VAT Registration Checker. Do you need to register abroad?

Not always. If you ship from the UK in consignments of €150 or less, IOSS is optional: you can collect EU VAT at checkout through IOSS, or let your customers pay import VAT on delivery. If you hold stock in an EU country, you'll need a VAT registration there, and sales from that stock to consumers in other EU countries are taxed in the customer's country from the first sale, usually reported through OSS. If you sell only through marketplaces, the marketplace often collects the VAT for you.

IOSS (the Import One-Stop Shop) covers goods shipped into the EU from outside it in consignments of €150 or less, with VAT collected at checkout and one monthly return. OSS (the One-Stop Shop, Union scheme) covers goods already in the EU sold to consumers in another member state, with one quarterly return. A UK brand shipping from the UK uses IOSS. The same brand shipping from a Dutch 3PL uses OSS, plus a Dutch VAT registration.

No. Without it, the customer pays import VAT before delivery, usually with a carrier fee on top. That surprise charge is a common cause of refused parcels, so many D2C brands shipping low-value orders into the EU find IOSS worth it. Businesses outside the EU need an EU intermediary to use it, unless they are established in a country with an EU VAT mutual assistance agreement, such as Norway, and ship from there.

£90,000 of taxable turnover in any rolling 12-month period, for UK-established businesses. You must also register if you expect to go over £90,000 in the next 30 days alone. Between £75,000 and £90,000 this checker flags it as worth considering: track the total every month and think about registering voluntarily. Overseas businesses get no threshold at all.

From your first sale if you hold stock in the UK and sell it direct, or if you sell consignments of £135 or less direct to UK consumers. If a marketplace facilitates those sales, the marketplace accounts for the VAT instead, although with UK stock HMRC still expects you to register or apply for exemption from registration. Sales of £135 or less to UK businesses only fall under the reverse charge when the customer gives you a valid UK VAT number; otherwise you charge the VAT.

It applies only to a business established in one EU country, and only to goods shipped from that country to consumers in other EU countries. While those sales stay at or under €10,000 across the whole EU, last calendar year and this one, you can charge your home VAT rate. Once you go over, the customer's country's VAT applies from that sale onwards, and if you went over last year the threshold doesn't apply at all this year. Sales from stock held in another EU country never count towards it: they are taxed in the customer's country from the first sale.

Almost always, yes. Holding and selling your own stock in a member state, and moving goods into it, has to be accounted for in that country, which in practice means a VAT registration there before the stock arrives. Sales from that stock to consumers in the same country go on the local VAT return; sales to consumers in other EU countries go through OSS or a registration in each.

The EU removed the €150 customs duty relief. From 1 July 2026 until 1 July 2028, unless extended, a temporary €3 customs duty applies per item line in consignments of €150 or less imported through IOSS or sent by post. Separately, a €2 Union handling fee per item on goods sold to EU consumers from outside the EU is expected from 1 November 2026, at any order value. The €150 IOSS limit for VAT hasn't changed.

The UK plans to remove the £135 customs duty relief for low-value imports by October 2028 at the latest, so customs duty will apply to those parcels. That is a customs change. HMRC has not announced any change to the VAT rule that the seller, or the marketplace, charges UK VAT at the point of sale on consignments of £135 or less.

No. This is an indicative decision guide based on the published GOV.UK, HMRC and European Commission rules as we checked them on 21 October 2026, to help you ask the right questions. VAT turns on your exact facts, so confirm with a VAT adviser or accountant before you register, deregister or change how you ship.