Most guides to the One-Stop-Shop — ours included — talk about goods: distance selling, warehouses, Amazon stock. But OSS was never limited to physical products. Since July 2021 the Union OSS also covers B2C services taxed in another EU Member State, and that is a much bigger group of businesses than most owners realise: trainers, event organisers, streaming platforms, online coaches, app developers, membership sites.
If you sell services to private individuals in other EU countries and the VAT is due in their country rather than yours, OSS is what stops you registering for VAT in each one. This guide explains which services qualify, which do not, and how the return actually works.
The principle: OSS follows the tax, not the product
OSS is not a rule about what you sell. It is a reporting channel for VAT that you owe to another Member State on B2C supplies. If a place-of-supply rule sends the VAT abroad and your customer is a private individual, that sale can normally go into your OSS return instead of a local registration.
This makes OSS eligibility a two-step test. First: is the VAT due in another EU country under the place-of-supply rules? Second: is the customer a private individual (B2C)? Only if both answers are yes does OSS apply.
B2C services you can declare through OSS
- Digital services — SaaS subscriptions, apps, e-books, downloads, hosting, online memberships and automated e-learning. Taxed where the customer lives. This is the classic OSS-for-services case (it started life as MOSS).
- Admission to events held in another Member State — conferences, trainings, workshops, fairs. Taxed where the event takes place. See our full guide to VAT on events in the EU.
- Live-streamed events and online courses — since 1 January 2025 taxed where the B2C attendee resides.
- Services connected to immovable property abroad — taxed where the property is.
- Passenger transport, restaurant and catering services supplied in another Member State, and short-term hire of means of transport.
- Work on and valuation of movable goods, plus transport-related services, when taxed in another Member State.
What OSS does not cover
- Anything B2B. OSS is exclusively for supplies to non-taxable persons. A single corporate customer in a country where the VAT is due locally can force a registration there.
- Domestic sales. Supplies taxed in your own country belong in your normal national return, never in OSS.
- Local sales from foreign stock. If you hold inventory in another country and sell from it domestically, that needs a local registration.
- Input VAT. This is the big one: an OSS return declares output VAT only. You cannot deduct the foreign VAT you paid on venue hire, equipment or local suppliers — that goes through the EU VAT refund procedure (or a local registration, if you have one).
How the return works in practice
You register for Union OSS once, in your home Member State, through your national tax portal. From then on you charge each customer the VAT rate of their country (or of the event country, for admission), and file one quarterly OSS return listing the amounts per country and rate. You pay a single amount to your own tax authority, which distributes it.
Three practical points that catch people out:
- OSS is all-or-nothing. Once registered, every eligible B2C supply in every Member State must go through it. You cannot pick and choose which countries to include.
- You still need the right rate per country. OSS simplifies reporting, not pricing. Reduced rates for cultural events, training or e-books vary considerably between Member States.
- Deadlines are strict. Quarterly returns are due by the end of the following month, and repeated lateness can get you excluded from the scheme — which means registering in every country you sell to.
A worked example: the same business, two channels
A Spanish training company sells three things: recorded courses downloaded by customers across the EU, tickets to a paid seminar it runs in Lisbon, and a corporate training package invoiced to a German company for that same Lisbon seminar.
- Recorded courses (B2C, EU-wide): digital services, taxed where each customer lives → OSS.
- Seminar tickets sold to individuals: admission taxed in Portugal → Portuguese VAT, declared through OSS.
- Corporate package sold to the German company: still admission, still Portuguese VAT — but B2B, so not OSS-eligible. This one sale requires a Portuguese VAT registration.
Same seminar, same country, two different compliance channels — decided purely by who bought the ticket. Recognising that split before the event is the difference between a clean setup and a back-dated registration.
How hellotax helps
hellotax registers you for OSS, prepares and files your quarterly returns, and handles the local VAT registrations for the B2B sales OSS cannot absorb — so both channels stay clean and no sale gets declared twice or not at all. If you are weighing providers, see our comparison of EU VAT compliance providers.
Not sure which of your services belong in OSS? Ask us — a 15-minute look at your sales mix usually answers it.
FAQ
Can I use OSS if I only sell services, no goods at all?
Yes. OSS has covered B2C services since 2021, and its predecessor MOSS covered digital services from 2015. You do not need to sell a single physical product to use it.
Do I need a VAT number in each country to use OSS?
No — that is exactly what OSS avoids. You register once in your home country and report all eligible B2C supplies there.
Can I recover foreign VAT on my costs through OSS?
No. OSS declares the VAT you charge, not the VAT you pay. Use the EU VAT refund procedure, or a local registration if you have one for other reasons.
What if I sell to both consumers and businesses in the same country?
The B2C part goes through OSS. The B2B part follows the normal rules — reverse charge where it applies, or a local registration where it does not (event admission being the classic exception).
The post OSS for Services, Not Just Goods: Which B2C Services You Can Declare in One EU Return appeared first on Hellotax Blog.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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