EU VAT return, OSS and EC Sales List from one ledger

Three reports, three questions

Each report answers a different question about the same sales:

• The national VAT return asks how much VAT you owe your own member state: domestic sales by rate, exempt sales, zero-rated intra-community supplies and exports, acquisitions from other member states, and the input VAT you can deduct.
• The EC Sales List (also called the recapitulative statement) asks which VAT-registered business customers in other member states you supplied, and for how much, split into goods and services. It lets those countries check that their businesses account for the VAT.
• The OSS return asks how much VAT you charged consumers in other member states, by country and rate, so that one filing in your member state of identification can cover VAT due across the EU.

Filing frequencies, formats and deadlines vary by member state and by report. The OSS return is quarterly. Confirm the national details with your accountant.

How a sale finds its report

Every sale should be classified once, at the moment it is invoiced, from two facts: where the customer is, and whether the customer is a VAT-registered business. A practical decision path:

1. Exempt supply? Reported as exempt on the national return.
2. Customer outside the EU? An export, usually zero-rated, on the national return.
3. Customer in another member state with a valid VAT number? An intra-community supply, usually zero-rated with the reverse charge applied by the customer. It appears on the national return and on the EC Sales List.
4. Customer in another member state without a VAT number, and you charged that country's VAT? A distance sale reported through OSS, not on your domestic lines.
5. Everything else is a domestic sale, reported by VAT rate.

There is an important threshold behind step 4. Below EUR 10,000 a year of cross-border consumer sales across the whole EU, a business established in one member state can generally charge its home VAT, and those sales stay on the national return as domestic. Above it, destination VAT applies and OSS becomes the practical way to report it. Check where you stand with your adviser before you change how you invoice.

Master data decides more than people expect

Classification is only as good as the customer record. Two habits prevent most errors:

• Record the customer's country properly. A customer whose country is blank cannot be placed in another member state; NAQIX, for example, treats it as domestic. An Austrian business customer with no country on file will land on your home return instead of the EC Sales List.
• Check VAT numbers before you rely on them. The zero-rating of an intra-community supply generally depends on a valid VAT number. Validate numbers through the European Commission's VIES service and keep the result.

Credit notes should follow the sale they correct, so that a refund to a French consumer reduces your OSS figure for France, not your domestic sales.

The purchase side

Your national return also needs acquisitions of goods from other member states and services bought from suppliers abroad, both usually taxed under the reverse charge: you account for the VAT yourself and, if you are fully taxable, deduct it on the same return. These purchases are easy to miss because the supplier's invoice shows no VAT. Review every bill from a foreign supplier that carries no VAT each quarter.

Making the three reports agree

• Intra-community supplies on the national return should equal the EC Sales List total for the same period.
• OSS sales should appear nowhere on your domestic sales lines.
• Domestic VAT plus OSS VAT should equal the output VAT you charged in the period.
• Every figure should open into the invoices and credit notes behind it.

If any of these fail, look for a customer with a missing country or VAT number, or a credit note posted without its original sale.

How NAQIX prepares EU VAT figures

NAQIX classifies each sale once and reads the same data for all three reports, for one company at a time, in the company's base currency. Invoices in other currencies are converted at the rate saved on the invoice.

• EU VAT Return. Domestic sales by rate with net and VAT, exempt sales, intra-community supplies of goods and services, exports, and distance sales reported through OSS, marked as not on this return. On the purchase side it shows intra-community acquisitions, VAT self-assessed on acquisitions and other reverse-charge purchases, and deductible input VAT, leading to VAT payable or refundable. The layout gives the figures a member state's return asks for; map them to your national form's boxes with your accountant.
• EC Sales List. Country, VAT number, customer, goods, services and total, with the documents behind the total.
• OSS. Consumer sales to other member states grouped by member state of consumption and VAT rate, with a total OSS VAT line.

Notes on each report point out OSS sales, reverse-charge purchases taxed at the standard rate, and reduced-rate goods to correct before filing. Every report exports to CSV, Excel or PDF, or prints. NAQIX does not file any of them: you or your accountant file in each country's own portal after review. Intrastat statistical declarations are outside these reports.

The NAQIX page for Europe covers the local setup, and the Tax & compliance and Sales & billing pages list the related features.

A quarter-end checklist

1. Fill in the country and VAT number of every customer invoiced in the quarter.
2. Validate new VAT numbers and keep the confirmation.
3. Run the three reports for the same dates and check that they agree.
4. Review every foreign supplier bill without VAT for the reverse charge.
5. Export the figures, have them reviewed, then file in each portal.