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Taxation and Customs Union
News article9 September 2019Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union

European Commission presents statistics for the VAT Mini One-Stop-Shop (MOSS)

The EU VAT Mini One Stop Shop or VAT MOSS is the system for the collection and transmitting of VAT for telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services (TBE services) supplied to final consumers across the 28 EU countries.

The EU VAT Mini One Stop Shop or VAT MOSS is the system for the collection and transmitting of VAT for telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services (TBE services) supplied to final consumers across the 28 EU countries.

The VAT MOSS was introduced in 2015 and the European Commission is now publishing a number of statistics on its use.
The statistics, covering the period from 2015 to 2018, show a clear positive result in terms of VAT collection for all EU countries.

Overall, the VAT revenues collected under MOSS show a constant growth from € 3 billion in 2015 to more than € 4.5 billion in 2018.

In 2018, the VAT collected even increased by more than 20% compared to 2017 figures.
The number of traders using the MOSS to declare and remit cross-border VAT has also shown a moderate increase in this period.

An intermediary evaluation of the MOSS system in 2016 had already shown that between 60 and 80% of the value of cross border Business-to-Consumer (B2C) TBE services was reported through MOSS. This evaluation also showed that the use of MOSS can reduce the administrative burden for businesses by up to 95%.

The change of the place of supply for TBE services coupled with the simplified vendor collection system, introduced by the EU in 2015 via the EU Mini One Stop Shop, was the first system of its kind but is now followed by other VAT and Goods and Services Tax collecting jurisdictions around the world.

The OECD has also endorsed the new “place of supply”-rules for TBE services and is recommending simplified online vendor collection-mechanisms similar to the EU’s VAT MOSS.
For now, the VAT MOSS only applies to cross-border supplies of TBE services to consumers located in the EU.

However, as of 2021 it will also be expanded to cover VAT on distance sales of goods (mainly goods sold online, across borders within the EU and from outside EU) and all other services supplied directly to final consumers in the EU.

Details

Publication date
9 September 2019
Author
Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union