EU Commission sends a formal letter to Romania in order to comply with the new EU OSS VAT rules

In order to ensure proper application of the EU VAT law, the European Commission holds the regular EU infringements package where it evaluates issues raised against various member states.

In July’s infringements package, among other issues, the European Commission sent a formal letter to Romania for failing to allow access to the Union One-Stop Shop (OSS) to certain categories of businesses who are otherwise eligible under the VAT Directive.

What is the Union One Stop Shop?

The Union One Stop Shop is an electronic portal which is in place since July 1st, and it aims to simplify VAT registration and VAT reporting  for ecommerce sellers who sell their products to consumers within the EU. You can read more about the One-Stop Shop (OSS) in our page here and view our webinars related to the One-Stop Shop (OSS) by clicking here.

The national legislation for the Union OSS excludes Romanian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) selling telecommunications, broadcasting or electronic services to consumers in other Member States (i.e. those businesses with a turnover of under €88,500 who take part in the special VAT scheme for SMEs).

Secondly, registration in the Union OSS is open only to companies already registered for VAT in Romania for the purposes of domestic deductible transactions and certain intra-Community transactions, and not those registered for other purposes.

Since this formal notice has been issued, Romania has two months to address the shortcomings identified in this letter of formal notice.

Source: ec.europa.eu