The company is in Romania, the seller account is in Romania, the accountant is in Romania. The goods, however, sit in an Amazon warehouse in Poland and go out from there to customers in Germany, France and Italy. On the day the first pallet entered that warehouse, an obligation was born in a state you have never set foot in.
For sales to consumers in other member states, dispatched from Romania, the 10,000 euro annual threshold, combined across all states, decides whether VAT is owed in Romania or in the customer's state. Above the threshold, the OSS scheme allows declaring and paying in a single place.
For goods physically stored in another member state, in an FBA warehouse or one of your own, the rule is different, and it has no threshold: the first sale from that stock requires VAT registration in the state where the warehouse is. OSS does not cover domestic sales from a local stock, nor the movement of stock between warehouses.
For those who buy, not sell, the charges applicable to parcels from outside the Union follow their own logic.
Intra-Community distance sales of goods to non-taxable persons, together with electronic services to consumers in other states, are taxed in Romania for as long as their annual total, across all member states combined, does not exceed the equivalent of 10,000 euro.
Below the threshold, the place of supply stays in Romania and the regime here applies: the Romanian rate for VAT payers, an invoice without VAT for those under the exemption regime, whose ceiling is 395,000 lei. Above the threshold, the place of supply moves to the customer's state, and VAT is owed there, at that state's rate.
The threshold concerns only sales to consumers. Supplies to companies in other states, with a valid VAT number, follow the rules for intra-Community supplies, with exemption and a recapitulative statement, and are not included in this calculation.
The option to tax at the destination is also permitted below the threshold, under Article 278¹ of the Tax Code, and once chosen must be kept for at least two calendar years. It makes sense for those who sell predominantly in states with lower VAT rates than Romania's.
Distance sales from one member state to another, to consumers, above the threshold. VAT is collected at the customer's state's rate, declared quarterly in a single return filed in Romania, and paid as a single amount to ANAF, which distributes it to the states of consumption. It avoids registering in each state.
Domestic sales from stock held in another member state to customers in that same state. Transfers of stock between warehouses in different states. Supplies to companies. All of these have their own regime and, as a rule, require a local VAT number.
A taxable person registered for VAT in Romania. Someone who is not a VAT payer cannot join directly; their options are the special cross-border scheme for small enterprises, registering in Romania followed by OSS, or registering in the customer's state.
For goods dispatched directly from third countries to consumers in the EU, in low-value consignments, there is the IOSS import scheme, distinct from OSS, which allows VAT to be collected at the point of sale and avoids import formalities. It is applied through a platform or an intermediary.
A platform seller's VAT obligation does not come from how much they sell, but from where their goods are physically located. The moment the goods reach a warehouse in another member state, the obligation to register for VAT is born there, with no threshold at all.
Moving stock from Romania to the warehouse in Germany is not a sale, but it is a taxable transaction: an intra-Community transfer of goods, treated as a supply in Romania and as an acquisition in Germany, declared as a mirror image, through the recapitulative statement here and through registration there. Without the German number, the exemption in Romania cannot be justified.
Sales from the German stock to customers in Germany are domestic German supplies, with German VAT, declared in Germany. Sales from the same stock to customers in France are distance sales from Germany to France and can go through OSS. The same goods, from the same warehouse, produce two different regimes depending on the recipient.
The platforms' pan-European programmes, which move stock automatically between warehouses in several states to optimise delivery, multiply this obligation: each state where the goods are stored requires its own VAT number. The consent given in the platform's interface is, for tax purposes, the decision to register in those states.
You establish exactly which states the goods are physically located in, now and under the logistics programmes you have accepted. Every state on the map is a state where you need a VAT number, with no threshold.
You separate them: domestic sales from Romania, distance sales from Romania to consumers in the EU, domestic sales from local stocks in other states, distance sales from those stocks, supplies to companies, exports. Each has its own regime.
It is calculated on a combined basis, across all states, as distance sales to consumers plus electronic services. It is tracked during the year, not at the end, because exceeding it changes the place of supply from that transaction onwards.
You check whether you are, or need to become, a VAT payer in Romania, against the 395,000 lei exemption ceiling and the need to join OSS, which requires a national VAT number.
You file the enrolment declaration for the EU scheme through the ANAF portal, before you start applying it. OSS returns are quarterly, with mandatory records kept for each state of consumption.
For each state with stock, you obtain the local VAT number, with the related returns, in the language and under the jurisdiction of that state. Stock transfers are declared as a mirror image. This is the part that, as a rule, requires a local representative.
The platform's transaction reports, showing the dispatch state and the destination state for each sale, are the basis for the returns. They are also what the tax authorities receive, through platform reporting. Discrepancies are explained beforehand, not afterwards.
It is sorted out in Romania only for as long as the goods leave from Romania and the threshold is not exceeded. Stock in another state moves the obligation there, from day one.
OSS covers a single flow: the distance sale from one state to another. Domestic sales from local stock and stock transfers remain outside it.
The threshold concerns the place of supply for distance sales. It does not concern stock, it does not concern supplies to companies, and it exempts nothing in the state where the goods are held.
The platform withholds and pays VAT in specific situations, mainly on imports and on certain sales by traders from outside the EU. For a seller established in Romania, the obligations remain their own.
Below the 10,000 euro threshold, calculated annually and combined across all member states, the place of supply stays in Romania, and the VAT regime you have here applies: the Romanian rate if you are a VAT payer, an invoice without VAT if you are under the exemption regime.
No, if you opt for OSS. The scheme allows you to declare quarterly and pay, in a single place, in Romania, the VAT owed in all the states of consumption, at each one's rate. The alternative is direct registration in each state, which is more costly.
Not entirely. Physical stock in another member state creates the obligation to register for VAT in that state, with no threshold at all, and domestic sales from that stock to customers in the same state are declared there, not through OSS. OSS covers only distance sales from one state to another.
Not directly, because OSS requires a national VAT number. The options are the special cross-border scheme for small enterprises, VAT registration in Romania followed by OSS, or direct registration in the customer's state.
It is not a sale, but it is a taxable transaction: an intra-Community transfer of goods, declared as a mirror image, as a supply in Romania and as an acquisition in Germany, and it requires registration in the destination state.
Sales in Romania follow the domestic rules, including electronic invoicing for supplies to consumers, mandatory since 2025 regardless of VAT status. Domestic and cross-border flows are kept separate, with distinct regimes.
Informative material, updated on 18 September 2026. It does not constitute legal or tax advice; individual situations must be assessed on their own facts.
If the situation involves income, accounts or residence in another country, the related analyses are grouped under the international tax analyses. For assistance on such matters, see international taxation.
An initial discussion starts from the map of the stock and the sales flows, establishes which states you have obligations in and what OSS covers, and what needs to be regularised for periods already past.