Member States permit taxable persons carrying out distance sales of imported goods to use the Import One-Stop Shop (Directive 2006/112/EC Art 369m(1)). It covers goods, except products subject to excise duty, in consignments of an intrinsic value not exceeding €150 (Art 369l). The VAT becomes chargeable when the payment has been accepted (Art 369n) and is declared in one VAT return a month to the Member State of identification (Art 369s). The import itself is exempt from VAT where the IOSS VAT identification number has been provided to customs, at the latest when the import declaration is lodged (Art 143(1)(ca)).
Source: Directive 2006/112/EC, consolidated text of 14 April 2025: Arts 143(1)(ca), 369l, 369m(1), 369n, 369s.
IOSS changes who collects the VAT, not the €3 duty. The €3 flat duty applies to distance sales in consignments up to €150 whatever the VAT scheme (IOSS, special arrangements or standard VAT), whether it travels by post or courier — Commission guidance on the €3 duty and the handling fee, version of 5 October 2026, §4; Reg (EU) 2026/382 Art 2. It does not apply if the sale is not a distance sale (for example the buyer arranges the transport) or the consignment is over €150.
If you do not use IOSS and your goods qualify for a trade-agreement preference, the preferential rate can apply instead of the €3; it must be declared in H1 (Commission guidance on the €3 duty and the handling fee, version of 5 October 2026, §5.4).
Source: Reg (EU) 2026/382 Art 2; Art 1(24) UCC-DA as amended; Commission guidance on the €3 duty and the handling fee, version of 5 October 2026, §4.
A taxable person established in the EU can use IOSS itself (Art 369m(1)(a)). Otherwise it uses IOSS through an intermediary established in the EU (Art 369m(1)(b)): a person it appoints as the person liable for payment of the VAT and to fulfil the obligations of the scheme in its name and on its behalf (Art 369l(2)). The intermediary exemption for the one country listed in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/942, Norway, is origin-conditional — it turns on where the goods ship from, so a business in an exempt country shipping from China still needs an intermediary.
Source: Directive 2006/112/EC, consolidated text of 14 April 2025: Arts 369l(2), 369m(1)(a)–(c). Sellers established in a country listed in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/942 and carrying out distance sales of goods from that country can use IOSS without an intermediary; that decision names Norway (Directive 2006/112 Art 369m(1)(c)).
Council Directive (EU) 2025/1539 makes the supplier or platform liable for import VAT on distance sales from 1 July 2028 and removes the special arrangement under which the customer paid it. It does not change the €150 IOSS limit of Art 369l. From 1 July 2028 a supplier or deemed supplier in a third country with which neither the EU nor the Member State of importation has a VAT mutual-assistance agreement must appoint a tax representative in the Member State of importation, unless it uses IOSS (Directive (EU) 2025/1539, new Art 201(3) and (4)).
Source: Council Directive (EU) 2025/1539, Art 1(1) and (6) and Art 2(1).
The IOSS check asks what you are doing, where you sell, whether your parcels are usually under €150 and where your company is established, and answers for that case.
Open the tool →Every claim on this page is sourced to the legal text or to the Commission's guidance, cited where it is used. DutyVault verifies against primary EU texts (EUR-Lex, DG TAXUD). None of this has been reviewed by a customs lawyer, and consistency with a text is not the same as being right about your exact situation — it is a starting point that makes a lawyer’s hour cheap.
Reviewed on 18 Oct 2026 against Directive 2006/112/EC, Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/942, Directive (EU) 2025/1539, Reg (EU) 2026/382 and the Commission guidance (version of 5 October 2026).