VAT on marketplace sales in the EU – OSS, warehouses and registrations

Updated: 2 November 2026 · GrowNow team

The €10,000 threshold and distance selling

Since 1 July 2021, selling goods to consumers in other EU countries has been intra-Community distance selling of goods. As long as its total value to all EU countries does not exceed €10,000 a year (PLN 42,000), Polish VAT can be applied. Once the threshold is exceeded – from the transaction that exceeds it – the VAT of the country the parcel goes to is due. The threshold is calculated for the current and previous year and applies only to businesses established in a single EU country.

OSS – one return instead of many registrations

The OSS (One Stop Shop) procedure lets you account for VAT from many countries in a single quarterly return filed in Poland. You register on the VIU-R form, the seller applies the rates of the customers’ countries, and the Polish tax office passes the tax on. The return is filed by the end of the month following the quarter. OSS, however, covers only sales to consumers shipped from one country to another.

When a VAT registration abroad is required

• A warehouse in another country, e.g. FBA in Germany. A sale from a German warehouse to a German customer is a domestic sale in Germany and does not go into OSS.
• Moving your own goods. Shipping stock from Poland to a warehouse abroad is an intra-Community transfer, accounted for in Poland and in the country of the warehouse.
• Amazon logistics programmes. Pan-EU requires a VAT number in every country where Amazon may store the goods, and the Central Europe (CEE) programme combines warehouses in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, so it requires registration in all three.
• Returns, B2B sales and disposal of stock in a warehouse abroad. Each such event has to be included in the local returns.

VAT depends on the physical place the goods are shipped from, not on the marketplace domain. An Amazon.de order shipped from Poland is distance selling, not a sale in Germany.

The UK is outside the EU, so the €10,000 threshold and OSS do not apply to sales into Great Britain – they follow UK VAT rules, which this guide does not cover.

The marketplace’s role in VAT

As a rule, a marketplace does not pay VAT on behalf of an EU seller. The rules under which the platform is treated as the supplier (deemed supplier) concern sellers from outside the EU and imports of consignments up to €150. Platforms must, however, report seller and transaction data to the tax authorities (DAC7), and in Germany they are liable for sellers’ unpaid VAT (§ 25e UStG). That is why they require a local VAT number before activating a warehouse abroad.

What ViDA will change from 2028

The ViDA package (VAT in the Digital Age), adopted by the EU Council in March 2025, will extend OSS from 1 July 2028 to transfers of own goods between countries and to domestic sales to consumers by businesses not registered in that country. This is intended to reduce the number of VAT registrations for warehouses abroad. The call-off stock simplification will disappear by 30 June 2029 at the latest. Until then, the current rules apply.

VAT in the GrowNow model

GrowNow buys the goods on a B2B invoice and is the seller in the market (Merchant of Record). VAT registrations, OSS, returns in the countries of the warehouses and reports for platforms are on our side. For the manufacturer, it is an ordinary domestic wholesale sale with Polish VAT, documented with an invoice in KSeF.

See the VAT answers in our FAQ ›

Frequently asked questions