies of services in Italy and Poland, and completes part 2a of the VAT return (Union scheme) twice, once for the supplies in Italy, and once for the supplies in Poland. In the following quarter, the same taxable person only makes supplies in Italy. The taxable person is then only required to complete part 2a of the VAT return (Union scheme) once, for the supplies in Italy. There is no requirement to complete part 2a of the return detailing 'zero' supplies in Poland.
In addition, supplies that are exempt in a Member State of consumption, must not be included in the One Stop Shop return. This is valid for all exempt supplies, irrespective of whether or not the supplier is entitled to deduct input VAT. Supplies to which a so-called zero rate is applied lead to the same result as exempt supplies with the right of input VAT deduction and are therefore not included in the One Stop Shop return either.
Once the taxable person/the intermediary has submitted the OSS VAT return, he will be informed of the unique reference number of that return. This is the number the taxable person/his intermediary is required to refer to when making the corresponding payment. The number is composed by the country code of the Member State of identification, the individual VAT identification number of the taxable person, and the relevant return period.
No. VAT on business expenses incurred in the Member State of consumption cannot be offset against supplies declared in the One Stop Shop VAT return. Those expenses must be claimed via the Electronic VAT Refund Mechanism (under Council Directive 2008/9/EC) or under the procedure governed by the 13th VAT Directive (Council Directive 86/560/EEC) or via the domestic VAT return should the taxable person be registered (but not established) in the Member State of consumption.
If a taxable person makes no One Stop Shop supplies whatsoever throughout the EU in a return period and has no corrections to make to previous VAT returns, he is required to submit a 'nil return'.
A "nil return" means in practice the following:
The taxable person (or the intermediary on his behalf) is required to fill in his individual VAT identification number allocated by the Member State of identification, the tax period, the total VAT amount due (= zero) and the total VAT amount resulting from corrections of previously submitted returns (= zero).
If he is using the import scheme and has appointed an intermediary, the identification number of the intermediary (to act as such) has to be provided as well.
A VAT return can be corrected at any time before being submitted.
If a VAT return has already been submitted, corrections to VAT returns relating to tax periods starting on 1 July 2021 must be made in a subsequent VAT return.
Corrections to VAT returns relating to tax periods up to and including 30 June 2021 must be made by a correction of the original VAT return. This is only relevant for returns submitted in the MOSS (Mini One Stop Shop), i.e. supplies of TBE services to non-taxable persons (non-Union and Union scheme).
The Member State of identification will allow the taxable person/the intermediary to make corrections to One Stop Shop VAT returns electronically within three years of the date on which the initial return had to be submitted. Any additional payment due to the Member State(s) of consumption shall be paid by the taxable person to the Member State of identification for distribution. Nevertheless, the Member State of consumption may accept corrections after the expiry of this three-year-period, in accordance with its national rules, in which case the taxable person will be required to contact the Member State of consumption directly. Such corrections are not part of the One Stop Shop scheme.
The VAT due for supplies declared in a VAT return for a Member State of consumption and possible corrections to previous VAT return(s) made in that VAT return for that same Member State of consumption are set off against each other. If the balance is zero, the taxable person does not have to pay any VAT for this Member State of consumption regarding his VAT return. If the balance is above zero, i.e. VAT is due, the taxable person has to pay this amount of VAT due (balance between VAT due for supplies carried out and corrections from previous tax periods). If the balance is negative, i.e. the taxable person has paid too much VAT, the Member State of consumption will reimburse the taxable person the overpaid amount. A negative amount for one Member State of consumption is never set off against VAT due for other Member States of consumption.
Example 1:
A taxable person uses the non-Union scheme in Germany (Member State of identification).
For Q1/2023 (current quarter), he declares EUR 200 in Poland (Member State of consumption). He is also making a negative correction to Q4/2022 of EUR 50 for Poland. The balance of VAT due for the current quarter, taking into account the correction made to the previous quarter is EUR 200 - EUR 50 = EUR 150. The taxable person will have to pay EUR 150 for Poland.
VAT return Q1/2023:
Supplies made to MSC Poland EUR 200
Corrections made for MSC Poland (Q4/2022) EUR -50
Balance of VAT due for MSC Poland EUR 150
Example 2:
A taxable person uses the non-Union scheme in Germany (Member State of identification).
For Q1/2023 (current quarter), he declares EUR 100 in Poland (Member State of consumption). He is also making a negative correction to Q4/2022 of EUR 150 for Poland. The balance of VAT due for the current quarter, taking into account the correction made to the previous quarter is EUR 100 - EUR 150 = EUR -50. The taxable person will not have to pay anything for Poland. Poland needs to reimburse directly the amount of EUR 50 to the taxable person.
VAT return Q1/2023:
Supplies made to MSC Poland EUR 100
Corrections made for MSC Poland (Q4/2022) EUR -150
Balance of VAT due for MSC Poland EUR 0
Amount to be reimbursed by Poland EUR 50
Example 3:
A taxable person uses the non-Union scheme in Germany (Member State of identification).
For Q1/2023 (current quarter), he declares EUR 100 in Poland (Member State of consumption). He is also making a negative correction to Q4/2022 of EUR 100 for Poland. The balance of VAT due for the current quarter, taking into account the correction made to the previous quarter is EUR 100 - EUR 100 = EUR 0. The taxable person will not have to pay anything for Poland.
VAT return Q1/2023:
Supplies made to MSC Poland EUR 100
Corrections made for MSC Poland (Q4/2022) EUR -100
Balance of VAT due for MSC Poland EUR 0
The credit note should be dealt with by making a correction to the One Stop Shop VAT return for the period in which the supply was declared.
