VAT

VAT one-stop shop, a glossary to help you understand everything

19 July 2024

6 min

Guichet Unique TVA: our definitions
VAT Jargon

Lost in the wording of the VAT (Value Added Tax) one-stop shop? Here are the 20 definitions of the key terms to ease your reading.

As a specialist in indirect taxation, we answer your questions of e-commerce professionalson a daily basis:

Am I impacted by the VAT (Value Added Tax) reform? How to distinguish between BtoB and BtoC sales?
What is the difference between Non-Union, Union and Import regimes?
What exactly does Third Country mean?
What are the different types of distance selling? What is a deemed supplier?

And when it comes to explanations and references to the various legal texts, everything gets complicated.

Fiscalead has centralised the 20 key terms. They will help you to familiarise yourself with the technical language of the One Stop Shop. These words and expressions are used throughout the European directives and regulations related to e-commerce VAT reform.

Lawyers and tax specialists, this glossary is also for you. You too are confronted with questions from your clients. They need to absorb and understand the technical terms.

Guichet Unique TVA: our definitions

Here we explain the meaning of the key terms. They will open the doors to the IOSS/OSS (VAT One-Stop Shop).

Non-EU scheme – is the special scheme applicable for services supplied by taxable persons not established on the territory of the European Union to individuals located within the European Union (EU).
EU scheme – is the special scheme applicable to (i) intra-Community distance sales of goods, (ii) supplies of goods made in a Member State through electronic interfaces facilitating such supplies, and (iii) services supplied by taxable persons established within the territory of the European Union but not in the Member State of consumption
Import regime – is the special regime applicable to distance sales of goods imported from third-party territories or third-party countries
MS – one of the 27 Member States of the European Union.
Third country – A country or territory outside the European Union (e.g. the UK or Switzerland).
B2C – business to consumers, refers to sales of goods or services to private individuals.
B2B – business to business, refers to sales of goods or services made to companies subject to VAT.
Distance sales of goods – intra-Community distance sales of goods and distance sales of goods imported from third-party territories or third-party countries, as defined in Article 14(4) of the VAT Directive.
“intra-Community distance selling of goods” means the supply of goods dispatched or transported by or on behalf of the supplier, including where the supplier is indirectly involved in the transport or dispatch of the goods, from a Member State other than the one in which the dispatch or transport to the customer ends, where the following conditions are met:
the supply of goods is made to a taxable person or to a non-taxable legal person whose intra-Community acquisitions of goods are not subject to VAT, or to any other non-taxable person;

the goods delivered are other than new means of transport and other than goods delivered after assembly or installation, with or without a trial run, by or on behalf of the supplier.
Consignment – goods packed together and shipped simultaneously by the same supplier or underlying supplier to the same consignee, and covered by the same contract of carriage.
Low value goods – goods contained in consignments with an intrinsic import value not exceeding EUR 150 (except for excisable products).
“distance selling of goods imported from third territories or third countries” means the supply of goods dispatched or transported by or on behalf of the supplier, including where the supplier is indirectly involved in the transport or dispatch of the goods, from a third territory or a third country to a customer in a Member State, where the following conditions are met:
the supply of goods is made to a taxable person or to a non-taxable legal person whose intra-Community acquisitions of goods are not subject to VAT, or to any other non-taxable person;

the goods delivered are neither new means of transport nor goods delivered after assembly or installation, with or without a trial run, by or on behalf of the supplier.
Electronic interface – broadly understood as enabling two independent systems, or a system and an end user, to communicate using a device or program. An electronic interface could include a website, portal, gateway, marketplace, application program interface (API), etc.
Deemed supplier – a taxable person who is deemed to receive goods from the underlying supplier and to supply them to the final consumer. A deemed supplier therefore has the same rights and obligations for VAT purposes as a supplier. The deemed supplier is the taxable person who facilitates supplies through the use of an electronic interface, as set out in Article 14a of the VAT Directive.
Underlying supplier – a taxable person supplying goods or making distance sales of goods imported from third territories or third countries through the use of an electronic interface.
Intermediary – a person established in the territory of the European Union, designated by a supplier or deemed supplier making distance sales of goods imported from third territories or third countries as the person liable for the payment of VAT and responsible for fulfilling the obligations laid down in the import one stop shop scheme.

The regulatory texts regarding the one-stop shop are:
👉 Directive (EU) 2017/2455 amending Directive 2006/112/EC and Directive 2009/132/EC as regards certain value added tax obligations for supplies of services and distance sales of goods.
👉 Directive (EU) 2019/1995.
👉 Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2026.
👉 Council Implementing Regulation (EU) No 282/2011.
👉 Explanatory notes of the European Commission.

VAT Jargon

From 1^st July 2021, if you are an e-seller selling goods to private individuals in the European Union, you will be able to take advantage of the one-stop shop for the declaration and payment of your VAT (Value Added Tax).

It does not matter whether you are importing your goods or delivering from one Member State to another. All businesses that provide services to private individuals will be able to use this one-stop shop.

With our 20 key definitions, you know :