The one-sentence answer
The €10,000 threshold only exists for businesses established in a single EU member state; if your business has no EU establishment at all — you're based in the UK, the US, or anywhere else outside the EU — there's no threshold and no grace period, and which scheme you use instead (Union OSS, Non-Union OSS, IOSS, or standard import VAT) depends on what you sell and where it ships from.
This is a self-check aid, not tax advice. See the disclaimer at the bottom before you act on anything here.
The €10,000 threshold is an EU-establishment perk
Every other page on this site — the calculator, the decision guide, the worked examples — describes the €10,000 threshold as a simplification: while your combined cross-border B2C sales to other EU countries stay at or under €10,000, you can keep charging your home country's VAT rate instead of the destination country's. That simplification exists specifically for sellers established in the EU. It's how the Netherlands' Chamber of Commerce (KVK) describes it for Dutch sellers, and it's consistent across every VAT-compliance source that covers the rule: the €10,000 figure only ever appears alongside "EU-established" as a precondition.
If you run a Shopify or WooCommerce store from London, Los Angeles, or anywhere else outside the EU's 27 member states, that precondition simply isn't met — and no amount of low sales volume changes that. From the very first B2C sale you make to an EU consumer, EU VAT law treats you the way it treats an EU seller who's already crossed €10,000: destination-country rules from day one.
The threshold calculator and decision guide both assume you're an EU-established seller working out whether you've crossed €10,000. If you're not EU-established, that's the wrong question — the right one is which scheme below applies to you instead.
Four situations, four different routes
"Non-EU seller" isn't one scenario — which mechanism replaces the €10,000 threshold for you depends on what you're selling and where it physically ships from:
| Your situation | What applies | Where you register |
|---|---|---|
| Digital/telecoms/broadcasting (TBE) services — SaaS, e-books, streaming, online courses — sold B2C to EU consumers | Destination VAT from sale one, via the Non-Union OSS scheme | Any one EU member state of your choosing |
| Physical goods dispatched from stock you already hold inside the EU (e.g. a UK or US brand using an EU fulfilment centre) | Destination VAT from sale one, via the Union OSS scheme | The member state the goods dispatch from (locked in for that year + the next two if you hold stock in more than one) |
| Physical goods shipped directly from outside the EU, €150 or less per consignment (typical dropshipping/POD) | Destination VAT collected at sale via IOSS — not OSS, and not this calculator's threshold at all | Via an EU-based intermediary you appoint (you can't self-register for IOSS without an EU establishment) |
| Physical goods shipped from outside the EU, worth more than €150 | Standard import VAT and customs declaration — no OSS/IOSS simplification available | Typically via a customs broker or local VAT registration at import |
Notice what's absent from every row: a €10,000 figure. That's the point — the threshold isn't a lower-tier version of these rules, it just doesn't exist for this list of sellers.
UK sellers specifically
This trips up a lot of formerly-EU sellers: since Brexit took full effect on 1 January 2021, the UK is a "third country" for EU VAT purposes — the same category as the US, Canada, or anywhere else outside the EU's 27 member states. The EU-wide distance-selling thresholds UK businesses could rely on while the UK was still an EU member no longer apply to them at all. A UK-based seller today is in exactly the same position as any other non-EU seller in the table above: no threshold, destination rules (or IOSS) from the first sale, and — for digital services — the Non-Union OSS scheme rather than the Union scheme most of this site's other pages describe.
Don't confuse this with the guide's "established in one country" question
The decision guide's fifth question asks whether you're established in a single EU member state, and warns that sellers spread across several member states (the classic multi-country Amazon FBA case) lose access to the €10,000 threshold too. It's easy to read that and assume it covers the situation on this page — it doesn't. That question is about EU businesses whose EU footprint happens to be fragmented across more than one country. This page is about businesses with no EU establishment at all. Both groups end up without the €10,000 buffer, but for different reasons, and they land on different registration routes (a fragmented EU seller still can't avoid destination VAT, full stop; a non-EU seller has the Union/ Non-Union/IOSS menu above to pick from depending on what and how they sell).
What to do right now
- EU-established and wondering if you've crossed €10,000? You're the audience for the threshold calculator and the six-question decision guide — this page doesn't apply to you.
- Selling digital services from outside the EU? Look into the Non-Union OSS scheme — one registration, any member state, covers all your EU B2C digital-service sales from day one.
- Shipping goods from EU-held stock but based outside the EU? The Union OSS scheme is open to you too, registered in your dispatch country — worth confirming with an accountant before you pick which member state, since the choice can lock in for up to three years.
- Dropshipping or fulfilling orders from outside the EU? Check whether your supplier or platform (many POD services handle this by default) already registers for IOSS on €150-or-under parcels — if not, you'll need to appoint an EU intermediary yourself. See OSS vs IOSS for how the €150 import scheme differs from the €10,000 threshold.
- Selling through Amazon, Etsy, or eBay as a non-EU seller? The marketplace itself often becomes the "deemed supplier" and takes the VAT liability off your hands for exactly this scenario — see whether marketplace sales count toward the threshold for the specific rule.
Sources
- The €10,000 threshold applying only to EU-established sellers, and the KOR/ home-country-VAT simplification it replaces once exceeded — Dutch Chamber of Commerce (KVK), "VAT rules for e-commerce in the EU".
- Union OSS being open to non-EU-established businesses for goods dispatched from EU-held stock, registered in the dispatch member state, versus Non-Union OSS being the services-only route for non-EU sellers with no EU establishment — Marosa VAT, "OSS Schemes for EU E-commerce: Union, Non-Union, IOSS" and "OSS vs. IOSS: What's the Difference and Which One Applies to Your Business?".
- The Member State of Identification rule for non-established businesses dispatching from more than one member state, and the resulting multi-year lock on that choice — European Commission, Directorate-General Taxation and Customs Union, "Register to OSS" and the Commission's OSS explanatory guidelines (PDF).
- Non-EU sellers needing an EU-based intermediary to use IOSS, and the €150/ standard-import-VAT split above that value — VATabout, "OSS Schemes – Practical Guide for Non-EU based Suppliers"; GetMyVAT, "OSS Registration for EU vs Non-EU Sellers".
- UK businesses losing access to EU distance-selling thresholds as a third country since Brexit — Taxually, "An Overview of UK VAT Rules Post-Brexit".
Disclaimer
This page and the calculator are a self-check aid, not tax advice. Non-EU VAT obligations depend heavily on your specific supply chain, what you sell, and which platforms or intermediaries you use — the general routes above can differ by member state and change over time. Verify your own situation against the EU Commission's One Stop Shop portal or an accountant before relying on anything here.