The part of the VAT return referring to supplies carried out in the return period concerned cannot be negative (part 2a). However, the correction part (part 3) can be negative. Thus, while the balance of VAT due for a Member State of consumption (part 4) can be negative, the total amount of VAT due for all Member States of consumption (part 5) cannot.
The Member State of identification stores the One Stop Shop VAT return information in its database, which is accessible to the relevant authorities of any of the other Member State. The Member State of identification also sends the VAT return to all Member States of consumption.
The One Stop Shop return has to be made out in one single currency. In general, it should be made out in euro. However, Member States of identification which have not adopted the euro may require for the return to be made out in their national currency. If the supplies have been made in other currencies, the taxable person or his intermediary shall, for the purposes of completing the VAT return, use the exchange rate as published by the European Central Bank on the last date of the tax period.
When a Member State of identification which requires the One Stop Shop return to be made out in its national currency, transfers the VAT return to the other Member States, it first has to convert the amount into euro using the exchange rate as published by the European Central Bank on the last day of the tax period.
Yes. Member States' web portals allow for the taxable person to save the One Stop Shop VAT return for completion at a later date.
Yes, Member States' web portals allow for the uploading of One Stop Shop VAT return data via electronic file transfer.
If no One Stop Shop VAT return has been submitted by the end of the month following the tax period (due date), the Member State of identification issues a reminder on the tenth day following the due date and informs the other Member States thereof.
Any subsequent reminders and steps taken to assess and collect the VAT are the responsibility of the Member State of consumption concerned.
Notwithstanding possible reminders issued by the Member State(s) of consumption, the taxable person remains able to submit the return to the Member State of identification for three years after the date on which the return should have been submitted. If the taxable person submits the return after this date, it shall be submitted directly to the relevant Member State(s) of consumption.
Background
The taxable person pays the VAT due to the Member State of identification. He pays the total amount resulting from the VAT return (i.e. covering all Member States of consumption). The Member State of identification then distributes the appropriate amounts to the various Member States of consumption.
The Member State of identification will outline how payment is to be made by the taxable person or his intermediary (import scheme). The payment must include a reference to the relevant One Stop Shop VAT return (i.e. to the unique reference number allocated by the Member State of identification).
The payment should be made when the One Stop Shop VAT return is submitted, along with a reference to the unique reference number of that return. However, if the payment is not made when the return is submitted, it should be made at the latest at the expiry of the deadline by which the return must be submitted. This means at the latest by the end of the month following the end of the tax period covered by the return.
The taxable person should be aware that payment is considered being made when it reaches the bank account of the Member State of identification. In addition, the Member State of identification cannot offer any payment plans, or similar delayed payment mechanisms, for payment due under the One Stop Shop. This can only be arranged directly with the respective Member State of consumption.
If the taxable person/the intermediary either fails to make a payment, or does not pay the full amount, the Member State of identification shall send a reminder electronically on the tenth day following the day on which the payment was due.
It should be borne in mind that if the taxable person/intermediary receives a reminder from the Member State of identification for three consecutive quarters, and does not pay the full amount of VAT within 10 days of each of these reminders being issued, he will be considered to have persistently failed to comply with the rules of the scheme, and will be excluded/deleted, unless the amount unpaid for each return period is less than EUR 100.
Subsequent reminders and steps taken to collect the VAT shall be the responsibility of the Member State of consumption. If the Member State of consumption sends a reminder, the taxable person/intermediary can no longer pay the outstanding VAT to the Member State of identification, but must pay it directly to the Member State of consumption. Where the taxable person, despite this, pays to the Member State of identification, the amount will not be forwarded by the Member State of identification to the Member State of consumption, but returned to the taxable person/the intermediary.
Any imposition of penalties and charges relating to the late submission of the payment falls outside the One Stop Shop system and is the responsibility of the Member State of consumption, according to its rules and procedures.
There are two instances where an overpayment can occur:
When the Member State of identification receives a payment, this is compared to the VAT return. If the Member State of identification sees that the amount paid by the taxable person is more than the amount indicated in the VAT return, the Member State of identification returns the overpaid amount to the taxable person according to its national legislation and procedures.
If the taxable person realises that a mistake has been made in a VAT return and makes a correction in a subsequent VAT return which leads to an overpayment for a Member State of consumption, then the Member State of consumption shall return the overpaid amount directly to the taxable person according to its national legislation and procedures (provided that the Member State of consumption agrees to the correction).
Whilst it is a matter for national administrations to decide, the Commission recommends that overpayments be reimbursed to the taxable person within 30 days of the tax administration’s decision agreeing with the correction. The repayment may also be offset against other liabilities with the Member State of consumption concerned if national legislation in the Member State of consumption allows it.
Overpayments and underpayments to different Member States of consumption cannot be set off against each other. The overpaid Member State of consumption is required to reimburse the amount directly to the taxable person (balance between the VAT due for supplies declared in the current tax period and corrections made to previous VAT return(s) for that same Member State of consumption), on the basis of the information in the One Stop Shop VAT return. The taxable person is required to pay the VAT due to the underpaid Member State via the One Stop Shop when the correction is made. Where a Member State of identification has received an amount in respect of a VAT return subsequently found to be incorrect (e.g. because of a correction received from the taxable person), and that Member State of identification has not yet distributed that amount to the Member State(s) of consumption, the Member State of identification shall reimburse the overpaid amount directly to the taxable person concerned.
Each One Stop Shop VAT return has a unique reference number, so it is imperative to make a reference to this number when the payment is made. If the taxable person/the intermediary makes a payment without making reference to this number, or the reference number does not correspond to any outstanding One Stop Shop VAT return, the Member State of identification may take steps to clarify the issue. If the issue remains unresolved, the payment will be returned to the taxable person/the intermediary and late payment is considered made if the deadline for resubmission of the payment has not been respected.