The One Stop Shop (OSS) scheme

Union One Stop Shop (OSS) is an EU VAT scheme that makes selling goods and services cross-border in the EU simple. Register for OSS and sell to customers in the EU the easy way, with support from the people ranked 4.8 on Trustpilot.

What is One Stop Shop (OSS)?

In July 2021 the EU replaced the Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS) scheme with two different VAT schemes: Non-Union OSS and Union OSS. Both let you sell to EU customers whilst only having to report VAT to a single Member State. However, they cover different kinds of supply.

Can I Register for Union OSS?

Anyone can register for the Union OSS scheme if they have reason to. However, only certain sales can be reported on an OSS return. Depending on the volume of your sales and where you’re delivering orders, it might be more suitable for your business to have individual registrations or use a different scheme. To make it a little bit easier to know which to register for, we put together the EU VAT quiz. It’s quick - tell us a little about your business and we’ll help you understand your options.

The EU VAT Quiz

What does Union OSS cover?

Union One Stop Shop covers both EU and non-EU businesses. Whether the VAT on your sales can be reported via the scheme depends on what you’re selling and where it is when it’s sold.

If you’re based in the EU, Union OSS will cover business-to-consumer (B2C) cross-border supplies of services and goods. For example, you sell a designer hat from your warehouse in Hamburg to a person in Milan. You can report the VAT due on that purchase on your OSS return.

If you’re based outside of the EU, you can use OSS to report sales made through your own website. Those sales have to be of goods that are in the EU when they’re sold to an individual based in the EU. If you’re selling services or digital goods, you’ll need to register for Non-Union OSS instead.

Based in the UK? Northern Ireland still applies EU VAT and Customs rules for physical goods. If your business is based in Northern Ireland, you can apply for and use Union OSS and Import OSS Find out more about VAT in Great Britain and Northern Ireland from our UK VAT Guide.

The rules change depending on what you're selling and where you're selling from. The One Stop Shop might be a better fit for your business

The EU VAT Quiz

Which transactions will be covered by the new OSS schemes?

OSS is an online portal, developed from the existing Mini One Stop Shop, that allows online businesses to report certain B2C EU supplies in a single Member State. As such, a single quarterly payment and VAT return will be due for the supplies covered by OSS, rather than multiple local returns and endless payments.

Union OSS

Non-Union OSS

EU based businesses providing B2C services

Available

Not Available

Goods stored in the EU sold to customers in another EU country (Distance Sales) by EU and non-EU sellers

Available

Not Available

Goods stored in an EU country sold to a customer in the same country on an online marketplace, when the seller is not based in the EU

Available

Not Available

Non-EU businesses providing services to customers in the EU

Not Available

Available

Sell to all 27 EU countries on one registration

Previously, if you sold goods or services to customers in an EU country, you’d have to register for VAT there. Now, you can register for OSS in one state (your ‘Member State of Identification’). They’ll then distribute the VAT you collect to the states where your customers are (the ‘Member States of Consumption’). The internet made it easy for consumers to access goods and services from all over the world. By cutting out the paperwork, OSS makes it easier for ecommerce businesses to fulfil that demand. 

EU businesses can register for OSS in the country where they’re based. If you’re established outside the EU, you can apply for OSS in any EU country, as long as you’re dispatching goods from there.

When should I register for OSS?

The best time to register for the OSS scheme is before you start selling. Unlike VAT returns, OSS returns can’t be backdated. If you’ve made a sale that could be reported on OSS and would like to register for it, you only have until the 10th of the month after the sale was made to make an application. If you miss the deadline, the only compliant way to handle the VAT for those sales is to register for VAT in every country where you had a customer, and file returns.

EU sellers have a little more breathing room. You can have up to a total of EUR10,000 in value of cross-border telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic (TBE) services, and intracommunity distance sales of goods before you need to register for OSS. Any sales up to that point can be recorded on your domestic VAT return.

What do I have to do if I’m registered for OSS?

The first step is to make sure that your prices include the VAT rate local to your customer. Then, you’ll have to report all your “eligible supplies” through the schemes.

That means any sales you make that qualify to be reported via OSS, have to be.

OSS returns are due quarterly, and when you file it, you’ll pay vat due on your sales to the tax authority where you’re registered.