One-Stop-Shop (OSS): VAT on sales to consumers in the EU

What is the One-Stop-Shop (OSS)?

Since 1 July 2021 the EU rule is: if you sell to private individuals in other EU countries, above a certain amount these sales are taxed in the customer’s country. So that you do not have to register for tax separately in France, Spain and Poland and file returns there, there is the One-Stop-Shop. In Germany it is called the „besonderes Besteuerungsverfahren“ (special taxation procedure, § 18j UStG, EU scheme) and is operated by the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt).

You file one return per quarter there, broken down by country and tax rate, and transfer the total tax to the BZSt. The BZSt distributes the money to the other countries. The OSS is voluntary – the alternative would be registering in each individual country. If you use it, however, you use it for all EU countries and all sales concerned.

The OSS only concerns sales to consumers. Sales to businesses in other EU countries continue to go through the reverse charge procedure and the EC sales list (Zusammenfassende Meldung).

Which sales does the OSS apply to?

Three groups of sales to consumers in other EU countries fall under the OSS. The common threshold of €10,000 applies to the first two:

• Intra-Community distance sales (innergemeinschaftliche Fernverkäufe, § 3c UStG): you ship goods to private individuals in another EU country, for example from your online shop.
• Telecommunications, broadcasting and electronically supplied services (§ 3a Abs. 5 UStG): for example software downloads and apps, subscriptions, streaming, e-books, stock photos, web hosting and pre-recorded online courses delivered without human intervention.
• Other services to consumers whose place of supply is in the other EU country – since 2025, for example, live-streamed courses, webinars and events that private individuals attend virtually (§ 3a Abs. 3 Nr. 3 UStG). According to the wording of the law, the €10,000 threshold does not apply to them.

Digital service or not? Drawing the line

Whether a service is “electronically supplied” determines the threshold and therefore the country of taxation. What matters is whether the service is essentially provided automatically over the internet. As soon as a person provides the service individually and the internet only serves as a means of communication, it is not an electronic service.

For many self-employed people this is good news: consulting, coaching, translation, design or programming as an individual job for a private individual in the EU remains taxable in Germany – regardless of whether you send the results by e-mail. German VAT or the small business scheme (Kleinunternehmerregelung) applies here, and the OSS plays no role.

The €10,000 threshold: how to calculate it

The threshold is set out in § 3c Abs. 4 and § 3a Abs. 5 UStG. You add up the net amounts of all distance sales and all electronic services to consumers in all other EU countries. So there is no threshold per country: €4,000 to France, €3,500 to Austria and €3,000 to Italy add up to €10,500.

If these sales were no more than €10,000 in the previous year and do not exceed €10,000 in the current year either, everything stays in Germany: you charge German VAT (Umsatzsteuer) and report the sales in your advance VAT return (Umsatzsteuer-Voranmeldung). If you exceed the threshold during the year, the VAT of the customer’s country applies from the sale with which you exceed €10,000 – and from the start of the following year.

You can also voluntarily waive the threshold and pay tax in the customer’s country from the first euro, for example if the tax rate there is lower. This declaration binds you for at least two calendar years. If you are a Kleinunternehmer: the German small business scheme only exempts sales that are taxable in Germany. If the place of supply is abroad, it does not help; since 2025, however, the special reporting procedure for small businesses in other EU countries (§ 19a UStG, EU-wide turnover up to €100,000) can be a solution if the customer’s country has its own exemption.

Registering with the BZSt: step by step

To take part you need a VAT ID (USt-IdNr.) and access to the BZStOnline portal (BOP); you can use an ELSTER certificate to log in there.

• In the BZStOnline portal, open the form for registering for the One-Stop-Shop (EU scheme).
• Enter your VAT ID, contact details and bank details as well as the date from which you want to take part.
• Normal case: participation begins on the first day of the quarter following registration – if you register in May, you start on 1 July.
• If you exceed the threshold in the current quarter, you register by the 10th day of the following month with the reason “first supply” (erstmalige Leistungserbringung); the OSS then applies from that first sale.
• You can only deregister with effect from the start of a quarter, with at least 15 days’ notice.

