Webshops have become indispensable instruments to enable physical shops to keep their head above water in a digital future. New players are entering the market at lightning speed, and it is becoming painfully obvious that Belgian entrepreneurs are lagging far behind their Dutch and German colleagues.
Het grote voordeel voor starters is en blijft het feit dat men met relatief weinig investeringen van start kan gaan. Althans toch in vergelijking met een investeringen in een traditioneel verkooppunt en traditionele verkoops- en communicatiekanalen.
We can assist you not only in those tax aspects, but will also be happy to help you get your bearings with regard to the technical aspects via our specialised partners if necessary.
A distinction is made between webshops that supply companies (B2B) and those that supply consumers (B2C).
In those cases where goods are delivered to private individuals and the shipping of these goods is handled by the supplier (by or for the account of the supplier), we refer to what is called "remote selling".
In principle, the rule applies that the taxes are levied in the Member State from which the goods are shipped. Therefore, if you are the proprietor of a Belgian webshop you can charge Belgian VAT to your foreign customers. However, this could be construed as unfair competition, because there are still differences in rates within the European Union.
For this reason, a sales threshold is applied. As soon as a specific sales quantity has been reached, VAT must be paid in that relevant Member State. These threshold amounts are not uniform and differ from Member State to Member State.
Please note that merely referring to a shipping agent on your website is sufficient - even if your customer independently pays for shipping executed by a third party. This standpoint has been expressed in the form of a recent decision adopted by the Belgian VAT Administration.
Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS)
MOSS covers all telecommunication, radio and TV services, and additionally all services performed electronically, that are purchased by a private individual. As an example, we refer to the explosion in the number of platforms offering films and music (i.e. Netflix, Itunes, etc.) and additionally data storage for websites, the maintenance and sale of software, written pieces of information, access to databanks, etc.
Since 1 January 2015, these services have been taxed in the Member State where the customer is established. A European portal was established to accommodate this: the Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS).
With a view to limiting the administrative burden (registration in other Member States) arising from the new VAT regulations, it is now possible to comply with all obligations via one and the same portal.
Intervat/moss