Value-added tax on deliveries to EU countries
May 9, 2019 | 25,00 EUR | answered by Steuerberater Knut Christiansen
I want to make deliveries (customers order via online shop) to EU countries without charging sales tax.
Since the value of the goods is often low (20-30 €), it is not worth sending them by parcel with proof. I would use Deutsche Post "Warensendungen" (comparable to regular mail). Problem: An export certificate / proof of shipment is not available.
What steps are necessary to make deliveries without sales tax in this way? It would be possible to document the shipments photographically. Additionally, customer reviews could be available in some cases.
Hello and thank you for your inquiry!
First of all, it would be necessary to clarify what type of customers you are dealing with. If they are private customers, the deliveries would need to be documented with German VAT if they do not exceed the acquisition threshold of the respective destination country or if they have voluntarily waived the acquisition threshold. In that case, you would need to register for VAT purposes in the respective country and invoice the country's VAT and then remit it to the tax authorities there.
If the customers are entrepreneurs, you can only treat the deliveries as VAT-free if you have the customer's VAT ID number. These deliveries would need to be reported through a summary statement, as this allows for a Europe-wide comparison.
Feel free to provide more specific information about your question or situation so that I can provide further information if necessary. Just taking a photo of the goods, for example, is not enough. It is important to consider that there may only be an advantage if the VAT in the destination country is potentially lower. In this case, however, the administrative effort of submitting VAT returns abroad would need to be taken into account.
I hope this answers your question, but feel free to ask any further questions at no cost.
I would like to point out that this forum cannot replace a comprehensive and personalized tax consultation, but is mainly intended to provide an initial tax assessment. Adding or omitting relevant information could lead to a different legal assessment of your issue.
Best regards,
Knut Christiansen
Tax consultant
