EU VAT Rules for Shipping to Europe

From July 1st unless you are sending a gift up to the value of €45, then your parcel will incur a VAT charge when it reaches Europe. 

If you’re sending a gift to a friend or family member in Europe and the value of your shipment does not exceed €45, then you can declare it as a gift.

If you’re shipping through Parcel Monkey, you can select ‘Gift’ as the reason for export when you complete the customs declaration in the booking process.

If your gift is over €45 then it is eligible for VAT which will be charged at the VAT rate for the country where the package is being delivered. 

The recipient will be contacted by customs when the package arrives and will need to pay any VAT and customs duties before the package is released to them. 

This would still be treated as a commercial transaction so VAT will be applied. However, as long as the item you’re shipping does not exceed €150 then eBay will be responsible for collecting the VAT from the recipient at the point of payment. You’ll just need eBay to provide you with an IOSS number to pass on to your chosen courier. 

If you’ve sold an item that’s over €150  then the recipient will be charged the VAT and customs fees when the item arrives in Europe, so always make sure they are aware of this.  

The Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) is a new way to declare and pay VAT on goods up to the value of €150 sold to consumers in the EU. 

From July 1st, businesses no longer need to be registered for VAT in every EU state they sell to. Instead, they can register for VAT in just one EU country and declare and pay the VAT on all EU transactions via the IOSS.

Businesses need to register for IOSS via an intermediary who will act as their VAT representative in the EU. 

There are a variety of companies who offer this service. We’re recommending Avalara to our e-commerce customers and you can receive a 10% discount on your IOSS registration if you contact Avalara through the following email [email protected]  

When you ship to customers in Europe, you will need to provide your IOSS number to your chosen shipping partner so when your goods are declared at the EU border, customs will know that the VAT has already been paid.

If you’re collecting VAT from your customers via your own e-commerce website, you’ll need a duty and tax calculator added to your checkout. This will calculate any duties and VAT due and add it to the basket total. 

This way, the VAT and duties are paid upfront at the point of checkout and the customer won’t get any unpleasant surprises on delivery.

You’ll need to file a monthly VAT return through IOSS, which will list the total value of goods sold and the VAT rate applied for each country. Your IOSS intermediary will take care of this for you and make the monthly VAT payment. 

Yes, you can. When you complete your customs declaration during the booking process we’ve added a section called ‘EU VAT and Customs Charges’. You can add your IOSS number here and we’ll pass it on to your chosen courier.

From July 1st, if you sell through a marketplace like eBay, the marketplace is deemed as the seller and is therefore responsible for collecting VAT and duties on all EU shipments up to the value of €150. 

If you exclusively sell through eBay then you will not need to register for an IOSS number. eBay will provide you with an IOSS number which you’ll need to pass on to the courier that is delivering the item you’ve sold.

If the total value of the shipment is more than €150 then the recipient will be charged any VAT and import duties due when the goods arrive in Europe. 

Yes, you can. We have adapted our booking process so you can now enter the eBay IOSS number when you book your shipping. We’ll then pass it on to your chosen courier.