Amazon and marketplaces: tax

EU distance selling threshold of 10,000 euro: Spain OSS guide

Reviewed on 10 October 20269 min readConsult GlobalLex team

The 10,000 euro threshold is a single, EU-wide amount, excluding VAT, that adds up your distance sales to private customers and certain services. While you stay below it, those sales are taxed in Spain. Once you exceed it, you pay VAT in the customer's country, and the one-stop shop (OSS) lets you report everything from Spain. One important exception applies: if you ship from stock held in another EU country, the threshold does not apply.

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The problem

If you sell through your own website or a marketplace to consumers in other EU countries, the usual question is which country should receive the VAT. For intra-Community distance sales, the general rule is that the tax becomes due in the country of destination (art. 68.Tres a) of the Spanish VAT Act (LIVA)). Article 73 of the same Act introduces a simplification: a threshold of 10,000 euro.

That threshold is a single EU-wide amount, excluding VAT, measured over the previous year. It adds together your distance sales and the telecommunications, broadcasting, television and electronic services you supply to private customers. It is not a limit per country, and treating it as one is a common mistake.

If you exceed it in the current year, you pay tax in the country of destination from that moment. From then on, charging Spanish VAT is no longer enough. You have to decide how to comply with each Member State of consumption, and the one-stop shop scheme exists for exactly that purpose.

All of this assumes that you sell from the territory to which Spanish VAT applies. The Canary Islands are not part of the EU VAT territory. Shipments between the Canary Islands and the Spanish mainland, or any other Member State, are exports and imports handled with a customs declaration (DUA), never intra-Community distance sales.

Who is affected

• Marketplace sellers based on the Spanish mainland or in the Balearic Islands who ship to consumers in other EU countries.
• Owners of their own online shops who sell to private customers elsewhere in Europe from Spain.
• Foreign entrepreneurs with a company in Spain who make cross-border sales to final consumers.
• Sellers holding stock in warehouses in other Member States (for example through marketplace logistics), who are not protected by the threshold.
• Canary Islands companies that sell to European consumers or import goods in low-value consignments. They should review their position separately, because the Canary Islands fall outside the EU VAT territory.

Step by step

1. Classify your sales by type of customer and country of dispatch

   Separate sales to businesses holding a valid VAT number in another Member State (exempt intra-Community supplies) from sales to private customers (distance sales). The former require a valid VAT number for the buyer, checked in VIES (the EU VAT number validation system), and their inclusion in Form 349 (modelo 349). Without these, the supply is taxable and not exempt in Spain (art. 25 LIVA).

   Also record the country from which the goods physically leave. This detail decides whether the threshold applies to you at all.

2. Check whether the threshold applies to you

   Add up, excluding VAT, your distance sales and the services to private customers mentioned above, across the whole EU. If you have not exceeded 10,000 euro, and did not exceed it in the previous year, those sales continue to be taxed with Spanish VAT. If you exceed it in the current year, you pay tax in the country of destination from that moment (art. 73 LIVA).

   The threshold does not apply where the sales are dispatched, in whole or in part, from a Member State other than the one where you are established (art. 73.Uno, third paragraph). If your stock sits in other countries, there is no threshold.

3. Decide whether to opt voluntarily for taxation in the country of destination

   Even if you stay below the threshold, you can choose to pay tax in the country of destination by filing Form 036 (modelo 036), with effect for at least two years. The AEAT's 2026 calendar records that option for 2027 and 2028 until 31 December 2026 (taxpayer calendar).

   In practice, it is worth weighing up whether this pays off before committing for two years, because taxing in the destination country means handling the VAT rates of several countries.

4. Register for the one-stop shop (OSS) with Form 035

   The Union scheme (régimen de la Unión) is optional. Registration, changes and deregistration are handled with Form 035 (formulario 035). Registration takes effect on the first day of the following quarter. It can take effect from your first transaction if you file Form 035 before the 10th day of the month following that transaction (AEAT, Form 035).

   In practice, it is advisable to keep the filing receipt for Form 035 together with the rest of your tax records.

5. File Form 369 every quarter and reconcile the figures

   Form 369 (modelo 369) under the Union scheme is quarterly and is filed during the month following the quarter, even if there were no transactions (AEAT, Form 369).

   The distance sales reported through the one-stop shop must match box 123 of Form 303 (modelo 303) and the taxable amounts in Form 369 for each Member State of consumption. Checking this reconciliation every quarter avoids unpleasant surprises.

6. If you import small consignments, consider the import scheme (IOSS)

   The import scheme (régimen de importación, IOSS) applies to distance sales of goods imported in consignments with an intrinsic value of up to 150 euro, except for products subject to excise duties. With the IOSS number, the import is exempt (art. 66.4.º LIVA). Its Form 369 is monthly.

Deadlines

Form 369 under the Union scheme (OSS), quarterly. It is filed even if there are no transactions and the deadline is not moved if the last day is a non-working day

31 January, 30 April, 31 July and 31 October · source

Form 369 under the import scheme (IOSS), monthly

Last day of the month following the period (31 March, 31 May...) · source

Option to pay tax in the country of destination (Form 036) for 2027 and 2028

Until 31 December 2026 · source

OSS registration taking effect from the first transaction

File Form 035 before the 10th day of the month following that transaction; otherwise, effect from the first day of the following quarter · source

Form 303 for Q3 2026 (where OSS sales are reported in box 123)

20 October 2026 · source

Common mistakes

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

• Ley 37/1992 del IVA (LIVA), BOE — https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-1992-28740
• AEAT: presentación de autoliquidaciones periódicas, modelo 369 — https://sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es/Sede/iva/iva-comercio-electronico/presentacion-autoliquidaciones-periodicas-modelo-369.html
• AEAT: IVA y comercio electrónico — https://sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es/Sede/iva/iva-comercio-electronico.html
• AEAT: formulario 035 — https://sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es/Sede/ayuda/manuales-videos-folletos/manuales-practicos/folleto-actividades-economicas/1-declaracion-censal/1_5-formulario-035.html
• AEAT: calendario del contribuyente 2026 — https://sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es/Sede/ayuda/calendario-contribuyente/calendario-contribuyente-2026/calendario-anual.html

Consult GlobalLex team

Tax, accounting and legal advisers for Amazon and marketplace sellers, foreign founders and Canary Islands companies in Spain. Registered social collaborator of the Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT) and Social Security (TGSS).

Drafted with AI assistance and checked, fact by fact, against the official sources cited. Reviewed on 10 October 2026.