What is the EU distance selling VAT threshold?

Since 1 July 2021 it is a single EU-wide threshold of €10,000 per year, covering your total cross-border B2C sales of goods to all other EU member states combined. Below it you may charge home-country VAT; above it you charge each customer's national VAT rate.

Is the €10,000 threshold per country or for the whole EU?

It is one combined figure for all your cross-border B2C distance sales to other EU countries together — not €10,000 per country. The old per-country thresholds were abolished in the 2021 reform.

What is OSS and do I need it?

The One-Stop Shop lets you report VAT due across all EU member states in a single quarterly return filed in your home country, instead of registering for VAT in each one. It is optional but, once you exceed €10,000, it is usually the simplest way to stay compliant.

Does distance selling apply to B2B sales?

No. The EU distance-selling rules and the €10,000 threshold apply to B2C sales of goods to private consumers. B2B sales between VAT-registered businesses follow different reverse-charge rules.

Glossary

Distance Selling

Distance Sales · EU Distance Selling Rules

Distance selling is selling goods to consumers at a distance — online, by phone or mail order — without the buyer and seller meeting in person. In an EU VAT context it specifically means selling goods to private consumers in other EU member states, which triggers cross-border VAT rules once your total cross-border sales pass an EU-wide threshold.

Last updated: June 2026

Key facts

Distance selling means selling to consumers without face-to-face contact; for EU VAT it refers to B2C goods sold into other member states.
Since 1 July 2021 there is a single EU-wide threshold of €10,000 per year for total cross-border B2C distance sales of goods (and certain digital services).
Below the €10,000 threshold you may charge your home country's VAT; above it, you must charge the VAT rate of each customer's country.
The One-Stop Shop (OSS) scheme lets you report all that EU VAT through a single quarterly return instead of registering in every country.

What distance selling means for VAT

In everyday terms, distance selling is any sale made without the buyer and seller being physically together — the model behind essentially all e-commerce. In EU VAT law the term has a precise meaning: the cross-border sale of goods to private consumers (B2C) located in a different EU member state from the seller. These sales are what the EU's distance-selling VAT rules govern.

The key question is which country's VAT you charge. Up to a point you can charge the VAT of your own country; beyond it you must charge the rate of the country where each customer is. The 2021 reform replaced a patchwork of separate per-country thresholds with one combined EU-wide limit, which dramatically changed when small and mid-sized sellers cross into "charge local VAT" territory.

The €10,000 threshold and OSS

Since 1 July 2021 there is a single EU-wide threshold of €10,000 per calendar year that covers your total cross-border B2C distance sales of goods to all other EU member states combined (it also covers certain telecoms, broadcasting and electronic services). It is one combined figure, not €10,000 per country.

While your combined cross-border B2C sales stay at or below €10,000 in the current and previous year, you may apply your home country's VAT rate to those sales. Once you exceed €10,000, you must charge VAT at the rate of each customer's member state from that point on. The threshold applies only to businesses established in one EU country; a business established outside the EU does not benefit from it.

Charging the correct local rate in up to 26 other countries would normally mean registering for VAT in each one. The Union One-Stop Shop (OSS) scheme exists to avoid that: you register for OSS in your home country and file a single quarterly OSS return declaring the VAT due across all member states, paying it in one place. The tax authority then distributes it. OSS is optional, but for most cross-border EU sellers it is far simpler than multiple national registrations.

Example

A French seller ships to consumers across the EU. In a year their combined cross-border B2C sales reach €9,000 — under the €10,000 threshold — so they may charge French VAT on all of it. The next year sales hit €15,000; from the point they crossed €10,000 they must charge each buyer their own country's VAT (e.g. 19% for a German customer, 21% for a Dutch one) and report it all through a single OSS return.

Why it matters for marketplace sellers

The €10,000 EU-wide threshold is low and combined across all countries, so growing cross-border sellers cross it quickly and then must charge each customer their local VAT rate.
Above the threshold you need each EU country's VAT rate built into pricing; the same product can carry a different VAT rate per destination, affecting margin.
OSS lets you handle EU-wide distance-selling VAT with one quarterly return instead of registering in many countries, which is the practical default for most multichannel sellers.
Non-EU-established sellers do not get the €10,000 threshold, so the cross-border VAT rules and OSS/IOSS considerations apply differently to them.