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Nederlands (Dutch)
The EU Cabinet recently approved a change in the VAT rules for e-commerce long distance sales. The change is planned to take effect as of the year 2021.
The current VAT rules state that such sales – when exceeding a certain threshold on sales – are subject to local VAT of the private consumer in case the e-commerce shop also takes care of the shipping of the goods.
This leads to a heavy administrative burden for e-commerce (web)shops as they have to register for VAT purposes with the local tax authorities in all countries where there clients are living and they have to follow all specific local VAT laws to fulfil their VAT compliance.
As of 2021 the e-commerce shops are allowed to pay all foreign VAT to solely the tax authorities in their own country of residence. This will result in a lowering of the administrative burden as compared to the current regulation.
The various foreign VAT rates will remain to apply. The already existing ‘MOSS’ (mini one stop shop) regulation for e.g. telecom services will then also apply on long distance e-commerce sales.
An e-commerce shop which is located in the Netherlands can perform the MOSS filing electronically through the website of the Dutch tax authorities or through commercial VAT software of their financial intermediary.
