What is the OSS scheme for webshops?

OSS bundles VAT return for sales to consumers in the EU

The OSS scheme (One Stop Shop, in Dutch the eenloketsysteem) is a system that allows a webshop to declare and pay VAT on sales to private individuals in other EU countries in a single return to the Dutch Tax Authority, instead of having to register for VAT in each individual EU country. Anyone selling physical products or certain services to consumers in other EU member states faces the principle that VAT is due in the country of the customer. Without OSS, this would mean: a separate VAT registration per country, a separate return and a separate payment per country. With OSS, this is reduced to a single periodic return, which the Tax Authority then distributes among the countries concerned.

The scheme therefore applies at the moment a webshop sells cross-border to consumers within the EU, not when it comes to sales to other businesses (B2B) or sales within the Netherlands. Within the eenloketsysteem there are different variants, depending on where the webshop is established and what is being sold — goods from an EU country, goods imported from outside the EU, or services to consumers. Which variant applies and when registration becomes worthwhile is something that differs per situation and depends on the business's own administration and sales flows.

This follows from the eenloketsysteem scheme of the Dutch Tax Authority

This explanation is based on the Dutch Tax Authority's page on the eenloketsysteem (One Stop Shop), which describes the OSS scheme as a simplification of VAT payment for cross-border sales to consumers within the EU. For precise conditions, threshold amounts and the choice between the different OSS variants, this summary refers to that source itself, and for situation-specific questions to a VAT specialist.