Marketplace deemed supplier rules in the EU
When a marketplace becomes the deemed supplier for EU VAT under Article 14a, what that covers for sellers from outside the EU, and what it leaves out.
A marketplace becomes the deemed supplier for EU VAT in two cases under Article 14a of the VAT Directive. The first is distance sales of goods imported from outside the EU in consignments of EUR 150 or less. The second is sales of goods inside the EU by a seller not established in the EU to a consumer. In those cases the marketplace is treated as having bought the goods from the seller and sold them to the customer, and it charges and pays the VAT on the sale to the customer.
Suppose a maker of bicycle accessories from outside the EU keeps stock in Portugal and sells it three ways: through a large marketplace to consumers in Spain, through its own webshop to consumers in France, and by the pallet to a distributor in Germany. The same carton can carry three different VAT treatments, and only one of them belongs to the marketplace.
Which sales make the marketplace the supplier?
The European Commission’s Explanatory Notes on the VAT e-commerce rules set out the scope of Article 14a. The notes are guidance and not legally binding, but they describe the rules in force since 1 July 2021. The taxable person facilitating a supply through “a marketplace, platform, portal or similar means” is the deemed supplier in case of:
- distance sales of goods imported from third territories or third countries in consignments of an intrinsic value not exceeding EUR 150 (Article 14a(1));
- supplies of goods within the Community by a taxable person not established there to a non-taxable person, covering both domestic supplies and intra-Community distance sales (Article 14a(2)).
Sales under Article 14a(1) are the ones the marketplace can declare through the Import One Stop Shop (IOSS), the special scheme for imports. Since 1 July 2026 they also carry the EUR 3 customs duty per item, which applies until 1 July 2028 to goods sold in distance sales in consignments of EUR 150 or less, whichever VAT scheme is used. How that duty is counted is set out in EUR 3 customs duty: per item, not per parcel.
The notes then state the limits. The marketplace does not become the deemed supplier for goods imported in consignments worth more than EUR 150, wherever the seller is established. Nor does it for goods already in free circulation or located in the EU where the seller is established in the EU.
For goods held in the EU, what matters is where the seller is established, not where the goods are. Goods in free circulation or located in the EU, sold to customers in the EU through a marketplace by a seller not established in the EU, fall under Article 14a(2) “irrespective of their value”. A footnote in the notes adds that goods placed in a customs warehouse in the EU “are already on the EU territory” and cannot be treated as dispatched from a third country. The timing of the sale matters, though. The Commission’s EUR 3 guidance states that goods sold to consumers before they are stored in a customs warehouse are to be considered dispatched from third countries, so they are treated as distance sales of imported goods and the EUR 3 duty applies to them.
What does the rule do to the sale?
Article 14a is a deeming provision. According to the notes, the single sale from the seller to the consumer is split into two supplies: a supply from the seller to the marketplace, “treated as a supply without transport”, and a supply from the marketplace to the customer, to which the transport is allocated.
For goods inside the EU under Article 14a(2), the seller’s supply to the marketplace is exempt from VAT with the right of deduction, under Articles 136a and 169(b) of the VAT Directive. The notes add that the seller has to issue a VAT invoice to the marketplace “in accordance with the rules of the Member State where the supply takes place”, and that self-billing can be used.
The marketplace, for its part, “will have to charge the VAT applicable in the Member State of consumption” and remit it. Section 2.1.9.3 of the notes is clear on who owes it: the deemed supplier, “and not the underlying supplier”, is liable for the VAT on that supply.
What does facilitating a supply mean?
Article 5b of the VAT Implementing Regulation, Regulation (EU) No 282/2011, defines “facilitates”. In the notes’ words, it means using an electronic interface to allow a customer and a supplier “to enter into contact, which results in a supply of goods being made through that electronic interface to that customer”.
A platform is not facilitating only if all three of these conditions hold, cumulatively. It does not set, directly or indirectly, any of the terms and conditions of the supply. It is not involved in authorising the charge to the customer. And it is not involved in ordering or delivering the goods. Three activities fall outside the rule on their own: processing payments, listing or advertising goods, and redirecting customers to other interfaces without further intervention. Where several interfaces are involved, there can only be one deemed supplier: the interface through which the order is taken and the supply concluded.
Who is liable if the data is wrong?
The marketplace depends on what the seller tells it: where the goods are, what they are, where they go. Article 5c of the Implementing Regulation limits its liability. According to the notes, it is not liable for VAT beyond what it declared and paid where it depends on information from sellers or third parties, that information is erroneous, and it can show it “did not and could not reasonably know” that the information was incorrect.
When those conditions are met, the gap does not disappear. The notes say the seller’s liability “can be invoked when the Member State has introduced national measures providing for joint and several liability”, which Article 205 of the VAT Directive permits.
