One Stop Shop (OSS)

What does OSS (One Stop Shop) mean? 

If, as a business, you sell goods to private customers within the European Union, you usually charge VAT. Under the OSS scheme, as an entrepreneur you can register for the One Stop Shop (OSS) and, via one VAT return in your own country, declare énd pay the VAT you owe in other member states as a result. Via OSS, entrepreneurs can now pay the total amount due for all EU countries in one go to the tax authorities in the country where the business is established.

Filing a return via Intervat

In practice: as an entrepreneur, you file the OSS return with the Belgian tax authorities and pay the foreign VAT to the Belgian tax administration. The tax authorities of the various EU countries then ensure among themselves that the VAT received ends up with the correct EU member state. Such a return is filed once a quarter, via Intervat. That system then ensures that your payment is passed on to the tax authority of the country you supplied to: no more local VAT return per EU country. 

Does OSS apply to you? 

If you are not only targeting private customers but also other businesses, it's best to go through this in detail with your accountant. After all, OSS has various schemes. Countries that belong to the EU can use the Union scheme; countries that do not (such as the United Kingdom) must use the non-Union scheme. Then there is also a third scheme: the Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) for goods that you bring into the Union from outside the EU and sell. 

Within the scheme, threshold amounts and the type of services/sales you make are also taken into account. Just like any other VAT system, there are a number of exceptions here too. 

Handling OSS in onFact

STEP 1: Before you calculate VAT, you must determine whether your customer is a business or a private individual. This is an important step because it determines whether you have to charge VAT at all. If you are a European business selling to a business in another EU country, you often do not have to charge VAT (B2B sale). In onFact you can easily check your customer's European VAT number. The ‘Validate’ button checks the European VIES database, which verifies whether your customer's VAT number is validated for intra-Community supplies or services. 

STEP 2: The country (of the customer) to which you sell your goods determines the VAT rate - so these are not by default the Belgian percentages. In onFact you can easily create additional VAT percentages, in addition to the rates used under Belgian legislation that are already available in the program. Once created, you can also select these new VAT rates per product/service line. 

STEP 3: From onFact you can forward sales invoices to many accounting programs. This is done via a UBL version of the document created. To include the correct VAT code in it for processing, you must make a choice in the ‘VAT exceptions’ menu. An extra VAT exception "One Stop Shop" has been added to this list for this type of invoice. You must indicate the exact VAT rate yourself - see the point above.