VAT When You Sell Digital Content in Europe
The OSS one-stop shop, explained without jargon: who needs to file, from what threshold, and what the platform can handle on your behalf.
Selling a subscription to a German reader from Belgium triggers a German tax obligation. That's been the rule since 2015 for digital services, and it still surprises most creators starting out.
The principle: VAT follows the buyer
For a service delivered electronically to an individual, the VAT due is that of the buyer's country of residence, not the seller's. The same €12 subscription therefore nets a different amount depending on whether the buyer is in Berlin, Madrid, or Luxembourg.
The €10,000 threshold
Below €10,000 in cross-border sales per year, you can apply your own country's VAT. Above it, the buyer's-country rule kicks in. The threshold is crossed faster than people think: 105 members at €8 a month is enough.
The one-stop shop, in practice
- A single registration in your home country.
- A quarterly return covering every EU country at once.
- A single payment to your own tax authority, which redistributes it.
- No need to register abroad.
The real question to ask a platform isn't "do you handle VAT?" but "can you give me data broken down by country and rate, exportable, in case of an audit?"