Home Foreign businesses SaaS and digital services to Dutch customers
SaaS and digital services to Dutch customers
Software subscriptions, apps, streaming, online courses and other digital services are taxed where the customer is. For business customers that is simple; for consumers you charge the VAT of their country.
Your EU VAT on digital services, through one return
We register you for the non-Union OSS scheme in the Netherlands and file the quarterly OSS returns.
Business customers: reverse charge
A digital service to a business is taxed where the customer is established. A Dutch business customer that gives you its VAT number accounts for the Dutch VAT itself. You invoice without Dutch VAT. A customer that gives you no VAT number may be treated as a consumer.
Consumers: the VAT of the customer's country
A digital service to a consumer is taxed where the consumer lives (Article 6h of the Dutch VAT Act). For a consumer in the Netherlands you charge Dutch VAT, 21% for most digital services.
- Company established in one EU country, with cross-border sales of digital services and goods to consumers of € 10,000 a year or less: you charge the VAT of your own country
- Above that, or established outside the EU: the VAT of each customer's country applies from the first sale. There is no threshold for companies from outside the EU
One return for the whole EU: the OSS
Instead of registering in every EU country, a company from outside the EU can declare the VAT on all its services to EU consumers in one EU country, through the non-Union scheme of the One-Stop Shop. If you choose the Netherlands, your company first registers as a foreign business and then signs up for the scheme.
- One OSS return per quarter, with the sales and VAT per EU country, filed and paid within one month after the quarter
- A return is also needed for a quarter without sales
- EU companies use the Union scheme in their own country instead
Example
A SaaS company from the United States sells subscriptions in the EU. In one quarter:
- € 30,000 to businesses in the EU that give their VAT number: reverse-charged, no VAT on the invoices
- € 6,000 to consumers in the Netherlands: 21% Dutch VAT, € 1,260
- € 9,000 to consumers in Germany: 19% German VAT, € 1,710
- One OSS return in the Netherlands for the quarter: € 2,970, paid by the end of the following month
This is a worked example, not a client case. Rates of other EU countries are checked per return.
What we do
We register your company for the non-Union scheme in the Netherlands (€ 275 one-off, including the registration as a foreign business that comes first) and file the quarterly OSS returns (€ 100 per month for all your Dutch VAT returns, € 150 with the OSS return).
Frequently asked questions
Do I charge Dutch VAT on SaaS sold to Dutch businesses?
No. If the business customer gives you its VAT number, the VAT is reverse-charged and the customer accounts for it.
Is there a threshold for digital services sold to Dutch consumers?
Only for companies established in one EU country: € 10,000 a year for all cross-border sales to EU consumers together. A company from outside the EU charges the VAT of the customer's country from the first sale.
Can a company from outside the EU use the OSS in the Netherlands?
Yes. It chooses one EU country for the non-Union scheme. In the Netherlands it first registers as a foreign business, then signs up for the scheme and files one OSS return per quarter.
Selling digital services to EU consumers? Tell us where your customers are.
Tell us briefly what is going on. Within one working day you hear what we can do for you and what it costs, before we start.
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