The EU One-Stop Shop (OSS): VAT on sales to private customers in other EU countries

You sell from France to private customers in other EU countries? Above €10,000 a year, you charge each customer the VAT of their own country, and declare it all in one quarterly return: the One-Stop Shop. Here is how it works, with a worked example.

An online shop in Lyon ships to a customer in Berlin. A software company in Lille sells subscriptions to private customers in Madrid. Which VAT do they charge: French, German, Spanish? Since 1 July 2021 the answer depends on one EU-wide threshold of €10,000 a year, and the One-Stop Shop (OSS, “guichet unique”) lets you declare the VAT of every country in a single return in France.

The €10,000 threshold

• It counts, excluding VAT, your distance sales of goods and your electronic, telecom and broadcasting services to private customers in other EU countries, all countries together.
• Below €10,000 this year and last year: you charge French VAT, as for a customer in France.
• Above €10,000, last year or from the sale that crosses it this year: you charge the VAT of the customer’s country, at that country’s rates.
• You can also choose the customer’s VAT from the first euro, for example to keep one set of prices. The choice binds you for at least two calendar years.
• The threshold only applies to a business established in one EU country. Sales to businesses do not count: they follow the reverse charge.

What the One-Stop Shop is

Without it, charging German, Spanish and Italian VAT would mean registering for VAT and filing returns in Germany, Spain and Italy. With the One-Stop Shop you register once, in France, and every quarter you file one return listing the sales and VAT per country. You pay the total to the French tax office, which passes each share to the right country. It is optional, but it is by far the simplest way.

Which sales go through it

• Goods shipped from France, or another EU country, to private customers in another EU country (intra-EU distance sales).
• Electronic services to private customers in other EU countries: downloads, software as a service, streaming, online courses, and telecom and broadcasting services.
• Other services to private customers that are taxed in another EU country, for example work on a building located there.

Not through it: sales to businesses with a VAT number (reverse charge, see our guide on the EU reverse charge), sales to customers in France (your normal VAT return), exports outside the EU, goods kept in a warehouse abroad and sold from there, and imports of parcels worth up to €150 from outside the EU, which have their own scheme, the IOSS.

How to register in France

• You need a professional space on impots.gouv.fr and the online service “Guichet de TVA UE” added to it.
• Then register for the Union scheme (“régime de l’Union”) in that service.
• The registration applies from the first day of the next quarter. If you cross the threshold, register by the 10th of the following month and it applies from that first sale.

The quarterly return

• One return per quarter, due by the end of the month after it: 30 April, 31 July, 31 October and 31 January.
• For each country: the sales excluding VAT and the VAT, per rate.
• Once registered, you file every quarter, even with nothing to declare (a nil return).
• Pay the total in euros by the same date.
• A mistake is corrected in a later return, for up to three years.
• VAT on your purchases is not deducted in this return: it stays in your normal French VAT return.

Invoices

• For distance sales of goods declared through the One-Stop Shop, you do not have to issue an invoice to a private customer. Without the One-Stop Shop, you do.
• If you issue one, the French invoicing rules apply, with the VAT rate of the customer’s country.
• Prices shown to consumers include VAT: with the customer’s VAT, the price including VAT, or your margin, changes from one country to another.

Records to keep

Keep the details of each sale for 10 years from the end of the year: date, customer’s country, what was sold, price, VAT rate and amount, payments, returns and refunds. Any EU country where you have customers can ask for them, and you must be able to send them electronically.

A worked example

• A shop in France sold €8,000 excluding VAT to private customers in other EU countries in 2025: below the threshold, so French VAT. In June 2026 it crosses €10,000 and registers for the One-Stop Shop.
• July to September 2026, prices excluding VAT: Germany €4,200 × 19 % = €798 VAT; Spain €2,500 × 21 % = €525; Italy €1,800 × 22 % = €396.
• Third-quarter return, due by 31 October 2026: €8,500 of sales and €1,719 of VAT, paid in one payment to the French tax office.

Common mistakes

• Counting the threshold per country: it is €10,000 for all EU countries together.
• Still charging French VAT after crossing the threshold.
• Putting sales to businesses in the One-Stop Shop: with a valid VAT number, they are reverse charge.
• Using the standard rate for everything: books, food or some services have reduced rates that differ from country to country.
• Forgetting the nil return in a quarter without sales.
• Mixing up the OSS and the IOSS, which is for goods imported from outside the EU.
• Stock in another country, for example through a marketplace warehouse: sales from there need a local VAT registration.

Outside France

The One-Stop Shop works the same way in every EU country: a business in Luxembourg registers with the AED, in Belgium with the SPF Finances, in Spain with the Agencia Tributaria (form 369). The threshold, the quarterly return and the rates of each country are the same for everyone.

And Tavalle?

In Tavalle you switch on “Registered for the One-Stop Shop (OSS)” on your company. From then on, quotes and orders to private customers in other EU countries get the VAT rate of the customer’s country for goods and digital services, other services keep yours, businesses with a VAT number get the reverse charge and customers outside the EU 0 %. The rate and its rule are frozen on the document with the legal mention, a VIES check tells you whether a customer’s VAT number is valid, and you can change the rate by hand for a reduced-rate product. The accounting export then gives your accountant every invoice with its VAT. See invoicing and VAT, or try the free EU VAT checker.

This guide is general information, not tax or legal advice. Check impots.gouv.fr, the European Commission’s One-Stop Shop portal and with your accountant.