OSS VAT for online stores: EU sales from Bulgaria and the €10,000 rule

In short: OSS (One Stop Shop) lets an online store in Bulgaria declare and pay the VAT on its sales to consumers anywhere in the EU with one quarterly return filed with the NRA. Once your sales to consumers in other EU countries exceed €10,000 without VAT in a calendar year, you charge the VAT rate of the customer's country: 21% in Romania, 24% in Greece.

This guide is written by the team behind CloudCart, the Bulgarian ecommerce platform, for stores that sell from Bulgaria to consumers in other EU countries, including foreign founders running a Bulgarian EOOD and companies that ship from stock in Bulgaria. The rules come from the Bulgarian VAT Act on lex.bg (in Bulgarian) and the European Commission's OSS portal. It is not tax advice: your accountant confirms how the rules apply to your company.

What is OSS VAT?

OSS VAT is the EU system for charging and paying VAT in the customer's country without registering for VAT in each country separately. You register once with the NRA (Bulgaria's National Revenue Agency), file one return per quarter and pay all the VAT in Bulgaria, and the NRA passes each country its share. The system has applied since Jul 1, 2021 and is explained on the European Commission's One Stop Shop page.

There are three schemes:

Scheme	Who uses it	What it covers	Return
Union scheme (OSS)	Businesses established in the EU, and some non-EU businesses that ship goods from an EU country	Distance sales of goods to consumers in another EU country, and B2C services taxed in another EU country	Quarterly
Non-Union scheme	Businesses with no establishment in the EU	Services to consumers in the EU	Quarterly
Import scheme (IOSS)	Sellers of goods imported from outside the EU	Consignments of up to €150, excise goods excluded	Monthly

For an online store in Bulgaria, the Union scheme is the one that matters. In the Bulgarian VAT Act it is the "Union scheme" of Art. 156, the term your accountant and the NRA portal use.

A distance sale of goods within the EU (an intra-community distance sale) is a sale where the goods leave one EU country and arrive with a consumer in another, and the seller arranges the shipping. An order from Bucharest sent by courier from your warehouse in Ruse is exactly that.

Sales to businesses with a valid VAT number from another EU country stay outside OSS. They are intra-community supplies at the zero rate, and the customer accounts for the VAT.

When is VAT due in the customer's country? The €10,000 threshold

VAT is due in the customer's country once the total value without VAT of your distance sales to consumers in all other EU countries exceeds €10,000 in the current or the previous calendar year. The rule is in Art. 20b of the Bulgarian VAT Act and has applied since Jul 1, 2021. Below the threshold, the sale is taxed as a Bulgarian sale at 20% VAT.

Four details settle most questions:

• There is one threshold for the whole EU. Sales to Romania, Greece, Germany and every other EU country add up to one total.
• Some services count too. Telecommunications, broadcasting and electronically supplied services to consumers in the EU are added to the goods.
• The sale that takes you over the threshold is already taxed in the customer's country. That is Art. 20b(3). So is every later sale that year, and every sale in the following year, because the threshold was exceeded in the previous year.
• You can choose the customer's country below the threshold. Under Art. 20b(4), the choice applies until the end of the two calendar years after the year you made it. It makes sense for a store that advertises in Romania and does not want to change prices halfway through the year.

An example with numbers

A cosmetics store sells €6,000 without VAT to consumers in Romania and €3,500 in Greece from January to September, €9,500 in total. Until then every order carries the Bulgarian 20%. On October 14 an order of €800 without VAT arrives from Athens, and the total becomes €10,300. That order already carries the Greek 24%, and from then on every order from Romania is at 21% and every order from Greece at 24%, for the rest of that year and the whole of the next.

Bulgaria joined the euro area on Jan 1, 2026, so the threshold is counted directly in euro, with no exchange rate.

Important: the €10,000 threshold is only available to a business established in a single EU country (Art. 20b(1)). A company from outside the EU that ships from stock in Bulgaria charges the VAT of the customer's country from the first sale.

