Tax collected under MOSS shows steady growth

The European Commission has released statistics for the EU VAT mini one stop shop (MOSS) covering the period 2015 – when it was introduced – to 2018. Overall, the VAT revenues collected under MOSS show a constant growth from €3bn in 2015 to more than €4.5bn in 2018.

The EU VAT MOSS is the system for the collection and transmitting of VAT for telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic (TBE) services supplied to final consumers across the 28 EU countries. 

The number of traders using the MOSS to declare and remit cross-border VAT also showed a moderate increase in this period, although registrations in the scheme decreased slightly in 2018 due to the introduction of the €10,000 threshold from 1 January 2019.

An intermediary evaluation of the MOSS system in 2016 had already shown that between 60 and 80% of the value of cross border business-to-consumer TBE services was reported through MOSS. This evaluation also showed that the use of MOSS can reduce the administrative burden for businesses by up to 95%. 

For now, the VAT MOSS only applies to cross-border supplies of TBE services to consumers located in the EU. However, as of 2021 it will also be expanded to cover VAT on distance sales of goods (mainly goods sold online, across borders within the EU and from outside the bloc) and all other services supplied directly to final consumers in the EU.