OSS return: deadlines, payment and corrections

You file the OSS return for each calendar quarter electronically in the BZStOnline portal, broken down by customer country and tax rate. The deadline is the last day of the month after the end of the quarter. Even if you had no OSS sales in a quarter, you must file a nil return. The tax must reach the Federal Treasury (Bundeskasse) by the same day; direct debit is not possible, you transfer it with the assigned reference number (Kassenzeichen) and the period in the payment reference.

You do not correct errors by filing a new return for the old quarter, but in a later OSS return, within three years and broken down by period and country. If you repeatedly file or pay late, you can be excluded from the procedure and would then have to register in each country individually. You keep the records of your OSS sales for ten years.

Important for your bookkeeping: you cannot deduct input VAT via the OSS. You reclaim German input VAT (Vorsteuer) via the advance return as usual; foreign input VAT only via the input VAT refund procedure (Vorsteuer-Vergütungsverfahren). Your OSS sales do not belong in the German advance return.

Example: an online course sold to a customer in France

Mira, based in Cologne, offers a pre-recorded photography course that buyers get automatic access to immediately after paying. She is subject to standard VAT. In the previous year she had €7,800 turnover with consumers in other EU countries; by the end of June 2026 it is €9,600. On 3 July a customer in Lyon buys the course for €199 net – bringing Mira to €9,799. On 8 July a customer in Vienna buys the course bundle for €249 net: with €10,048 she exceeds the threshold.

The sale to Lyon is still subject to German VAT (€199 + €37.81 = €236.81) and belongs in the advance return. The Vienna sale and all further sales to EU consumers from 8 July are taxed in the customer’s country. Mira registers for the OSS by 10 August and files her first OSS return for Q3 by 31 October 2026. In 2027 the OSS applies to her from the start, because she exceeded the threshold in 2026.

If Mira charges a fixed final price of €239, she keeps a different net amount depending on the country. This is the most common reason why sellers introduce country-specific prices after switching to the OSS:

Invoices under the OSS: which rules apply?

If you take part in the OSS in Germany, German rules apply to your invoices (§ 14 Abs. 7 UStG) – not French or Italian ones. In Germany you are generally not obliged to issue an invoice to private individuals; for distance sales, the invoicing obligation expressly does not apply if you take part in the OSS (§ 14a Abs. 2 UStG).

If you still issue an invoice or receipt – which many customers expect – you show the tax rate and tax amount of the customer’s country, for example “TVA 20 %: €39.80” for a customer in France. The other mandatory invoice details remain the same. Mandatory e-invoicing only concerns invoices to businesses in Germany and plays no role in the OSS.

To prove the customer’s country for electronic services, you need two matching pieces of information, for example the billing address and the country of the bank or of the IP address. Up to €100,000 turnover with such services per year, one piece of information is enough. Payment providers and shop systems usually supply this data.

IOSS: goods from non-EU countries up to €150

The Import One-Stop-Shop (IOSS, § 18k UStG) is the counterpart for goods shipped from a country outside the EU directly to private individuals in the EU, with a value of no more than €150 per consignment. The seller charges the VAT of the customer’s country at checkout, and the consignment is released by customs without further import VAT.

The IOSS return is due monthly by the end of the following month. Sellers not established in the EU usually need an intermediary based in the EU. For most self-employed people in Germany, IOSS is only relevant if they have goods shipped directly from a manufacturer outside the EU to their customers (dropshipping).

The OSS and KontoVexa

KontoVexa does not prepare or submit OSS returns; you file them yourself in the BZStOnline portal or have your tax advisor prepare them. KontoVexa does, however, help you keep an eye on the threshold: KontoVexa classifies customers in other EU countries without a VAT ID as Consumer in the EU and charges German VAT up to the threshold. When your sales to consumers in other EU countries approach the €10,000 limit, KontoVexa alerts you when you create invoices.

You handle invoices, the VAT advance return, the EC sales list and the EÜR in KontoVexa and send them to ELSTER. More on the page VAT with KontoVexa.

Frequently asked questions