Do I need a Dutch VAT number to sell in the EU?

You need a VAT number in the country where you keep stock. Keep stock in the Netherlands and you need a Dutch VAT number; a company from outside the EU gets it through a fiscal representative. Sell services to businesses only, and you usually need no registration in the customer's country: the reverse charge applies.

What is the One Stop Shop (OSS)?

One quarterly VAT return for all your sales to consumers in other EU countries. Above 10,000 euros of EU consumer sales per year you charge the VAT of the customer's country; the OSS lets you report all of it in one place.

What is the Article 23 licence?

A Dutch licence that lets an importer skip paying import VAT at the border. The import VAT goes into the VAT return, where it is declared and deducted on the same form. A company outside the Netherlands gets it through a fiscal representative, or through its own Dutch BV.

EU VAT Route Finder: Which VAT Registrations You Need to Sell in Europe (2026)

Which VAT route do you need to sell in Europe?

Goods, services or digital products, to businesses or consumers, with or without stock in Europe: each combination has its own set of registrations. Answer five questions and see yours, in plain words.

Short answerStock in an EU country means a VAT number in that country. Sales to businesses in the EU go without VAT under the reverse charge. Sales to consumers in several EU countries go through one return, the One Stop Shop. Importing goods through the Netherlands with the Article 23 licence means no import VAT at the border. Source: EU VAT rules and the Dutch tax office, checked 5 September 2026.

Your VAT route into the EU

Rules 2026. The written advice is for your own situation.

1. Where is your company?

2. What do you sell?

3. To whom?

4. Where are your customers?

5. Where is your stock?

Do your sales to EU consumers pass €10,000 per year?

Your route

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Three things to know

Stock decides. Where your goods are stored is where you register. Everything else follows from that.
The Netherlands is the door. With the Article 23 licence no import VAT is paid at the border; only the Netherlands and Belgium offer this.
One number can serve the whole EU. A Dutch VAT number plus the One Stop Shop covers your consumer sales in all 27 countries, as long as your stock stays in the Netherlands.

Want us to look at your route? →

A first picture on the 2026 rules. Customs duty, product safety, excise goods and marketplace rules add their own steps; we cover those in the written advice.

The words, in plain language

VAT number: the registration that lets you charge and reclaim VAT in a country. Fiscal representative: a Dutch company that handles your Dutch VAT when your company is outside the EU. Article 23: the Dutch licence to skip paying import VAT at the border. EORI number: your customs identity for imports and exports. Reverse charge: you invoice a business customer in another EU country without VAT; the customer reports it at home. EU sales list (ICP): the list of those reverse-charged sales, filed with your VAT return. One Stop Shop (OSS): one quarterly return for all your sales to EU consumers. Import One Stop Shop (IOSS): the same idea for parcels up to €150 shipped from outside the EU.

Which VAT route do you need to sell in Europe?

Your VAT route into the EU

The words, in plain language

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