If your online sales to private individuals in other EU countries exceed €10,000 per year, you are required to declare and pay VAT via the OSS portal instead of applying the standard Belgian VAT rate. This article explains how the OSS system works, what Accountable currently supports, and how to file your OSS declaration on Intervat.
Please note that this article provides general guidance only. Tax rules may vary depending on your individual situation. When in doubt, ask your Tax Coach.
In this article, you will learn what the OSS threshold means for your invoices, how to record your revenues in Accountable, and how to submit your OSS declaration on Intervat each quarter.
What if you stay below the €10,000 threshold?
If your cross-border EU sales to private individuals remain below €10,000 per year, you apply VAT to all invoices to individual customers using the Belgian VAT rate of 21%, which Accountable applies automatically to your invoices. This VAT is included automatically in your quarterly Belgian VAT declaration.
What is the OSS system?
The European One-Stop-Shop (OSS) system makes it easier to manage local VAT rates across EU countries.
If you run an online store and deliver goods to private individuals in Europe, you are required to sell at a price that includes VAT, applying the local VAT rate of the buyer's country instead of the Belgian rate.
For example: you sell a €100 item to a customer in France. Because the applicable VAT rate in France is 20%, the price paid by the customer is €120.
Because you are not a registered business in France, you declare and pay this VAT in Belgium through the OSS system. You must start filing via OSS once you have reached the threshold of €10,000 in cross-border EU sales.
How do you record revenues in Accountable for your income tax calculation?
Accountable currently only supports Belgian VAT rates and does not prepare the OSS declaration for you. A solution to support this in the future is in progress.
For now, you need to invoice clients and calculate your VAT returns manually.
How do you declare and pay VAT on EU sales to private individuals?
To manage the European VAT collected from your sales, go to Intervat every quarter and declare the revenues made under European VAT rates. You then pay the VAT amount due to the Belgian government.
Good to know: this has no impact on your Belgian VAT declaration. That VAT still needs to be submitted and paid separately.
To submit your OSS declaration, follow the steps outlined on the official Intervat OSS filing guide. Here is a summary of the steps:
After logging in on Intervat, choose "OSS - EU e-commerce"
Go to "Dashboard", click on "Return" and choose "Declaration by screen"
Under scheme selection, choose "Union scheme (BE)" and enter your VAT number
Select the quarter and the year of the declaration
Fill in the grids per foreign VAT rate
For more information about the OSS system, visit the official OSS information page on Intervat.
Key takeaways
Once your cross-border EU sales to private individuals exceed €10,000 per year, you must declare and pay VAT via the OSS portal.
Below that threshold, apply the Belgian VAT rate of 21%, which Accountable handles automatically.
Accountable does not currently prepare the OSS declaration. You need to file it manually on Intervat each quarter.
The OSS declaration is separate from your regular Belgian VAT declaration.
Need help? Chat with us or email support@accountable.eu, we're happy to help.