The one-sentence answer
Crossing €10,000 locks you into destination-country VAT for the rest of that calendar year and the whole of the next one, regardless of what your sales do in between; only if that following year also finishes at or under €10,000 can you revert to home-country VAT — and consider actually leaving the OSS scheme — from 1 January of the year after that.
This is a self-check aid, not tax advice. See the disclaimer at the bottom before you act on any date here.
The lock-in rule: why "under €10,000 again" isn't instant
The €10,000 test that decides whether you can use home-country VAT is a two-year test, not a current-year one. Article 59c of the EU VAT Directive lets you charge home-country VAT only if your combined cross-border B2C sales stay at or under €10,000 in the current calendar year and in the preceding calendar year. The moment either year goes over, the exemption is gone — and it doesn't come back just because a later year happens to be quiet.
Work through what that means for a seller who crosses mid-year:
| Year | What actually happens | Home-country VAT allowed? |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 (crossing year) | Cross-border sales pass €10,000 in, say, March. Destination-country VAT applies from that sale onward for the rest of the year. | No, from the crossing sale onward |
| Year 2 | Cross-border sales might be tiny — say €3,000 all year. Doesn't matter: the test needs Year 1 (the preceding year) to have been ≤€10,000 too, and it wasn't. | No — locked into destination VAT for the whole year regardless |
| Year 3 | Now the test looks at Year 3 and Year 2. If Year 2 stayed ≤€10,000 (it did, above) and Year 3 also starts under it, the exemption is back. | Yes, from 1 January of Year 3 |
Notice what did not reset it: Year 2's low sales on their own. It's the calendar flip to Year 3 — with a full clean prior year behind you — that restores the option to use home-country VAT and, with it, the option to stop needing OSS for new sales.
The threshold calculator tracks the current-year running total that trips this rule in the first place — this page is about what happens the year, and the year after, once it has.
Leaving the OSS portal itself, once you're actually eligible
The lock-in rule above is about which VAT treatment applies to your sales — it's separate from whether you keep your OSS registration. In practice most sellers keep using OSS through the lock-in period anyway, because it's still the easiest way to pay destination VAT in several countries through one return. But once you've genuinely cleared the lock-in — or you've simply stopped making cross-border B2C sales at all — deregistering from the scheme itself is a short, low-friction step:
- Give notice electronically to your member state of identification (the country you registered in) that you intend to stop using the scheme, at least 15 days before the end of the calendar quarter before the one you want to leave in. Miss that date and you're stuck using the scheme for one more quarter.
- File and pay your final return in full. Outstanding VAT is the single most common reason a deregistration request gets delayed or rejected — clear the balance before you expect it to go through.
- There's no penalty for leaving voluntarily, and — unlike the exclusion case below — no waiting period before you can register again if you need to. You can rejoin the moment you once again meet the conditions to use OSS.
- Keep your records anyway. The 10-year record-keeping obligation for OSS transactions runs from the end of the calendar year each transaction happened, not from when you deregister — leaving the scheme doesn't end it.
Not the same thing: exclusion for non-compliance
A third scenario gets talked about in the same breath as "leaving OSS", and it's worth keeping firmly separate from the two above: being excluded by the tax authorities. That's covered in full on what happens if you register for OSS late — the short version is that missing three consecutive, reminded quarterly returns or payments gets you barred from the Union scheme, the Non-Union scheme, and IOSS for a mandatory two years (eight quarters). That quarantine has nothing to do with the threshold lock-in above, and nothing to do with a clean voluntary deregistration — it's a penalty for non-compliance, not a consequence of your sales numbers or your own choice to stop.
Three "you can't just leave" rules, side by side
These three get conflated constantly — even some VAT-advisory write-ups blur them together — because they all involve a wait before things go back to "normal". They're triggered by completely different things:
| Rule | Threshold lock-in | Voluntary deregistration | Exclusion (non-compliance) |
|---|---|---|---|
| What triggers it | Your sales crossed €10,000 | You choose to stop using OSS | Repeated missed, reminded returns/payments |
| What it locks | Destination-country VAT treatment on your sales | Nothing — it's the exit step itself | All use of OSS Union, Non-Union & IOSS |
| How long | Rest of crossing year + all of the next year | None | 2 years (8 quarters) |
| Is it a penalty? | No — automatic tax-treatment rule | No — an administrative choice | Yes — non-compliance sanction |
What to do right now
- Not sure if you've even crossed? Run your numbers through the €10,000 threshold calculator first — the lock-in only starts once you actually cross it.
- Crossed this year, wondering when you're free? Note the calendar year you crossed in — the lock-in covers the rest of that year plus the whole of the next one, and you can only revert from 1 January of the year after that, and only if the intervening year stayed at or under €10,000.
- Already cleared the lock-in and want out? Give your member state of identification at least 15 days' notice before the end of the quarter before you want to stop, and make sure your final return is paid in full first.
- Behind on returns instead? That's a different problem with a much bigger downside — read registered late? here's what actually happens before you let a reminder go unanswered a third time.
Sources
- The €10,000 threshold's two-year test (current calendar year and the preceding one) and destination-country VAT applying "as of that time" once exceeded — Article 59c, Council Directive 2006/112/EC (the EU VAT Directive), via Lexparency's consolidated text of Art. 59c.
- The practical lock-in effect (destination VAT for the rest of the crossing year plus the whole of the following year, reverting only if that following year also finishes at or under €10,000) — amavat, "VAT OSS Threshold Explained – What Happens After €10,000".
- Voluntary deregistration mechanics (15-day notice before the end of the prior calendar quarter, electronic notification, no penalty and no waiting period to re-register) — European Commission, Directorate-General Taxation and Customs Union, "Deregistration to OSS / Exclusion"; amavat, "How to deregister from VAT OSS – Deadlines & Steps".
- The 10-year record-keeping requirement surviving deregistration — European Commission, "Record Keeping and Audits in OSS".
- The two-year (eight-quarter) exclusion for persistent non-compliance being a separate mechanism from the two rules above — covered and sourced in full on our own registered late? page.
Disclaimer
This page and the calculator are a self-check aid, not tax advice. The lock-in mechanics above describe the general EU-wide rule under the VAT Directive; exact portal deadlines, notification screens, and any national specifics can differ by member state and change over time. Verify your own dates and obligations against the EU Commission's One Stop Shop portal or an accountant before you rely on any date or step described here.