What is a European VAT number?

In July 2013, VAT rules for digital services sold to individuals and non VAT registered businesses were changed. From that date, these services, when supplied to EU consumers, are to be subject to VAT in the Member State where the customer belongs, even if the supplier has no EU presence. This means that non-EU businesses would have been required, under the normal rules, to register separately and account for VAT in each and every Member State in which they make those supplies. For example, a Canadian business with customers in the UK, France, Germany and Holland would have to register in, and submit declarations to each of those Member States.

In order to simplify the process, a special scheme was created that offers eligible non-EU businesses the option of registering electronically in a single Member State of their choice and account for VAT on their sales of electronically supplied services to all EU consumers on a single quarterly electronic VAT declaration which provides details of VAT due in each Member State. It's called the Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS). The return is submitted with payment to the tax administration in the Member State of registration which then distributes the VAT to the Member States where the services are consumed. Those businesses are issued a VAT number that starts with EU rather than the 2 letter code of the European country where they are registered.

An update on VAT MOSS

Furious at the upcoming changes regarding VAT on sales of digital services to non-business customers in the EU, many small businesses have taken their anger to social media as the surge in messages tagged #VATMOSS or #VATMESS can attest.

We mentioned the upcoming changes in a previous article but to recap, from 1st January 2015, if a UK business sells digital services (e.g. apps, music, e-books) to a consumer in the EU (B2C) then that UK business would normally need to register for VAT in the country of the consumer. To avoid having to register for VAT in multiple countries HMRC offer the Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS) where a UK business can declare their EU B2C digital service sales and pay the appropriate VAT to HMRC. MOSS returns are due quarterly to 31 March, 30 June etc and to be submitted, together with payment in the domestic currency, sterling for the UK MOSS, by the 20th of the following month.

The problem is that to be able to use MOSS a UK business must be registered for VAT in the UK. This lead to concerns that many unregistered businesses would now have to register in order to use MOSS, and be forced to charge VAT on their UK sales even though those sales are below the UK threshold.

What is the Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS)?

Last year, the EU decided to change how VAT is collected for e-services, telecommunication or broadcasting services to B2C clients within the EU. Examples of telecommunications services include fixed and mobile telephone services; paging, fax and telex services; access to the internet. Examples of broadcasting services include radio and television programmes transmitted over a radio or television network, and live broadcasts over the internet. Examples of e-services include video on demand, downloaded applications (or “apps”), music downloads, gaming, e-books, anti-virus software and online auctions. Starting in 2015, every business involved in such activities will have to collect VAT at the rate where the client resides. Today, unless the business in a given country exceeds the VAT threshold, VAT is collected at the rate where the business is located (distance selling rules).