Are you planning events or online coaching targeting EU audiences? The rules for VAT on virtual events and classes changed on January 1st, 2025. You need to charge your EU clients their local VAT rate, then report and remit that VAT to the tax authorities.
These changes give you two major additional admin tasks to sell tickets in the EU:
If you have clients in the EU and want to keep hosting them online, your options will depend on where your business is based. You may need to register for a One Stop Shop scheme or for VAT in an EU Member State. You might even have to change how you host your event to stay compliant.
The good news is that this change in the VAT rules on virtual events doesn't affect everyone.
In general, if you are selling something, you must apply VAT to the price. The difficulty is working out which VAT rate in which country to apply. The EU provides "general rules" to help you decide which Member State's VAT rate you should apply to your sales. These rules aim to simplify the process.
The EU classifies events of all kinds as Services (as opposed to Goods). The VAT rate that applies to your services depends on what service you’re providing, and who you’re providing it to – other businesses (B2B) or consumers (B2C).
The general rule for B2C services is to apply the rate of the country where you established your business. For a long time (since 2010!), these general rules have also been widely applied to virtual events.
What kind of content your business is streaming could also make a difference. Educational events might be exempt in some cases, for example. It gets trickier still if you’re selling pre-recorded, downloadable or on-demand content. It might be considered an “electronically supplied service” - the same category as virtual events or a Telecommunication, Broadcasting and Electronic (TBE) service. TBE services are already taxed at the user’s local VAT rate.
Two major VAT cases have passed through the European Court of Justice (ECJ) since 2019: Case C-568/17 (Geelen) and C-532/22, (Westside Unicat). The rulings clarified how VAT on livestreams should be determined. Before these rulings, it wasn’t wholly clear which nation should charge VAT. Was it where the business was based, or where the client was? The law was developed before livestreaming and virtual events had become widely accessible. However, the EU Commission and some Member States found the rulings weren’t in line with their intended reading of the law. The proceedings to update them and provide further clarity began shortly after the first ruling.
Now, VAT on virtual events is taxed at the rate where the consumer is based. This brings livestreams and online events in line with the rules on electronically supplied services. It also takes the EU Commission a step closer to one of its overall VAT goals: taxing goods and services as close to the point of their consumption as possible.
If you are selling tickets to a virtual event to customers in the EU, you may need to register for VAT in EU countries. You're likely affected if you are:
Creators on Patreon don’t need to worry about collecting VAT on their Patron-only livestream, however. Patreon already collects VAT based on your patron’s location.
If you host B2B events, you can continue to charge VAT at the rate of the country where your business is based. If your business is B2C, you need to charge VAT at the rate local to your customer.
The rules for VAT on virtual events are not as simple as they appear, however. To figure out where VAT is due, you must establish a variety of details. Before making any assumptions, please seek professional advice.
The regulation update is designed to make your obligations clear; however, fulfilling them now presents some practical challenges.
Some conferences and shows sell virtual tickets to real-world events so international audiences can take part at a distance. If you decide to do this, you will need to charge VAT separately on each ticket. The rate changes again if you’re selling tickets to watch the event back after it has happened.
Being transparent with your pricing (and keeping track of everything) gets increasingly complicated. In-person, virtual and on-demand tickets for the same event have different VAT rates:
If you typically only have one ticket that gives your customer access to everything, you should seek advice on how to apply VAT. We’re also not accounting for customers who want to change their ticket type from in-person to virtual and vice versa.
If you manage your events through a 3rd party platform like Eventbrite, you might find you have to change platforms to keep compliant. This is a pain if you have an established presence on the platform. Even more so if you have integrated it into your business systems.
Finally, there comes the work of registering for VAT in multiple countries or applying for the Non-Union OSS Scheme. The amount of extra admin you’ll have to do will only scale with your event's size.
Double Taxation for UK Businesses
Since Brexit, HMRC has updated the UK's VAT rules to align with the EU's as they change. They do this primarily to make life easier for UK businesses selling to the EU and Northern Ireland. Having similar processes and rules reduces the amount of admin UK businesses have to do to trade with the EU. In several cases, it also avoids double taxation.
In VAT, double taxation occurs when two different authorities tax the same transaction. As of yet (29/01/25), HMRC has yet to publish guidance bringing UK Place of Supply rules in line with the EU. This means that if you're a UK business selling tickets to a live stream to audiences in the EU, VAT will be due twice on the ticket, once in the UK and once in the EU country where the audience member is based.
The VAT rules on virtual events changed the classification of livestreams. They were an "electronically delivered service" and are now considered “activities which are streamed or otherwise made virtually available”. Whilst a little vague, this definition highlights human interaction as a distinguishing factor. How your online event will be treated will differ depending on your audience and where your business is based.
B2B Virtual Events
If attendees to your online event are VAT-registered EU businesses, the “principal place of supply” rule applies. You won’t charge the attendee VAT. If your business is based in a different EU country than the attendee, the event is classed as an “Intra-Community Transaction”. Instead, you apply the reverse charge mechanism, and the attendee must self-assess the VAT due in their local VAT return.
B2C Virtual Events
When the attendees of your virtual event are individuals, VAT will be due where the attendee is established. You will need to charge the attendee VAT at their local rate. This means that you can either:
The best choice for your business will depend on your customer base. If you have or want customers from all over the EU, the OSS schemes are easier than registering and reporting in multiple countries.
To stay compliant, you should investigate whether your events will require you to register for VAT across Europe. You can also consider applying for the One-Stop Shop scheme before you host your next event.