VAT rates in Romania, Greece and the EU in 2026

Under OSS you charge the rate of the customer's country: the standard rate is 21% in Romania, 24% in Greece and 20% in Bulgaria (Art. 158(6) of the VAT Act). The table follows Your Europe, the EU's official guide for businesses, last checked by the European Commission on Jul 13, 2026.

Country	Standard rate	Reduced rates	Super-reduced rate
Romania	21%	11%	none
Greece	24%	6%, 13%, 17%	4%
Bulgaria	20%	9%	none
Germany	19%	7%	none
Austria	20%	10%, 13%	none
Italy	22%	5%, 10%	4%
France	20%	5.5%, 10%	2.1%
Spain	21%	10%	4%
Netherlands	21%	9%	none
Belgium	21%	6%, 12%	none
Poland	23%	5%, 8%	none
Czechia	21%	12%, 0%	none
Slovakia	23%	5%, 19%	none
Hungary	27%	5%, 18%	none
Croatia	25%	5%, 13%	none
Slovenia	22%	5%, 9.5%	none
Cyprus	19%	5%, 9%	3%
Malta	18%	5%, 7%	none
Portugal	23%	6%, 13%	none
Ireland	23%	9%, 13.5%	none
Luxembourg	17%	8%	3%
Denmark	25%	0%	none
Sweden	25%	6%, 12%	none
Finland	25.5%	10%, 13.5%	none
Estonia	24%	9%	none
Latvia	21%	5%, 12%	none
Lithuania	21%	5%, 12%	none

Which reduced rate applies to which product is decided by the law of the customer's country. Check it with that country's tax authority.

What the rate means for the price in your store

If you show the same price with VAT in every market, a higher rate cuts what you keep. A product at €120 with VAT brings you €100 without VAT from a customer in Bulgaria, €99.17 in Romania and €96.77 in Greece. With 500 orders a quarter from Greece, the difference is about €1,600. With serious sales in Romania and Greece, it pays to give each market its own prices.

OSS VAT registration with the NRA, step by step

OSS registration in Bulgaria is an electronic application to the NRA, signed with a qualified electronic signature (QES). The NRA checks the application within 7 days and issues the registration act within 7 days after the check (Art. 156(2) and (4)). The start date and what happens if you are late are also explained on the European Commission's page on OSS registration.

1. Add up your EU sales. Total your sales without VAT to consumers in all other EU countries for this year and last year. If you are close to €10,000, prepare the registration before the order that takes you over.
2. Check your VAT registration. Your identification number in the Union scheme is your Bulgarian VAT number under Art. 94(2) (Art. 156(6)). If the company is not yet VAT-registered, agree with your accountant on the ground for registering before you apply.
3. Prepare the details. The application asks for your name and address, email and website addresses, a bank account in euro with a bank in Bulgaria, your VAT numbers in other EU countries and any fixed establishments abroad (Art. 156(3)).
4. File the application with your QES. In the NRA e-services portal, choose the application for registration under the Union scheme.
5. Wait for the act. The registration act is served electronically. The registration starts on the first day of the quarter after you apply: an application on November 20 gives a registration from January 1.
6. If your first sale comes earlier, meet the 10th-day deadline. Under Art. 156(7), the registration date is the date of the first sale, provided you apply by the 10th day of the following month.
7. Change the rates in your store. From the registration date, every sale to a consumer in the EU carries the rate of their country. How to set it in the admin is covered in the CloudCart section below.

Important: if you miss the 10th-day deadline, the European Commission says that until the scheme starts you have to register and account for VAT directly in each country where your customers are. Track the total every month, not at the end of the year.

OSS for foreign founders and foreign companies

Where you register for OSS depends on where the business is established. A Bulgarian EOOD or OOD (limited liability companies) registers with the NRA, whoever owns it.

