VAT OSS registration and compliance for e-commerce

Based on years of experience in VAT registration and settlement of companies - especially in the e-commerce industry, in response to your demand, we have extended our offer by OSS (One Stop Shop) registration and submission of OSS declarations. This support is available to companies whose Member State of Identification is Germany or Poland.

We provide a comprehensive, tailor-made service for all issues related to your VAT OSS obligations. As part of our services, we will take care of submitting VAT declarations in the countries where sales are made and VAT OSS in Germany and Poland. We provide all monthly sales data in one consolidated report for all countries. We analyze and process each transaction according to the relevant system and country of taxation. This saves you time and ensures that your taxes are settled correctly.

• Preparation of documentation necessary for VAT OSS registration;
• Comprehensive VAT settlements in a single tax declaration;
• Supervision of the current status of tax settlements;
• Regular information about the amount of VAT (notification - VAT Payment);
• Preparation of applications for VAT refunds;
• Constant online access to your documents through the Customer Portal;
• Assistance of qualified specialists with many years of experience in international tax settlements.

If you have any questions about this or other services we offer, please feel free to contact our experts:

Contact - amavat®

As of 1 July 2021, the VAT MOSS procedure, which until then covered only entities supplying telecommunications, broadcasting, and electronic services, was extended to the group of online traders (including operators of electronic interfaces). This extension initiated the VAT-OSS procedure, which is a simplification of the VAT settlement system, enabling settlement of VAT on sales to various EU countries under one aggregated tax declaration.

Important:

It is not allowed to choose in which countries sales will be settled through the OSS system - if you decide to use this procedure, all B2C cross-border sales must be settled through it.

The OSS is available to online retailers selling to individual end customers (B2C) within the European Union who have exceeded the threshold of EUR 10,000 in total mail-order sales to EU countries, or to entrepreneurs who are planning to start such sales (voluntary registration for the OSS).

Before the set threshold is exceeded, national VAT rules can be applied to cross-border sales.

Registration for the OSS is not mandatory.

Once the current threshold is exceeded, e-commerce entrepreneurs have two choices for settling sales and paying tax:

• Registering for VAT and submitting local VAT declarations in each country of destination
  or
• Registering for VAT-OSS and submitting aggregate OSS tax declarations in the country of identification.

The obligation to register for VAT in a particular country applies to sellers who ship goods from warehouses located abroad. Inter-warehouse transfers or local sales (from a warehouse in a given country to an end customer in the same country) cannot be reported on the VAT-OSS tax declaration, so it is necessary to register for VAT.

This applies both to sellers using Amazon warehouses (e.g. through the Amazon FBA program) or other selling platforms and those who have their own warehouses.

The use of OSS does not limit your ability to have a national VAT number. In some cases, as mentioned above, it may be necessary to register for VAT despite using OSS.

If you no longer need the VAT number you obtained before joining the OSS, you can deregister for VAT in the country of your choice at any time. However, if you plan to use warehouses in that country in the near future - we recommend that you consider keeping your VAT number and submitting zero declarations to avoid having to re-register. 

Once you have registered for VAT OSS, you are required to submit quarterly declarations to settle the VAT on sales within the European Union. The declarations must also be submitted if no sales took place in a given period (in these cases a zero-declaration should be submitted).

VAT due for a given period shall be paid by the end of the month following the quarter to which it relates.

The payment shall be made to a bank account held in euro (EUR), specified by the Member State of identification. Member States which have not adopted the euro (EUR) may require payments to the bank account in their own currency.

• This procedure applies only to transactions within the European Union and only to businesses that serve individual customers (B2C transactions). 
• VAT OSS covers all sales within the EU, it is not possible to use OSS for specific countries.
• OSS declarations are submitted quarterly, separately showing the value of sales in each EU country. 
• Storage of goods abroad and inter-warehouse transfers require a VAT number in the country where the warehouse is located.
• The use of OSS is voluntary.

Have a look at the frequently asked questions about VAT OSS:  

• OSS - amavat Help Center - Polish