E-commerce VAT: one-stop shop, FBA and verifiable invoicing
Nextica Law & Tax handles the taxation of online shops and marketplace sellers: registration and filing under the VAT one-stop shop for distance sales within the European Union and the import scheme for low-value consignments, the VAT registrations that arise when the marketplace moves stock to warehouses in other countries, intra-Community transaction returns, and adapting invoicing to the verifiable invoicing requirements of Royal Decree 1007/2023.
Amazon moves your stock to Poland while you sleep. The next morning you have a VAT obligation in a country where you never meant to sell anything.
What's included
1. Mapping where you sell and to whom
by country, by channel and distinguishing end consumers from businesses, which is what decides everything else.
2. Checking the €10,000 annual threshold for intra-EU distance sales and when it was crossed, because from that point the rate is the consumer's country's.
3. One-stop-shop registration and periodic filing, reconciling what is declared against each channel's sales reports.
4. Analysing whether stock sits in warehouses in other countries
that creates registration and filing obligations there which the one-stop shop does not cover.
5. VAT registrations per country where needed, and the statistical obligations for goods movements between warehouses.
6. The import scheme for low-value consignments from outside the Union, and who acts as importer in each business model.
7. A single calendar bringing together the domestic obligations, the one-stop shop and each foreign registration, so no obligation lives only in someone's head.
THE STOCK MOVES BY ITSELF AND THE OBLIGATIONS FOLLOW IT
In e-commerce the obligations do not arise from a commercial decision: they arise from where the goods end up and who is buying.
Crossing the €10,000 annual threshold for intra-EU distance sales without noticing: from then on the applicable VAT is the consumer's country's, not Spain's, and the adjustment reaches back over everything sold since the day it was crossed.
VAT ActStock moved by the marketplace itself to a warehouse in another country
the goods remain the seller's and that movement creates registration and filing obligations at destination that the one-stop shop does not cover.
VAT ActDeclaring through the one-stop shop what requires local registration
the scheme simplifies distance selling, but it does not replace the obligations arising from holding stock in a country. Confusing the two routes leaves a gap that surfaces at the first data cross-check.
VAT ActOSS VS. IOSS — COMPARATIVE TABLE
| OSS (One Stop Shop) | IOSS (Import One Stop Shop) | |
|---|---|---|
| What for sales? | B2C sales from within the EU to consumers in the EU | Imports of goods from outside the EU with a value of ≤ €150 sold to consumers in the EU |
| Activation threshold | €10,000/year in intracommunity B2C sales | No minimum threshold — from the first euro if value ≤ 150 € |
| Declaration | Mod. 369 (quarterly) | Mod. 369 (monthly) |
| Does Amazon FBA cover Europe? | Yes — for sales from European Amazon warehouses to B2C consumers in the EU | No — only for direct imports from outside the EU to the final consumer |
| Reference regulation | EU Directive 2017/2455 · art. 163 ter and ss. VAT Law | EU Directive 2017/2455 · art. 163 duovicies and ss. LIVA |
What for sales?
Activation threshold
Declaration
Does Amazon FBA cover Europe?
Reference regulation
Frequently asked questions
With the one-stop shop, do I no longer need to register anywhere else?
For distance sales to consumers, no: the one-stop shop lets you declare the VAT of every destination Member State from Spain. But it does not cover storage. If your stock is physically in a warehouse in another country —typical of Amazon's pan-European programme— a local registration obligation arises there which the one-stop shop does not replace. That is why the first thing we review is not the sales: it is where the goods are.
What is the distance-selling threshold and when does it affect me?
It is a single EU-wide threshold that adds up your distance sales to consumers in other Member States. Below it you can keep charging Spanish VAT; above it, VAT is due in the buyer's country and the one-stop shop becomes the practical way to declare it. It is crossed sooner than expected, because it counts all countries together, not each one separately.
Let's talk about your company.
Tell us your situation and we'll reply within 24 working hours.