Cross-border
Selling within the EU
One question decides everything that follows: is your customer a business or a consumer?
In short
If you supply a business in another EU country holding a valid VAT number, you charge 0% VAT, book the turnover in box 3b and report the supply on your EC Sales List. If you supply a consumer, you may charge ordinary Dutch VAT up to € 10,000 per calendar year; above that threshold the VAT is due in your customer's country, at that country's rate. The threshold applies across all EU countries added together, not per country.
The essentials
- To a business
- 0% VAT, box 3b, plus a listing on the EC Sales List. Box 3b bundles goods and services; the EC Sales List keeps them apart.
- To a consumer
- A threshold of € 10,000 per calendar year, excluding VAT, across all EU countries combined. Above it: the VAT of your customer's country.
- Carry-over
- Cross the threshold in any year and your customer's country's rules apply for the rest of that year and the whole of the next one.
Example: an invoice for a service to a business in another EU country
A freelancer in IT, established in the Netherlands, maintains the web shop of a company in Germany. Names, addresses and numbers are made up; the lines are the usual invoice details plus what the Dutch Belastingdienst additionally requires for a service to a business in another EU country.
| From | A. Nagy Webontwikkeling, Voorbeeldstraat 5, 1234 AB Rotterdam, Netherlands |
|---|---|
| To | Beispiel GmbH, Beispielstraße 1, 10115 Berlin, Germany |
| Your VAT ID and KvK number | NL001234567B01 · KvK 12345678 |
| Your customer's VAT ID | DE123456789 — checked before invoicing |
| Invoice number and date | 2026-032 · 5 October 2026 |
| What you supplied | Web shop maintenance: 30 hours at € 60.00 |
| Date of supply | 1 to 30 September 2026 |
| Amount excluding VAT | € 1,800.00 |
| VAT | btw verlegd — no VAT amount; English ('reverse charge'), German or French is also allowed |
| Amount due | € 1,800.00 |
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Business or consumer — that is the first question
The entire treatment hangs on who your customer is. A business holding a valid VAT number in another EU country falls under the intra-Community rules: you charge 0%, your customer declares the VAT in their own country. A consumer falls under the distance selling rules, and there it revolves around a threshold.
The VAT number is therefore not a formality but the dividing line. Verify it before you charge 0% — an invalid or non-existent number means you are dealing with a consumer, in which case Dutch VAT should have been on the invoice and you may end up paying it yourself.
Selling to a customer in another EU country
- Your customer is in another EU country → A business with a valid VAT number?
- A business with a valid VAT number? — yes → No Dutch VAT: box 3b and EC Sales List
- A business with a valid VAT number? — no → Is your stock held in another EU country?
- Is your stock held in another EU country? — yes → VAT of your customer's country, from the first euro
- Is your stock held in another EU country? — no → Distance sales and digital services together over €10,000 a year?
- Distance sales and digital services together over €10,000 a year? — yes → VAT of your customer's country, via the One Stop Shop
- Distance sales and digital services together over €10,000 a year? — no → Dutch VAT, box 1a or 1b
To a business: box 3b and the EC Sales List
When you supply an EU business, the turnover goes into box 3b of your VAT return. That box bundles two things you cannot tell apart on the return itself: supplies of goods and services rendered. The EC Sales List does separate them, so you need to know per entry which of the two it is.
The EC Sales List is a separate notification alongside your VAT return, stating each customer's VAT number and the amount. The Dutch Tax Administration lays that list next to what you declared in box 3b, and European tax authorities lay it next to what your customer declared. A supply that sits in 3b but not on the EC Sales List is therefore one of the first things to stand out.
To a consumer: the € 10,000 threshold
If you sell to consumers in other EU countries — a webshop delivering to Belgium, or a digital service to a German consumer — you may charge ordinary Dutch VAT and declare it in box 1a or 1b up to € 10,000 per calendar year. That threshold excludes VAT and applies across all EU countries added together, not per country. It counts distance sales of goods to consumers and digital, telecommunications and broadcasting services to consumers.
Above the threshold the VAT is due in your customer's country, at that country's rate. The tipping point sits in the invoice that crosses the line, not in the next one: from that sale onwards your customer's country's rules apply. You do not have to register in every country separately — that can go through the One Stop Shop, the single-window system through which you remit all foreign VAT in one filing.
Three situations where the threshold does not apply
First: if you crossed € 10,000 in any year, your customer's country's rules apply for the rest of that year and the whole of the following year — even if you sell far less in that following year. The threshold carries over.
Second: if you hold stock in another EU country, for instance through a fulfilment partner, the threshold does not apply at all. You then charge the VAT of the country the goods go to from the first euro, and you usually need a local VAT number in the country where your stock is. Third: you may also opt voluntarily for VAT in your customer's country, even below € 10,000 — that choice then binds you for at least two calendar years.
Updated October 2, 2026. General explanation of the Dutch rules, not tax advice — for your own situation, decide together with your accountant or the Dutch Tax Administration.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to verify my EU customer's VAT number?
Yes. The 0% rate depends on your customer holding a valid VAT number, and the burden of proof lies with you. Check the number in the European VIES register and record the outcome with the customer, so you can later show it was valid at the time of supply.
Does a sale to an EU business count towards the € 10,000 threshold?
No. That threshold concerns sales to consumers only. A supply to a business with a valid VAT number is an intra-Community transaction and belongs in box 3b with a listing on the EC Sales List.
What is the difference between box 3c and the One Stop Shop?
Box 3c is for turnover on which you account for VAT in another EU country under your own registration there — mainly relevant for goods you install or assemble there. If you declare the foreign VAT through the one-stop system instead, that turnover does not belong in 3c.
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