Selling digital products abroad: VAT, OSS and payments

01 — VAT follows your customer

Most digital products are electronically supplied services for VAT: services delivered over the internet that are essentially automated, with minimal human involvement. Think of software and app subscriptions, SaaS, downloads, templates and online courses without a live teacher. Sold to a consumer in another EU country, they are taxed in the customer's country. Sold to a business with a valid VAT number, the customer accounts for the VAT.

Smaller sellers get one relief. As long as your sales of these services and your distance sales of goods to consumers in other EU countries stay at or below €10,000 a year, excluding VAT, in both the current and the previous year, they remain taxed under Belgian rules. The threshold is one total for all EU countries together. From the sale that crosses it, your customer's VAT applies. You may also choose to apply it from the start, for at least two calendar years.

Do you use the small business exemption for an annual turnover up to €25,000? Sales taxed in another country do not count towards that threshold, and the Belgian exemption does not cover them. Since 2025 the EU SME scheme can exempt them in that country too, if that country offers the exemption, you stay under its threshold and an EU-wide turnover of €100,000, and you notify the Belgian VAT administration in advance. Plan this with your accountant before your EU sales pass €10,000.

02 — One return for the whole EU

Charging the VAT of other EU countries does not mean registering in each of them. With the One Stop Shop (OSS) Union scheme, you declare and pay that VAT in one quarterly return in Belgium. You register in Intervat, under “One Stop Shop (OSS) - EU e-commerce”, and choose the Union scheme. OSS is optional: registering for VAT in each country remains possible.

• The return and the payment are due by the end of the month after each quarter: 30 April, 31 July, 31 October and 31 January
• You file it every quarter, also when you sold nothing
• You keep the records of these sales for ten years from the end of the year of the sale
• OSS covers sales to consumers only; your Belgian sales stay on your normal VAT return, where you also deduct input VAT

03 — Know where your customer lives

To charge the right rate, you have to know where your consumer lives. The rule asks for two pieces of evidence that do not contradict each other, such as the billing address, the IP address, the bank or card details or the country code of the SIM card.

As long as these sales stay at or below €100,000 a year, excluding VAT, in both the current and the previous year, one piece of evidence is enough, provided it comes from someone involved in the sale other than you or your customer, such as your payment provider. Build it into your checkout from the start: store the country, the evidence and the VAT rate you applied with every order.

04 — Business customers: reverse charge

When your customer is a business in another EU country, the sale is also taxed there, but your customer pays the VAT through the reverse charge. Check their VAT number in VIES, the European Commission's validation tool, compare the name and address where the country shows them, and keep the result.

Your invoice carries no Belgian VAT and states “Reverse charge” (in Dutch “btw verlegd”). You also report these services in your intra-community listing, under code S: monthly if you file monthly VAT returns, otherwise quarterly. That obligation also applies under the small business exemption.

Dexxter handles this part for Belgian sole proprietorships: it puts the right VAT code and legal mention on invoices to EU customers with a valid VAT number, prepares your VAT return and submits your intra-community listing. For now Dexxter does not support the OSS return; you file that one in Intervat.

Peppol does not change this picture. E-invoicing has been mandatory since 1 January 2026 for invoices between Belgian VAT-registered businesses; invoices to customers established abroad fall outside it for now, and an EU-wide obligation for cross-border invoices is planned from 2030.

05 — App stores, other countries and getting paid

Sell through an app store or a similar marketplace, and the platform is presumed to act in its own name. It then counts as the seller for VAT and charges your customer's VAT. A platform that authorises the charge to the customer or the delivery of the service, or sets the general terms, cannot name you as the supplier instead. Read your store agreement to see how it reports your proceeds.

Outside the EU, each country has its own rules. The United Kingdom, for example, has no registration threshold for overseas businesses: sell digital services directly to UK consumers and you must register for UK VAT, whatever the amount; through an app store, the platform usually accounts for it. The EU's non-Union OSS is not open to businesses established in the EU.

Customers abroad also prefer to pay in their own currency. With Wise Business you receive payments in currencies such as US dollars, British pounds and euros, hold several currencies in one account and convert when it suits you. Wise offers local account details for currencies including EUR, GBP, AUD and CAD, and USD where available. Wise Europe SA is authorised by the National Bank of Belgium, and freelancers and sole traders can open a business account.

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