The Netherlands has enacted the part of the EU's VAT in the Digital Age package (ViDA) that deals with single VAT registration. The Act of 7 October 2026 was published on 19 October 2026 (Stb. 2026, 327). It implements part of Directive (EU) 2025/516, so other Member States are working to the same dates.
The aim is fewer VAT registrations in other Member States. The changes arrive in three steps.
1 January 2027: energy
Gas, electricity, heating and cooling supplied across borders can be treated as distance sales. That brings them within the Union One Stop Shop.
1 July 2028: three larger changes
A wider Union One Stop Shop. The scheme opens up to goods supplied with installation or assembly, supplies on board ships, aircraft and trains, energy, and certain domestic supplies to consumers. Exempt supplies stay out, and using the scheme remains optional.
A new scheme for moving your own goods. A business can report transfers of its own goods to other Member States in one place. The acquisition in the destination country is exempt, so the transfer alone no longer leads to a registration there. Three points to note:
- It only works for goods on which the business has a right to deduct VAT in the destination country.
- If those goods are later sold to consumers, the sales go through the Union One Stop Shop.
- A report is still due for a period without transfers.
A mandatory reverse charge. Every Member State will have to shift VAT to the customer where the supplier is not established in that country, has no VAT number there, and the customer does have one. Supplies under the margin scheme are excluded.
For example, a German company sells goods located in the Netherlands to a French company with a Dutch VAT number. Today, the German company needs a Dutch VAT registration. From 1 July 2028, the French company accounts for the VAT instead.
The price of this is extra reporting. Suppliers must list these reverse-charged supplies on their EC Sales List.
1 July 2029: call-off stock is gone
The transfer scheme replaces call-off stock. Goods shipped on or before 30 June 2028 can still use it, and they keep the usual twelve months to reach the customer. The rules disappear on 1 July 2029.
If goods shipped under the old rules have not been taken by the customer within those twelve months, the normal consequence follows: a transfer, and a registration in the destination country unless the business uses the new scheme.
What this does not solve
Some businesses will still want a local registration. Input VAT cannot be deducted through the One Stop Shop, so foreign VAT has to be claimed through a refund request. A business with large local costs has to compare the two routes.
The rest of ViDA also needs separate Dutch legislation:
- Platforms: new rules for short-stay accommodation and road passenger transport, from 1 July 2028. Member States may wait until 1 January 2030.
- Digital reporting: mandatory for cross-border supplies from 1 July 2030, when the EC Sales List disappears.
What to look at now
- List every country where you are VAT-registered, and why. A registration that exists only for installation work, stock transfers or local sales to VAT-registered customers may no longer be needed in 2028.
- If you use call-off stock, plan your last shipment before 1 July 2028 and the end of the twelve months after it.
- Check whether your invoicing and EC Sales List process can handle the new reverse charge, both as supplier and as customer.
- Where you have local input VAT, compare the One Stop Shop with keeping the registration.
mr. J. el Khalfioui LL.M.