The situation
A quarter’s marketplace sales report, uploaded as a spreadsheet
A German homeware brand sells on its own shop and on two marketplaces. Stock sits in Germany and, since the spring, in a fulfilment warehouse in Poland. Sales to France and Spain have grown past the threshold.
The quarterly return is due and the sales report mixes everything: German stock, Polish stock, consumers and businesses. Each line needs a treatment before anyone can file.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- The EU-wide threshold
- Once intra-EU distance sales of goods to consumers exceed EUR 10,000 a year across the EU, VAT is due in the customer’s country. The OSS lets the seller declare that VAT in one quarterly return.
- Stock held abroad changes the picture
- Moving own goods to a warehouse in another member state is generally a transfer that needs a VAT registration there. Sales to consumers in that country are domestic sales and do not go through the OSS.
- When the marketplace is the supplier
- Marketplaces are treated as the supplier for certain sales, such as goods sold by non-EU sellers from stock within the EU. An EU-established seller selling its own stock remains the supplier.
- The return has its own deadline
- The OSS return is filed quarterly, by the end of the month following the quarter, with rates and amounts per member state of consumption.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
German seller, stock in Germany and in a fulfilment warehouse in Poland. Sells to consumers in France, Spain and Poland via its own shop and two marketplaces. EU distance sales are above EUR 10,000. Which sales go in the German OSS return, which need Polish VAT, and is the marketplace ever the deemed supplier here?
You start with
A quarter’s marketplace sales report, uploaded as a spreadsheet
- 01
Upload the sales report
Add the marketplace and shop exports. azta reads the ship-from country, the destination and the customer type.
File upload· Pro - 02
Research the flows
Ask how each flow is treated. azta cites the VAT Directive and the implementing rules, and the national acts where stock is held.
Cited research· Free - 03
Check the rates per country
For product lines that may carry a reduced rate, open the provision in the reader for each country.
Atlas statute reader - 04
Write the treatment note
Ask for a table by flow and country, with notes for the lines that need a decision. Edit it in Canvas.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro You send
A treatment note by country and flow, ready for the OSS return
What you get
A treatment note by country and flow, ready for the OSS return
Treatment note · draft
Q3 sales: VAT treatment by flow
Shipped from Germany to consumers in France and Spain. Intra-EU distance sales above the threshold. French and Spanish VAT applies at the rate for each product. Declare in the German OSS return for Q3.
Shipped from the Polish warehouse to consumers in Poland. Domestic Polish sales. They are reported in the Polish VAT return under the Polish registration, not in the OSS.
Marketplace sales. The company is established in the EU and sells its own stock, so it remains the supplier. The marketplace is not the deemed supplier for these sales.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
18 minutes a month
At €90 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 18
- Capacity at your rate
- €1,620
- More quarterly OSS reviews a quarter
- 0.7
- Return on Pro
- 5×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
Want these numbers on your team’s real workload?
Book a demoSources azta searches here
- EUR-Lex · Curia
- Gesetze im Internet
- Dziennik Ustaw
- BOE
- Légifrance
What stays with you
- Reconciling the report to the ledger.
- Product classification where the reduced rate is arguable.
- Filing the return.
Frequently asked questions
- Does azta file the OSS return?
- No. It researches the treatment and drafts the note. Filing stays with you or your advisor.
- Can it read marketplace exports?
- Upload the spreadsheet and ask about it. azta reads the file and points back to the rows it used.
- What about sales to Switzerland or the UK?
- Those are exports, not intra-EU distance sales. Ask the question with the destination and azta researches the export and import rules instead.
