Do I need to register for VAT to sell to EU customers?

It depends on where you're based and what you sell. EU businesses selling to consumers in other EU countries charge their own VAT until those sales pass €10,000 a year, then register for OSS. Businesses outside the EU have no threshold: digital services need non-Union OSS from the first sale, and goods depend on order value, marketplaces and where the stock is.

What is the €10,000 EU VAT threshold?

It's the yearly total of sales to consumers in other EU countries, goods and digital services together, excluding VAT. Below it, an EU business charges its own country's VAT. From the sale that crosses it, the business charges the VAT of each customer's country, usually through OSS. It only applies to businesses established in one EU country that ship from there.

Does the €10,000 threshold apply to UK or US sellers?

No. The threshold only exists for businesses established in the EU. A UK or US seller owes EU VAT on sales to EU consumers from the first one, whether that's collected through non-Union OSS, IOSS, a marketplace, or at import.

Do I need IOSS if I sell on Etsy, Amazon or eBay?

Not for orders up to €150 shipped from outside the EU. The marketplace is treated as the seller for VAT on those orders, charges the VAT at checkout and pays it through its own IOSS. You need your own IOSS only for orders through your own store.

Do I need a VAT number in the country where my Amazon FBA stock is?

Yes. Storing goods in an EU country makes the stock movements and sales there taxable locally, so you need that country's VAT number before the stock arrives. OSS doesn't replace it, and Amazon asks for it.

Is the checker's answer legally binding?

No. It applies the EU's VAT e-commerce rules to your answers, but it can't see every detail of your business. Use it to know where you stand, then confirm edge cases, such as Northern Ireland goods or mixed B2B and consumer sales, with an adviser or with us.

EU VAT Registration Checker: Do You Need OSS or IOSS?

Selling to customers in the EU can mean registering for OSS, non-Union OSS, IOSS, a local VAT number, or nothing at all. Answer a few questions to see which applies to you, whether the €10,000 threshold covers you, and what to do next. It works for EU businesses and for UK, US and other sellers outside the EU.

EU VAT registration OSS · IOSS

Question 01

Q01

Where is your business based?

Takes about a minute. No sign-up needed.

This checker needs JavaScript. Without it, use the tables below, or read the EU One-Stop Shop (OSS) and selling to EU consumers.

How the checker decides

The first question does most of the work: the EU treats sellers inside and outside the EU differently.

	Based in the EU	Based outside the EU (UK, US…)
Threshold	€10,000 a year in sales to consumers in other EU countries	None: EU VAT applies from the first sale
Digital services (SaaS, e-books, apps)	Your own VAT below €10,000, then the customer’s VAT through Union OSS	The customer’s VAT from the first sale, through non-Union OSS
Goods shipped from home	Your own VAT below €10,000, then the customer’s VAT through Union OSS	Orders up to €150: optional IOSS. Over €150: import VAT at the border
Goods from stock in another EU country	A local VAT number there, plus Union OSS. No threshold	A local VAT number there, plus Union OSS (or the marketplace collects)
Sales to VAT-registered businesses	Reverse charge: no VAT, nothing to register	Reverse charge: no VAT, nothing to register

If you’re based in the EU

Add up your sales to consumers in other EU countries, goods and digital services together, excluding VAT. If they stayed under €10,000 last year and this year so far, you charge your own country’s VAT and report it on your normal return. From the sale that takes you over, you charge each customer’s local rate, for the rest of that year and all of the next.

Union OSS lets you do that through your own tax authority: one quarterly return covering every EU country, instead of a VAT number in each. You can also opt in below the threshold, but you then stay in for at least two calendar years. The full rules, with worked examples, are in the EU One-Stop Shop (OSS) guide.

The threshold only applies to goods shipped from your own country. Stock in an Amazon FBA or 3PL warehouse in another EU country needs a VAT number there, and sales shipped from it are taxed where the customer is from the first one.

If you’re based outside the EU

There’s no threshold. What you register for depends on what you sell and how it reaches the customer:

Digital services to EU consumers: register for non-Union OSS in one EU country and charge each customer’s local VAT from the first sale. See non-Union OSS for digital services.
Goods up to €150 per parcel through your own store: IOSS is optional, but without it your customer pays import VAT and a carrier fee before delivery. You need an EU intermediary to register; compare IOSS intermediaries.
Goods over €150: IOSS doesn’t apply. Import VAT and duty are charged at the border, to your customer unless you ship duties paid.
Goods from stock in the EU: a VAT number in each country where you keep stock, plus Union OSS for sales shipped to other EU countries.

Marketplaces

When a seller outside the EU sells through a marketplace, the marketplace is treated as the seller for VAT on two kinds of sale: orders up to €150 shipped from outside the EU, and goods sold from stock in the EU. Amazon, Etsy, eBay and the rest charge the VAT at checkout and pay it themselves. You still need a VAT number wherever you keep stock. EU-based sellers don’t get this: they account for the VAT on their marketplace sales themselves.

After you get your result

Need to register? Check each country’s rate with the VAT calculator, and set your checkout to charge the customer’s rate before your next sale.
Selling to businesses? Check each customer’s VAT number with the EU VAT number checker before invoicing without VAT. See selling to EU businesses.
Already behind? It’s fixable, and coming forward first keeps penalties down. See late EU VAT registration.
From the UK? Selling to the EU from the UK walks through IOSS, customs and couriers.