As of 1 July 2021, the Non-Union Scheme will cover all supplies of services (including TBE services) that are carried out by the taxable persons defined above to end consumers who are deemed supplied in the EU. If the supplier opts to use the Non-Union scheme,they will have to use the scheme to declare and pay VAT for all their B2C supplies of services in the EU.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of B2C supplies of services that could be included in the framework of the Non-Union scheme:

• Accommodation services carried out by non-established taxable persons
• Admission to cultural, artistic, sporting, scientific, educational, entertainment or similar events, such as fairs and exhibitions
• Transport services
• Services of valuation and work on movable tangible property
• Ancillary transport activities such as loading, unloading, handling or similar activities
• Services connected to immovable property
• Hiring of means of transport
• Supply of restaurant and catering services for consumption on board ships, aircraft or trains etc

The Union scheme can be used by:

• A taxable person established in the EU (who is not a “deemed supplier”) to declare and pay VAT for:
  • Provisions of B2C services taking place in a Member State in which they are not established. Any services supplied to customers in a Member State in which the supplier is established must be declared in the national VAT declaration of the respective Member State, irrespective of whether this fixed establishment is involved in the supply of services or not.
  • Intra-Community distance sales of goods.
• A taxable person who is not established in the EU to declare and pay VAT for intra-Community distance sales of goods.
• An electronic interface, established in the EU or outside the EU that facilitates supplies of the following goods for which they are a “deemed supplier”:
  • Intra-Community distance sales of goods.
  • Certain domestic supplies of goods (for example when the goods are located in the same Member State as the customer to whom they are being sent) can exceptionally be declared under the Union scheme when an electronic interface is acting as a “deemed supplier”.

Supplies of goods are covered by the import scheme when:

• The goods are dispatched/transported from a third territory or third country at the time they are supplied, and
• These goods are dispatched in a consignment with an intrinsic value which does not exceed EUR 150, and
• The goods are transported or dispatched by or on behalf of the supplier, including cases in which the supplier intervenes indirectly in the dispatch or transport of the goods from a third country or third territory, to a customer or any other eligible person in a Member State, and
• The goods are not subject to EU harmonised excise duties (in general, alcohol or tobacco products according to Article 2 section 3 of the VAT Directive.) It is important to note that IOSS cannot be used when low value goods are bought and/or dispatched together with excise goods, irrespective of whether or not the value of the consignment exceeds EUR 150.

The following taxable persons can use the import scheme:

• Suppliers established in the EU who are selling the aforementioned goods to a customer in the EU. This is generally the case when suppliers sell via their own online shop.
• Suppliers not established in the EU who are selling these goods to a customer in the EU. This is generally the case when suppliers sell via their own online shop. These suppliers can use the scheme in the following manner:
  • Directly (i.e. without the obligation to appoint an intermediary) if they are established in a third country with which the EU has concluded a VAT mutual assistance agreement. This applies only insofar as they carry out sales of goods from this specific third country. As soon as they also carry out supplies from other third countries or territories, they will no longer be able to use the scheme directly, and instead they will have to use the scheme indirectly.
  • Indirectly, through an intermediary established in the EU.
• Electronic interfaces established in the EU that facilitate distance sales of imported low value goods for underlying suppliers, which are considered “deemed suppliers”.
• Electronic interfaces not established in the EU that facilitate distance sales of imported low value goods for underlying suppliers, which are considered “deemed suppliers”. These electronic interfaces can use the scheme in the following manner:
  • Indirectly, through an intermediary established in the EU.
  • Directly (i.e. without the obligation to appoint an intermediary) if they are established in a third country with which the EU has concluded a VAT mutual assistance agreement insofar as they carry out the sales of goods from this third country.

This simplification measure was designed in particular for postal operators or express carriers or other customs agents in the EU who typically declare low value goods for import, either as direct or as indirect customs representatives.

The special arrangements are applicable for the import of the following low-value goods, for which neither the special import scheme nor the standard arrangements for collecting VAT at Customs are used:

• Goods supplied to customers in the EU. The types of customers are defined in article 14, section 4 of the VAT Directive, and
• Goods that are dispatched in a consignment of an intrinsic value which does not exceed EUR 150 to customers from the EU, and
• Goods that are not subject to special EU harmonised excise duties (typically alcohol or tobacco products according to Article 2 (3) of the VAT Directive), and
• Goods that have been released for free circulation in the Member State where the dispatch or transport ends.