Sources and method

We use official pages only: the European Commission, the text of the EU VAT Directive and national tax authorities. If an official page does not state a fact, we publish "not stated", never an estimate. 27 countries and 3 schemes are covered.

Each fact is published with a short verbatim quote, the page address and the date we read it, and a machine check confirms that the quote appears in the page we saved. The decision rules are statements from the official pages turned into conditions on your answers; each rule is shown below with its official wording and the conditions your answers cannot settle. A rule that matches your answers is shown with the status the page gives it: applies, available (optional), or depends.

Sources last re-read on 2026-10-06.

What this does not cover

• We cover goods sold to consumers. Services, digital services, sales to businesses and excise goods are not covered.
• We never say that no registration is needed. A result shows which of the rules we read match your answers and lists what we have not covered.
• Planned changes to the EU rules, including the VAT in the Digital Age package, are not covered.
• We show standard VAT rates only. Reduced rates, regional rates and each country's own registration thresholds and small-business regimes are not covered.
• Whether a non-EU seller must appoint a tax representative is published only where an official page states it plainly; for most countries it is not stated.
• Some national pages could not be read with our method (for example a tax authority that blocks automated readers); those facts are marked not stated.

Thresholds the rules use

• Union-wide EUR 10,000 threshold for intra-EU distance sales: €10,000 — Distance sales of goods within the EU (and TBE services) by a supplier established in one Member State
  Official wording

  replaced by a new EU-wide threshold of EUR 10 000. Below this EUR 10 000 threshold, supplies of TBE (telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic) services and distance sales of goods within the EU may remain subject to VAT in the Member State where the taxable person is established.

  vat-one-stop-shop.ec.europa.eu, read 2026-10-06
• EUR 150 consignment value limit (IOSS): €150 — Distance sales of goods imported from a third territory or third country, per consignment of intrinsic value; excludes goods subject to excise duty
  Official wording

  This only covers low value goods, i.e. goods in consignments of an intrinsic value not exceeding EUR 150 and does not apply to goods subject to excise duties.

  vat-one-stop-shop.ec.europa.eu, read 2026-10-06

Decision rules (11)

Each row is a statement from an official page. The first column says when it matches; the second says what the page states follows, with the official wording.

Countries we cover (27)

What we do not cover

• Services, including digital services (the Union scheme also covers some services, and the non-Union scheme covers services supplied by non-EU businesses)
• Sales to businesses (reverse charge and VAT numbers of customers)
• Imports of goods in consignments above EUR 150 (ordinary import VAT at customs; the import scheme does not cover them)
• Excise goods such as alcohol and tobacco
• Customs duty on imports
• Each country's own registration thresholds, small-business exemptions and special regimes for domestic supplies
• Reduced and special VAT rates, and regional rates (we show the standard rate only)
• Territories outside the EU VAT area, and Northern Ireland rules for goods
• What you must do yourself when an online marketplace is the deemed supplier
• VAT schemes of the UK, Switzerland, Norway and other non-EU countries
• Planned changes to EU VAT rules (such as the VAT in the Digital Age package)

Updates

We re-read every source each quarter. Subscribers see what changed at each re-check on the first screen after signing in. If a quote can no longer be found on its page, the fact is withdrawn until it is checked again.

Not tax advice

VATSchemeCheck gives general information from official pages. It is not tax advice and is not affiliated with the European Commission or any tax authority. Confirm every point with the tax authority or a qualified adviser before you register, file or ship.