DDP or import VAT deferment: two ways to ship goods into the EU
Many sellers from China ship to Europe delivered duty paid (DDP): one price, with duties and VAT paid by the seller, and a forwarder that handles the border. The alternative is to import in your own name, with import VAT deferment. This page compares the two for the EU, with the Netherlands as the example.
Ask about your situationDelivered duty paid (DDP) is a delivery term: the seller takes care of import clearance and pays the duties and the import VAT. EU customs law requires the declarant to be established in the EU, so a seller based outside the EU uses a forwarder or customs agent that declares the goods in its own name.
Import VAT deferment means that the importer reports the import VAT in its VAT return and deducts it in the same return. In the Netherlands this is the Article 23 licence. It works for your own EU company, or for a Dutch fiscal representative acting for you.
The difference in money: import VAT is deductible for the company in whose name the goods are declared, with a VAT registration in that country. In many DDP set-ups that company is the forwarder, and the import VAT becomes a cost inside the shipping price. With your own importer and deferment, the import VAT is reported and deducted in one return, and you see every cost on your own declarations.
For parcels to consumers, two new EU charges apply: a flat €3 customs duty per item class since 1 July 2026, and a €2 handling fee per declaration line from 1 November 2026. Sellers with volume often switch to bulk import into a warehouse in the Netherlands and send the orders from there.
What DDP means at the EU border
Under DDP, the seller is responsible up to delivery: transport, import clearance, duties and import VAT. Under delivered at place (DAP), the buyer does the import clearance and pays the duties and the VAT. Sellers from China often call DDP shipping 包税 (bao shui, tax included) and importing with deferment 递延 (di yan).
A company from outside the EU declares goods into the EU through a representative. EU customs law requires the declarant to be established in the EU (Union Customs Code, Article 170). The representative declares in its own name for you, as indirect customs representative. You and the representative are then both debtors for the customs duty (Article 77).
The import VAT on a declaration is deductible for the company in whose name the goods are declared, with a VAT registration in that country. The Court of Justice of the EU ruled that the right to deduct is for an importer that uses the goods for its own taxed sales: as owner, or with the import costs in its prices (order in case C-621/19, Weindel, 8 October 2020). A forwarder that declares your goods in its own name is usually only the transporter.
What import VAT deferment means
With deferment, the importer reports the import VAT in its periodic VAT return and deducts it in the same return. In the Netherlands this is the Article 23 licence of the Dutch VAT Act. The licence is for businesses established in the Netherlands; a foreign company uses it through a Dutch fiscal representative or through its own Dutch company.
A second option exists for goods that go straight to a business buyer in another EU country: customs procedure 42. The import is exempt from VAT when the declaration shows the VAT number of the importer or its representative, the VAT number of the buyer, and proof of the onward transport. The sale to the buyer is then a 0% intra-EU supply.
Other EU countries have their own systems. France applies reverse charge on import VAT for every business registered for VAT in France, since 1 January 2022. The United Kingdom has postponed VAT accounting since 1 January 2021 for goods imported into Great Britain, open to every importer registered for VAT in the UK.
The two side by side
| DDP through a forwarder | Your own import with deferment | |
|---|---|---|
| Importer on the declaration | The forwarder or a customs agent, in its own name | Your EU company, or your fiscal representative for you |
| Import VAT | Paid at the border and included in the shipping price | Reported and deducted in the VAT return |
| Right to deduct | For the company named as importer, with a VAT registration there | For your company |
| Costs you see | One price per kilo or per parcel | Duty, VAT and fees per declaration, in your own records |
| Customs value and product codes | Declared by the forwarder | Declared on your own data |
| Proof for marketplaces and buyers | Documents of the forwarder | Your own customs number (EORI), VAT number and import documents |
| Suits | Samples, small volumes, a first test | Regular volume, stock in the EU, sales to several EU countries |
Parcels to consumers after 1 July 2026
Since 1 July 2026, the EU charges a flat customs duty of €3 per item class in distance-sale consignments up to €150 (Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382). The duty is counted per tariff classification, whatever the quantity: five T-shirts in one parcel are one item class and pay €3; three T-shirts and a watch are two classes and pay €6. It applies to all such consignments, whatever the VAT scheme, until 1 July 2028.
