# EU VAT on digital services

> How EU VAT applies to digital services sold to consumers: what counts, proving the customer's country, the non-Union OSS for non-EU sellers and B2B sales.

Source: https://border.bot/docs/guides/countries/european-union/digital-services-vat
Last updated: 2026-10-30

> Documentation index: https://border.bot/llms.txt. Every page is Markdown at its URL + `.md`.


VAT on digital services sold to consumers in the EU is due in the member state where the customer lives, at that country's rate, and a seller outside the EU owes it from its first sale there. The non-Union One-Stop Shop lets that seller register in one member state and declare the VAT for all 27 on a single quarterly return.

Rules as of 30 October 2026.

## Which services count as digital services?

EU VAT law treats telecommunications, radio and television broadcasting, and electronically supplied services as one group taxed where the consumer is. Electronically supplied services include website supply and hosting, software and updates, images, text, information and databases, music, films and games, including gambling, and distance teaching.

The VAT Directive's list is indicative, and the common thread is a service delivered over a network with little or no human involvement. Exchanging emails with a customer doesn't, on its own, make a service electronically supplied, so a consultant who emails advice isn't supplying an electronic service just because email is used. Physical goods ordered online are not digital services; they follow the rules for goods, covered in the [EU VAT guide](https://border.bot/docs/guides/countries/european-union/vat).

## Where is the customer, and how do you prove it?

For a consumer, the place of supply of a digital service is where they are established, have their permanent address or usually live. The VAT Implementing Regulation sets presumptions for some cases: a service bought through a fixed landline is taxed where the line is installed, one bought through a mobile network is taxed in the country of the SIM card's mobile country code, and broadcasting through a decoder is taxed where the decoder is.

In every other case, which covers most web and app sales, you identify the country from two pieces of evidence that don't contradict each other. Accepted evidence includes the billing address, the IP address of the customer's device or another geolocation method, bank details such as the country of the account used to pay, the mobile country code of the SIM, the location of a fixed landline and other commercially relevant information. A relief allowing a single piece of evidence applies only to small suppliers established in the EU, so a seller outside the EU always needs two.

## How does the non-Union scheme work?

The non-Union scheme is the One-Stop Shop for businesses not established in the EU that supply services to EU consumers. You choose any member state as your member state of identification, receive an identification number in the format EU followed by nine digits, and declare the VAT due in every member state on one return there.

Registration normally takes effect from the first day of the calendar quarter after you notify the member state, or earlier if you notify it by the tenth day of the month after your first supply. Returns are quarterly and due, with payment, by the end of the month after each quarter: 30 April, 31 July, 31 October and 31 January. A nil return is still required when there were no sales. You keep records detailed enough for each country to check your return, and make them available electronically on request, for ten years. The scheme covers all services supplied to EU consumers, not only digital ones.

There is no EU registration threshold for a seller outside the EU. The €10,000 annual threshold, below which a business can keep charging its home VAT on cross-border sales, applies only to businesses established in a single member state.

- [ ] Register for the non-Union scheme in one member state before your first EU sale
- [ ] Record two non-contradictory pieces of location evidence for each sale
- [ ] Charge VAT at the rate of each customer's member state
- [ ] Validate business customers' VAT numbers before you invoice without VAT
- [ ] File and pay quarterly by the end of the following month

## What about business customers?

A digital service supplied to a business is taxed where the business is established, and when the supplier isn't established in that member state, the business customer accounts for the VAT itself under the reverse charge. You don't charge EU VAT, and these sales don't go on your One-Stop Shop return.

You can treat an EU customer as a business when it gives you its VAT identification number and you confirm that the number, name and address are valid through the EU's official validation service, unless you know otherwise. Without that, treat the sale as a consumer sale and charge VAT for the customer's country.

## A worked example

A software company in Canada sells a subscription for €10 a month, before VAT, to consumers in Germany and France and registers for the non-Union scheme in Ireland. A German subscriber's billing address and IP address both point to Germany, so the VAT is 19%, or €1.90 a month. A French subscriber pays 20%, or €2.00.

Over a quarter with 100 German and 50 French subscribers, the company declares €570 of German VAT (100 × €1.90 × 3) and €300 of French VAT (50 × €2.00 × 3) on one Irish return, due a month after the quarter ends, and Ireland passes each amount on. Rates differ across member states:

**Standard VAT on digital services in ten EU member states**

| Country | Tax | Standard rate | Since | Official source |
| --- | --- | ---: | --- | --- |
| Sweden | VAT | 25% |  | ec.europa.eu |
| Ireland | VAT | 23% |  | ec.europa.eu |
| Poland | VAT | 23% |  | ec.europa.eu |
| Italy | VAT | 22% |  | ec.europa.eu |
| Spain | VAT | 21% |  | ec.europa.eu |
| Netherlands | VAT | 21% |  | ec.europa.eu |
| Belgium | VAT | 21% |  | ec.europa.eu |
| France | VAT | 20% |  | ec.europa.eu |
| Austria | VAT | 20% |  | ec.europa.eu |
| Germany | VAT | 19% |  | ec.europa.eu |

_border.bot live data from each country's official publications, updated 2026-10-11_

The table shows standard rates; check whether a lower rate applies to your product in each country. For physical goods, the [landed cost calculator](https://border.bot/tools/landed-cost-calculator) works out duty and VAT by destination, and the [EU import guide](https://border.bot/docs/guides/countries/european-union) covers the rest of selling into the EU.

## Common questions

### Do I have to charge EU VAT on digital sales from outside the EU?

Yes, on sales to consumers in the EU, from the first sale. You charge the VAT of the customer's member state and can declare it through the non-Union One-Stop Shop in one member state.

### Is there a threshold for EU VAT on digital services?

Not for sellers established outside the EU. The €10,000 threshold applies only to businesses established in one member state, for their cross-border sales to consumers in other member states.

### What evidence of location do I need for EU digital sales?

Where no presumption applies, two non-contradictory pieces of evidence, such as the billing address and the IP address or the country of the paying bank. Keep them with your records for ten years.

## Sources

- [Council Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of VAT, consolidated text (Articles 44, 58, 59c, 196, 358a to 369 and Annex II)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02006L0112-20250414), EUR-Lex, consolidated version of 14 April 2025
- [Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 282/2011, consolidated text (Articles 18 and 24a to 24f)](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02011R0282-20250414), EUR-Lex, consolidated version of 14 April 2025
- [Registering in the One Stop Shop: Union, non-Union and import schemes](https://vat-one-stop-shop.ec.europa.eu/one-stop-shop/register-oss_en), European Commission, accessed 30 October 2026
- [Declare and pay in OSS](https://vat-one-stop-shop.ec.europa.eu/one-stop-shop/declare-and-pay-oss_en), European Commission, accessed 30 October 2026
- [Record keeping and audits in OSS](https://vat-one-stop-shop.ec.europa.eu/one-stop-shop/record-keeping-and-audits-oss_en), European Commission, accessed 30 October 2026
- [Taux de TVA dans le secteur de l'hygiène et de la santé](https://entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr/vosdroits/F23567), Service-Public.fr (French government), checked 18 June 2025
- [Wegfall der 150-Euro-Zollfreigrenze ab 1. Juli](https://www.zoll.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/DE/Sonstiges/2026/z32_wegfall_zollfreigrenze_ab_20260701_gzd.html), German customs (Generalzolldirektion), 29 June 2026