What actually changes when you sell across an EU border

Nothing changes at customs when a Dutch webshop ships to a German customer — goods move freely inside the single market — but the VAT rate charged, the return filed, and (if you sell through a marketplace) what gets reported about you to a tax authority all shift once cross-border turnover passes set EU thresholds.

This pillar covers the three things a European site owner or B2B seller actually needs to get right: the VAT and reporting rules (EU regulation & VAT), the physical movement of goods (import, export & logistics), and how to find genuine trading partners in a new market (partners by region). None of it requires a customs broker on retainer for a typical small seller — but ignoring it is what turns a good quarter into a VAT correction.

Thresholds and scheme names are current EU rules as of mid-2026 (see europa.eu). Whether a scheme suits a specific business depends on where it is established and how it ships — confirm with an accountant before registering.

The €10,000 threshold that decides where your VAT is owed

The rule is simple even though the consequences aren't: once a business established in one EU country sells more than €10,000 a year in total B2C goods and digital services to consumers in other EU countries, it must start charging the VAT rate of the customer's country, not its own.

That €10,000 figure, in force since July 2021, is EU-wide and cumulative — it counts every cross-border sale to every other member state added together, not a fresh €10,000 per country. A French seller doing €4,000 to Germany and €7,000 to Spain has already crossed it. Below the threshold, a seller can simply keep charging home-country VAT; above it, the practical option is registering once for the Union OSS scheme and filing a single quarterly return that covers every member state, instead of registering for VAT in each country individually.

IOSS: the scheme for goods coming from outside the EU

IOSS (the Import One-Stop Shop) is the counterpart scheme for sellers outside the EU, or EU sellers importing stock before shipping to a customer, and it applies specifically to consignments valued at €150 or less.

Why the €150 line matters

Under IOSS, VAT is collected from the customer at checkout and remitted by the seller (or their intermediary) in a single monthly return, so the parcel clears customs without the buyer being hit by a surprise import-VAT bill at the door — a major source of abandoned deliveries before IOSS existed. Above €150, IOSS doesn't apply: the parcel goes through standard import VAT and customs declaration, usually handled by the courier's broker at the buyer's cost or the seller's, depending on the incoterm used.

Who actually needs it

A UK or Chinese seller shipping small parcels direct to EU consumers benefits most; an EU seller who already holds stock inside the EU and uses OSS for onward B2C sales generally doesn't need IOSS at all, because the goods are already in free circulation.

Small sellers now get a cross-border exemption too

Since 1 January 2025, the EU's cross-border SME scheme lets a small business VAT-exempt its sales in other member states, not just at home, provided its total EU-wide turnover stays at or below €100,000 and it also stays under whichever national threshold applies in the country where it wants the exemption (commonly €85,000, though member states set their own figure).

A business using the scheme registers once, in its home state, and receives a single 'EX' identification number valid everywhere it applies the exemption, replacing what would otherwise be a separate VAT registration in each country. The trade-off is the usual one for any exemption scheme: no VAT is charged, but input VAT on costs can't be reclaimed either — worth modelling before opting in, particularly for a business with high import costs.

DAC7: what your marketplace reports about you

DAC7 is an EU directive that requires digital platforms — marketplaces, booking sites, ride and delivery apps — to collect verified tax information from sellers and report their activity to an EU tax authority once a year, whether or not the seller is aware of it.

For sellers of goods, the reporting duty kicks in once a seller passes roughly €2,000 or 30 transactions in a calendar year (other activities, like short-term lets or personal services, have no minimum threshold at all). Platforms must complete due diligence by 31 December and file their report by 31 January the following year. A seller who refuses to provide the required tax details after two warnings can have their platform account frozen under DAC7's 60-day rule. None of this raises the seller's tax bill on its own — DAC7 is a reporting mechanism, not a new tax — but it does mean cross-border marketplace income is now visible to tax authorities in a way it often wasn't before 2023, when the directive took effect.

The move to mandatory e-invoicing is already under way

VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA), the EU's package adopted in March 2025, is rolling out through 2035, and the part European sellers will notice first is mandatory structured e-invoicing for cross-border B2B trade, expected EU-wide by July 2030.

Several member states aren't waiting for the EU-wide deadline: domestic e-invoicing mandates are arriving on national timelines through 2026 alone, including Belgium (January 2026), Poland (February 2026) and Greece (March 2026), with France following in September 2026 and Germany phasing in through 2027–2028. A seller invoicing business customers in any of these markets should check the local mandate now rather than at the deadline — accounting software that isn't compliant with the local e-invoicing format will stop being usable for B2B invoices in that country.

The €10,000 OSS threshold is a single EU-wide cap, not a per-country allowance — one unexpectedly good month in a second market can be all it takes to trigger registration.

The logistics side: incoterms, customs and who pays what

VAT compliance solves the tax question; it doesn't solve who arranges the shipment, who clears customs, or who's on the hook if a pallet is damaged in transit — that's what incoterms are for.

Incoterms 2020, the current International Chamber of Commerce standard, defines eleven three-letter terms that fix exactly where risk and cost transfer from seller to buyer: EXW (buyer collects from the seller's premises, buyer bears almost everything from there) sits at one extreme, DDP (seller delivers, cleared through customs, duty paid) at the other, with FCA and DAP as common middle grounds for parcel and pallet freight respectively. Getting the incoterm wrong on a purchase order is a routine cause of unexpected customs bills and delayed deliveries between EU and non-EU trading partners — it's covered in full, with worked examples for goods and dropshipped stock, in import, export & logistics.

Finding trade partners, market by market

VAT and logistics are the mechanics; the harder problem for most site owners is finding a genuine distributor, reseller or supplier in a market they don't know yet.

The Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) is the most underused resource here: an EU-funded network of over 600 partner organisations across more than 60 countries, running a continuously updated partnering-opportunity database and roughly 200 brokerage events a year, each built around pre-scheduled one-to-one meetings rather than a trade-show hall to wander. It's free to use and vets participants through its local partner organisations, which is more than can be said for most cold-outreach lead lists. For the mechanics of vetting and structuring a distributor relationship once a candidate is found, see distribution — cross-border partner search and channel structure are two ends of the same problem. A market-by-market breakdown of where to look, what documentation local partners expect, and language and payment-term norms by region is in partners by region.

Quick answers

Do I have to register for VAT in every EU country I sell to?

No. Once your cross-border B2C turnover passes €10,000 a year, you register once for the Union OSS scheme in your home country and file a single quarterly return covering every member state, rather than registering separately in each one.

What's the difference between OSS and IOSS?

OSS covers B2C sales of goods and digital services made from within the EU to consumers in other member states. IOSS covers goods imported from outside the EU to EU consumers where the consignment is worth €150 or less, letting VAT be collected at checkout instead of at the border.

Does DAC7 mean my marketplace will report my earnings to a tax office?

Yes, if you sell through a digital platform. Once you pass roughly €2,000 or 30 sales a year in goods, the platform is legally required to collect your tax details and report your activity to an EU tax authority by 31 January each year.

Do small businesses have to charge VAT on cross-border sales?

Not necessarily. Since 1 January 2025, small businesses with EU-wide turnover of €100,000 or less, and under the relevant national threshold, can use the cross-border SME scheme to sell VAT-exempt in other member states, not just at home.