From 1 November 2026, the declarant also pays a handling fee of €2 per declaration line for e-commerce consignments delivered directly to an EU consumer, also when the value is above €150. Dutch Customs published this on the basis of the new EU customs code.
For VAT, the Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) still applies to consignments up to €150. The €3 duty and the €2 fee come on top.
A bulk import for a warehouse in the Netherlands pays the normal duty for its product code on the customs value, which includes transport and insurance up to the EU border. The import VAT on it is deferred with the Article 23 licence. The orders then go from the Dutch warehouse to consumers across the EU as sales within the EU, with the VAT of the country of the consumer through the One-Stop Shop (OSS).
The new EU customs code, Regulation (EU) 2026/2108, entered into force on 20 September 2026. It will make the seller or the platform the importer for distance sales from outside the EU to EU consumers. It applies in general from 21 September 2027, and parts of it from 1 July 2028, when the EU customs data hub becomes mandatory for e-commerce.
Risks of low-cost DDP lines
The goods are declared for the forwarder. The import VAT becomes part of your shipping cost, and your own records show one shipping price per parcel or per kilo.
Values or product codes are set too low. In June 2025 the European Public Prosecutor’s Office reported an investigation into import networks that undervalued goods from China and misused VAT numbers under customs procedure 42, with about €700 million in damage to the EU and its member states.
The company on whose behalf the goods are declared remains a debtor. With indirect representation, customs can recover the duty from the representative and from you (Union Customs Code, Article 77(3)).
Sources: European Commission, guidance on the temporary flat duty for low-value imports (Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382); Dutch Customs, handling fee; Regulation (EU) 2026/2108; Union Customs Code, Regulation (EU) 952/2013, Articles 77 and 170; Court of Justice of the EU, order C-621/19; Belastingdienst, deduction of import VAT; European Public Prosecutor’s Office, investigation Calypso (26 June 2025); douane.gouv.fr and gov.uk on import VAT. Checked on 25 September 2026.
Who does what
Holdwise sets up and manages the Dutch importer. Customs agents and the warehouse do the physical work. You keep one contact.
Your company
- Your products, product codes and prices
- Your sales channels: marketplaces, your own web shop, business buyers
- The decision on stock in Europe
The Dutch base
- Sets up the Dutch BV by power of attorney, with the notary
- VAT number, EORI customs number and the Article 23 application
- One-Stop Shop registration for sales to consumers in other EU countries
- Bookkeeping and VAT returns, month by month
Customs, warehouse, compliance
- Customs agent in Rotterdam or at Schiphol
- Warehouse and fulfilment in the Netherlands
- Fiscal representative, when you start before your own company exists
- Product compliance for the EU: labels and the EU responsible person
Step by step
From parcels shipped DDP to bulk import in your own name.
- Your sales mix. You share your products, your channels, your monthly volume and the countries of your buyers. Holdwise answers in writing which import set-up fits.
- The company. The notary sets up the Dutch BV by power of attorney, usually within one week once all documents are complete.
- The numbers. VAT number, EORI customs number, the Article 23 application and, for sales to consumers, the One-Stop Shop registration.
- The warehouse. A warehouse in the Netherlands receives the bulk shipments and sends the orders.
- The first bulk import. The customs agent declares the goods for your Dutch company. The import VAT is reported and deducted in the VAT return.
- Every month and every quarter. Bookkeeping and the VAT return every month; the One-Stop Shop return every quarter.
Related guides
More on importing into the EU and selling from the Netherlands.
Common questions
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Tell us what you make or sell, where your company is and which countries you want to sell in. You get a written answer. Where a Dutch company fits, we write down what it would look like and what it costs.
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