Article 5d sets two presumptions. The marketplace treats the seller as a taxable person and the buyer as a non-taxable person, unless it has information to the contrary. A customer who gives no VAT number or tax reference when registering is treated as a non-taxable person.
What the rule does not cover
It does not cover sales to businesses. Article 14a(2) concerns supplies to non-taxable persons, and the distributor pallet in the example is a supply between businesses. From stock in Portugal to a VAT-registered business in another EU country, that is usually an exempt intra-Community supply, set out in zero-rated B2B sales from stock in Portugal.
It does not cover sales outside the marketplace. The webshop orders in the example are the seller’s own intra-Community distance sales. The 10,000 euro threshold that could keep such sales taxed where the goods start requires the supplier to be established in only one member state, so for a seller established outside the EU they are taxed in the customer’s country from the first euro, usually through the One Stop Shop. See OSS, IOSS, and what they do not cover.
And it does not remove the seller from the VAT system. The seller still makes a supply to the marketplace in the member state where the goods are, and still imported the goods in the first place. In Portugal, whoever carries out an import under customs law is a VAT taxpayer, and a seller with no establishment in the EU holds that registration through a fiscal representative, as who needs a fiscal representative in Portugal explains.
How this runs at EFC
Stock held at EFC’s base in Portugal, run with its logistics partner, can feed a marketplace, a webshop and a distributor at the same time, and each order leaves with the VAT treatment of its channel. On marketplace orders under Article 14a(2), the VAT on the consumer sale sits with the marketplace. The webshop and distributor sales stay with the seller, through fiscal representation in Portugal and OSS. How one pool serves several channels is set out in one EU stock pool for B2B and B2C buyers.
What the notes can and cannot settle
The notes are guidance, and marketplace contracts may allocate tasks in ways the VAT rules do not, so the treatment of a specific arrangement is for the seller’s tax adviser. Nothing here is legal or tax advice.
Sources
| Label | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Status of the notes | not legally binding; guidance on rules applying from 1 July 2021 | European Commission, Explanatory Notes on VAT e-commerce rules, September 2020, cover and contents, opened 2026-08-13 |
| Scope of Article 14a | imports in consignments up to EUR 150 (14a(1)); supplies within the EU by a non-established seller to a non-taxable person, domestic and intra-Community (14a(2)); not above EUR 150 imports; not EU-established sellers | Explanatory Notes on VAT e-commerce rules, section 2.1.3 and footnote 5, opened 2026-08-13 |
| EUR 3 duty and IOSS | EUR 3 per item applies from 1 July 2026 until 1 July 2028 to goods in consignments up to EUR 150 sold in distance sales, regardless of the VAT scheme (IOSS, special arrangements or standard VAT); goods sold to consumers before storage in a customs warehouse are considered dispatched from third countries and the EUR 3 duty applies | DG TAXUD, Customs Guidance on the EUR 3 customs duty, version of 2 June 2026, sections 2.1, 3.2 and 3.2.2, opened 2026-08-13 |
| Two supplies | seller to interface without transport; interface to customer with transport | Explanatory Notes on VAT e-commerce rules, section 2.1.4, opened 2026-08-13 |
| Seller’s supply to the interface | exempt with right of deduction (Articles 136a and 169(b)); invoice under rules of the member state where the supply takes place; self-billing possible; interface charges VAT of the member state of consumption | Explanatory Notes on VAT e-commerce rules, section 2.1.4.1, opened 2026-08-13 |
| Facilitates | Article 5b definition; three cumulative conditions for not facilitating; excluded activities; one deemed supplier where the order is concluded | Explanatory Notes on VAT e-commerce rules, sections 2.1.6 to 2.1.8, opened 2026-08-13 |
| Limited liability | Article 5c conditions; seller liability where national joint and several liability measures exist | Explanatory Notes on VAT e-commerce rules, sections 2.1.9 and 2.1.9.3, opened 2026-08-13 |
| Presumptions | Article 5d: seller presumed taxable, buyer presumed non-taxable; no VAT number means non-taxable | Explanatory Notes on VAT e-commerce rules, section 2.1.10, opened 2026-08-13 |
| 10,000 euro threshold | requires establishment in only one member state | European Commission, The One Stop Shop, opened 2026-08-13 |
| Portugal, importers are VAT taxpayers | persons who, under customs legislation, carry out imports of goods | Código do IVA, artigo 2.º, Portal das Finanças, opened 2026-08-13 |
| Portugal, VAT representative | obligatory for non-residents with no establishment in any member state | Código do IVA, artigo 30.º, Portal das Finanças, opened 2026-08-13 |