About the Union scheme
The Union Scheme is for businesses with distance selling of goods and the sale of services where VAT is payable in the country of consumption.
You can also use the scheme if you own a platform business and facilitate sale of goods to private consumers in the EU.
The business may be domiciled in and outside the EU, but the rules are different for non-EU businesses.
Businesses domiciled in the EU can use the scheme if they have:
- Sales of services to private consumers where VAT is payable in the EU country (country of consumption) where the business is not domiciled
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Distance selling of goods to private consumers in the EU.
Businesses domiciled outside the EU can use the scheme for distance selling of goods from one EU country to private consumers in another EU country.
Distance selling is considered to be the sale of goods that are sold from a business and crossing a national border on the way to a private consumer where the seller is involved in the transport of the goods. This mostly applies to online sales.
Registration of place of dispatch in the EU
When you provide distance selling of goods, you need to register the country of dispatch.
As a result, you can still report your VAT to the Danish tax authorities via the scheme, even if your business is domiciled outside the EU. But for this to apply your goods must be dispatched from Denmark to consumers in other EU countries.
If you use this scheme, you can choose one EU country to register, report and pay VAT on your sales to all EU consumers as long as the sales cross a national border in the EU. If your business is Danish, you have to register for the scheme in Denmark.
Charge VAT according to the current VAT rates in the country of consumption
You still have to pay VAT according to the rates used in the EU country of consumption. But you avoid the additional administration of registering, reporting and paying VAT in each relevant country.
The Union scheme includes distance selling of all goods regardless of value that are subject to VAT sold to private consumers in other EU countries.
However, the following goods are not included in the scheme:
- Second-hand goods such as means of transport, art work, collector’s items and antiques - if you apply the optional second-hand VAT scheme for these goods.
- New means of transport, such as boats, airplanes and engine-driven vehicles
- Goods to be installed
A platform business facilitates distance selling of goods for non-EU businesses to private consumers in the EU by means of an online interface functioning as a market place, a platform, a portal or something similar.
As a result, you don't own a platform business just because your business sells goods via a platform (including websites).
The actual platform business can register for VAT One Stop Shop
It is the business selling the goods that is considered to be the platform and because of that it's the platform business you can register in VAT One Stop Shop and not the businesses selling goods via the platform.
Read more on how you register your busienss in VAT One Stop Shop
Either the Union Scheme or the Import Scheme
As a platform business you either have to register for the Union Scheme or the Import Scheme. Find out what applies to your business:
Where does the goods come from?
Hvor kommer varerne, der sælges via platformen fra?
No. VAT One Stop Shop is only for businesses in and outside the EU selling to private consumers across national borders in the EU.
That depends on where your business is established and who downloads your software.
If your business is Danish and you sell software to a private consumer who lives in Italy, for example, you have to charge Italian VAT from the consumer using the correct VAT rate for the service. You can report VAT on the sale to the Danish tax authorities via the EU Scheme in VAT One Stop Shop.
See a list of the current EU VAT rates
Your business may not be established in the country of consumption
You can't use the EU Scheme if you business is established in Italy or in the EU country you sell software to (the country of consumption) via a permanent establishement, including a branch.
If your business is established in Italy or the EU country you sell software to (country of consumption), you have to report the VAT via the country's national VAT reporting system.
That depends on from where the jewellery is sent to the consumer.
If you keep the jewellery in Denmark and send them to consumers in Sweden or another EU country, you can declare and pay VAT on your sales to the Danish tax authorities via the Union scheme in the VAT One Stop Shop scheme. We will then make sure to pay the VAT to the relevant countries.
If the jewellery is sent directly to the consumer from China, you can use the import scheme in the VAT One Stop Shop scheme. However, the value of the jewellery must not exceed EUR 150.
Irrespective of from where the jewellery is sent, you have to charge Swedish VAT from the consumer using the correct VAT rate for the goods, if the consumer receives the goods in Sweden (country of consumption).
That depends on from where the jewellery is sent to the consumer.
If the jewellery is sent from Denmark to Sweden (or another EU country)
If you keep the jewellery in Denmark and send them to consumers in Sweden or another EU country, you can declare and pay VAT on your sales to the Danish tax authorities via the Union scheme in the VAT One Stop Shop scheme.
IF the jewellery is sent from China, for example, to Sweden (or to another EU country)
If the jewellery is sent directly to the consumer from China, you can use the import scheme in the VAT One Stop Shop scheme. However, the value of the jewellery must not exceed EUR 150.
You have to charge the consumer Swedish VAT
Irrespective of from where the jewellery is sent, you have to charge Swedish VAT from the consumer using the correct VAT rate for the goods, if the consumer receives the goods in Sweden (country of consumption).