Who is affected?

The electronic interface that facilitates the sale will not be considered a taxable person for the following transactions:

• Goods in shipments whose value is greater than 150 euros imported into the EU , regardless of where the supplier/seller is established;

• Goods supplied to customers in the EU , regardless of their value, in case the supplier/seller is established in the EU

We must distinguish:

1. The delivery from the supplier to the electronic interface (considered a business-to-business delivery) can be:

   1. A supply of goods outside the EU (Article 14a, paragraph 1 of Directive VAT ).

      Since such delivery occurs outside the EU , EU VAT and billing regulations do not apply.

   2. A supply of goods within the EU (Article 14a, paragraph 2 of Directive VAT ).

      This delivery, which is considered to be carried out between companies, is exempt from VAT , recognizing the right to deduction for the supplier (articles 136 bis and 169, letter b), of Directive VAT ). The supplier must issue an invoice to the electronic interface in accordance with the rules of the Member State where the delivery takes place.

2. The delivery of the electronic interface to the consumer (considered a business-to-consumer delivery) may be:

   1. A distance sale of imported goods (Article 14 bis, paragraph 1 of Directive VAT ). The electronic interface will have to tax the supply of goods with the VAT applicable in the Member State of consumption and remit it to the tax administration of that Member State.

      The invoicing rules of the Member State of identification will apply if the interface is covered by the single window (special regime for distance sales of imported goods), without the identification number having to appear on the invoice in EU If the special regime is not used, the invoicing rules of the Member State where the distance sale of the imported goods takes place will apply (article 219 bis of the Directive on VAT ).

   2. A supply of goods within the EU (Article 14a, paragraph 2 of Directive VAT ) This situation covers both domestic deliveries and sales intra-community distance transfers of goods carried out through the electronic interface as a taxable person. Whether the Union regime is used or not, the electronic interface will have to tax the delivered goods with the VAT applicable in the Member State of consumption and remit it to the tax administration.

      The invoicing rules of the Member State of identification will apply if the interface is covered by the one-stop shop (special arrangements for intra-Community distance sales of goods and certain national supplies). If the special regime is not used, the invoicing rules of the Member State where the delivery takes place will apply (Article 219a of the VAT Directive ).

You are considered a taxpayer if you provide:

• Distance sales of goods imported into the EU for a value not exceeding 150 euros; I

• Supplies of goods to customers in the EU , regardless of their value, when the supplier/seller is not established in the EU (both domestic supplies such as distance sales within the EU ).

To declare and pay VAT due in other Member States, online marketplaces/platforms will be able to easily register for the new special Single Window schemes.

The new rules will make it possible to:

• Ensure that VAT is paid where the consumption of goods and services occurs;

• Create a uniform and transparent VAT system for cross-border deliveries of goods and services;

• Establish fair competition between European and foreign players in the e-commerce market, as well as between e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores;

• Offer companies a simple and uniform system to declare and pay their VAT in the EU through the Single Window of the VAT (OSS) / Import Single Window (IOSS).

The electronic interface is treated for VAT purposes as if it were the supplier of the goods and will be liable for VAT on these sales. In other words, the electronic interface facilitating the sale is deemed to have received and delivered the goods on its own behalf and the transport of said goods is linked to the delivery made by the platform. This means that the sale of goods made by the supplier through an electronic interface to the final consumer is divided into two deliveries:

• A delivery from the supplier to the interface (B2B transaction)

• A delivery of the interface to the end consumer (B2C transaction between business and end consumer)

"Facilitating" the use of an electronic interface to enable a customer and a supplier offering goods for sale via the electronic interface to enter into contact resulting in a delivery of goods via that electronic interface to that customer.

This is reflected in the fact that the order and payment process is carried out by or through the electronic interface, but is not determined by the physical delivery of the goods, which the taxable person managing the operational interface may or may not have organised/carried out.

An electronic interface is considered not to facilitate delivery if:

1. does not establish, directly or indirectly, any of the terms and conditions under which the delivery of goods is made, and

2. does not intervene, directly or indirectly, in the authorization of the collection of payments from the client, and

3. does not intervene, directly or indirectly, in the order or delivery of goods.

For an electronic interface to be considered not to facilitate delivery, it must satisfy all of these conditions. Therefore, even where the platform carries out only one of these activities, it could be considered to facilitate the delivery of goods.

The electronic interface will also not be considered to facilitate delivery when it performs the following activities:

1. the processing of payments in relation to the delivery of goods;

2. the listing or advertising of goods;

3. the redirection or transfer of customers to other electronic interfaces where the goods are offered for sale, without any further intervention in the delivery.

Online marketplaces/platforms must maintain records of the transactions they facilitate, regardless of whether they are considered taxable persons or not. These records must be kept for 10 years and be available in electronic format upon request by Member States.

The following figure schematically presents the information obligations of the different electronic interfaces.

For further information, and in particular on the information to be retained, please refer to the Commission's explanatory notes (section 2.2).

Link

From 1 July 2021, electronic interfaces such as online marketplaces/platforms will have new functions for VAT purposes in the EU :

• They may become taxpayers;

• They will have certain record keeping obligations.

If so, see the sections on the new special one-stop-shop schemes (OSS and IOSS) to find out what they are for, how they work, who they affect, how to register for them and what you need to do when you start using them.

Link to the section "The new one-stop-shop schemes".

An electronic interface (EI) should be understood as a broad concept. An IE can be a website, portal, gateway, marketplace, platform, application program interface (API), etc.