VAT for Webshops Selling to the EU (OSS)
By CodexierPublished 6 min read
A Swedish webshop that starts shipping to Germany or Finland runs into a rule many owners discover only when an accountant asks about it: above a low EU-wide threshold, you charge the customer's country's VAT, not Swedish VAT. The One Stop Shop, OSS, is the scheme that lets you report all of it to Skatteverket in one return. This guide explains the threshold, the registration and what the shop itself must change.
The EU-wide distance-selling threshold
The threshold is deliberately low, and it is measured on the net value of cross-border B2C sales for the whole EU, not per country. A shop that sells modest volumes to five neighbouring countries can cross it without noticing. Sales to Swedish customers and B2B sales to VAT-registered companies are outside it entirely.
When Swedish VAT stops applying
The moment you exceed the threshold, the place of supply moves to the customer's country for every subsequent cross-border consumer sale, and it stays there for the rest of that year and the whole of the next. You can also opt in voluntarily below the threshold, which some shops do to charge a lower foreign rate on certain goods. What changes in practice:
| Sale | VAT to charge | Where reported |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer in Sweden | Swedish VAT | Ordinary Swedish VAT return |
| Consumer in another EU country, below threshold | Swedish VAT | Ordinary Swedish VAT return |
| Consumer in another EU country, above threshold | That country's VAT rate | OSS return via Skatteverket |
| VAT-registered business in the EU | No Swedish VAT, reverse charge with their VAT number checked | EC sales list and VAT return |
| Customer outside the EU, for example Norway | Export, no Swedish VAT; import rules apply on arrival | Ordinary VAT return as export |
Each EU country has its own standard and reduced rates, and which goods get a reduced rate differs by country. Your shop needs a rate table per destination, kept current.
Registering for OSS with Skatteverket
OSS is optional but almost always the sensible choice, because the alternative is a VAT registration in every country you sell to. Registration for the union scheme is done through Skatteverket's e-service and applies from the start of the following quarter, or immediately if you notify Skatteverket by the tenth of the month after your first qualifying sale.
- Register for OSS in Skatteverket's e-service using your Swedish VAT number.
- Start charging destination VAT in the shop from the date OSS applies.
- File the OSS return quarterly, listing sales and VAT per country, by the end of the month after the quarter.
- Pay the total to Skatteverket, which distributes it to the other countries.
Prices and VAT at checkout
This is where most of the practical work is. Consumers must see the price including VAT, and the VAT they pay depends on where they live, so the shop has to decide the rate before the total is shown. There are two ways to handle it, and each has a cost:
Same displayed price everywhere
The customer in Germany pays the same total as one in Sweden; your margin absorbs the difference in VAT rates. Simplest to communicate, and standard on Shopify with tax-inclusive pricing.
Price adjusts by country
The net price is fixed and VAT is added per destination, so totals differ by country. Protects margin, but prices must be shown correctly before checkout, usually by detecting the country early or asking for it.
Whichever you choose, the platform needs correct tax rates per country, country detection from the delivery address, VAT-number validation for B2B, and invoices showing the applied rate. Shopify and WooCommerce both support this with configuration or a tax plugin; getting it right is part of a store setup, and it interacts with which payment methods you offer abroad, covered in our payments guide.
Bookkeeping for multiple VAT rates
Once OSS applies, your sales ledger carries several VAT rates and two returns: the ordinary Swedish one and the OSS one. The routine that keeps this manageable is to separate sales by country and rate at the point of booking, not at the end of the quarter.
- Set up one sales account or dimension per destination country in Fortnox or Visma, with the VAT rate attached.
- Export orders from the shop by country and rate monthly; most platforms produce a tax report designed for this.
- Book payment provider settlements against those accounts so fees and VAT are not mixed.
- Reconcile the OSS return against the shop's tax report before filing; discrepancies usually come from refunds booked in a different period.
- Keep the evidence of customer location the rules require: delivery address plus one more item such as the billing address or the bank country.
When you do not need to act on this yet: if all your cross-border consumer sales together are well under the threshold and you have no plan to grow them, keep charging Swedish VAT and simply track the running total. When you do need help, it is rarely from us first: talk to your accountant about the OSS registration and returns, and bring us in only for the shop configuration and reporting exports. If you want to check that your checkout is set up correctly before the first foreign order, book a short call and we will look at it with you.
Frequently asked questions
Does the 10 000 euro threshold apply per country?
No. It is a single EU-wide figure covering all your cross-border sales of goods to consumers and digital services to consumers, added together across every EU country, per calendar year. Sales to Swedish customers and B2B sales do not count towards it.
Which VAT rate do I charge a business customer in another EU country?
None, if the customer provides a valid VAT number that you verify. The sale is reported as an intra-EU supply with reverse charge, and it is outside OSS. Your checkout needs a VAT-number field and validation to handle this correctly.
What about selling to Norway?
Norway is outside the EU, so sales there are exports with no Swedish VAT, and Norwegian import VAT and customs rules apply instead. OSS does not cover it. Norway has its own simplified scheme for foreign sellers of low-value goods, which is a separate registration.
Starting to ship to other EU countries?
Fifteen minutes with your shop open: we check that tax rates, country detection, B2B validation and reporting exports are set up so the first foreign order does not become a bookkeeping problem.
Book a free 15-minute call