With Christmas just around the corner the busiest time of the shopping year is upon us. One thing to bear in mind is that holiday sales to other EU countries might push you over the distance selling thresholds and you could be liable for VAT in countries other than the UK.
If you’re under the VAT thresholds for each country it’s sufficient to pay UK VAT on sales across the EU. However if you exceed the limit for any individual country then you are required to register for VAT in that country and then file VAT returns and pay VAT as well as completing and paying your UK VAT return.
Meridian warn that you may be unaware of your liabilities saying “For example, you may be fully aware of your sales in France and Germany but you may discover Austrians, Belgians and even people from Luxembourg are buying your products too.”
Just because you list products on say Amazon Germany, doesn’t mean that only German customers will be purchasing your items. This could work against you (if you have to register for VAT in more countries) or could work in your favour (reducing your sales to a country where you thought sales were higher).
The registration limits vary from €100,000 in Germany, Luxembourg and The Netherlands to as little as €35,000 in many other EU countries. If you’d like to check the current VAT registration limits, Meridian Global Services have published an up to date Distance Selling Threshold chart in pdf format detailing the levels for all EU countries.