• A company established in another EU country registers for OSS in its own country, even when it ships from a warehouse in Bulgaria. Its Bulgarian sales to consumers in Bulgaria are a separate question for its accountant.
• A company from outside the EU that ships goods only from Bulgaria can register for the Union scheme with the NRA (Art. 156(1)(2)(d)). It needs an accredited representative in Bulgaria (Art. 156(1)(4)) and, as noted above, has no €10,000 threshold.

Setting up a Bulgarian company is covered in the guide to company registration in Bulgaria, and the domestic VAT number in the guide to VAT registration in Bulgaria.

OSS return and payment: the deadlines

The OSS return is filed for each calendar quarter by the end of the following month, and the VAT is paid by the same deadline. You file it even with no sales, as a nil return (Art. 159(4)). The deadline does not move when it falls on a weekend or public holiday, as the Commission's page on declaring and paying in OSS also states.

Quarter	Deadline for return and payment
Q1 (January to March)	April 30
Q2 (April to June)	July 31
Q3 (July to September)	October 31
Q4 (October to December)	January 31 of the next year

In the return you show, for each country, the rates, the taxable amount and the VAT due, separately for goods and services (Art. 159(7)). Amounts are in euro. Sales in another currency, such as Romanian lei, are converted at the European Central Bank rate for the last day of the quarter (Art. 159(10)).

You pay in euro to the NRA's account, without rounding, quoting the reference number of the return (Art. 159(11)). If the return or the payment is late, on the 10th day after the deadline the NRA sends an electronic reminder and informs the customers' countries (Art. 159(12)). Any further collection is up to the customer's country.

A mistake in a filed return is corrected in a later return, within 3 years of the original deadline (Art. 159d). Credit notes for orders returned from past quarters work the same way: in a later return you state the country, the period and the VAT correction.

Invoices and records for OSS sales

For OSS sales to consumers there is, as a rule, no obligation to issue an invoice. If you issue one, the rules of the country where you are registered for the scheme apply, which for a Bulgarian store means the Bulgarian rules. That is in the Commission's guidance on records and audits in OSS and in Art. 158(7) of the VAT Act. The rate on the invoice is the rate of the customer's country.

One exception: if you make distance sales in the EU above the threshold without an OSS registration, an invoice is required.

Documenting each sale in your store and registering the store with the NRA stay under Bulgarian rules. How each sale is documented depending on the payment method is covered in the guide to Ordinance N-18 for online stores (Bulgaria's sales-reporting rules for ecommerce), and invoices and credit notes in the invoicing guide.

Which records to keep, and for how long

Records of OSS sales are kept for 10 years from the end of the year of the sale, even if you have left the scheme. For each sale you need:

• the customer's country;
• the type of supply, its date and the VAT due;
• details of any advance payments;
• the information you used to establish where the customer is, such as the delivery or billing address.

When you sell to a company in another EU country with a VAT number, check the number in VIES, the EU's VAT number database. With a valid number, the sale is without VAT and the invoice states the reason VAT is not charged.

How to set VAT by country in CloudCart

In CloudCart you set VAT by country with a geo zone for each country and a tax rule with the "One Stop Shop" switch on. The platform then applies the rate of the customer's country to sales to consumers in the EU. Without the switch, the default rate is that of the store's country from the general settings.

1. Create a geo zone for each country. Settings → Geo zones → Add. For Romania, add a rule for the whole country. Taxes only look at the country rule: a zone with only cities, postcodes or polygons does not match a tax.
2. Check the global tax. Settings → Taxes and fees. The global tax covers everyone outside your zones, and for a Bulgarian store it is 20%. If there is none, the platform creates a copy named "… - Global" with the same rate when you add the first regional tax. Create the Bulgarian 20% first, or correct the copy straight away.
3. Add a tax for the country. Taxes and fees → Add → Tax. Name it "VAT Romania", rate 21%, turn off "Make the tax Global" and choose the geo zone "Romania".
4. Turn on "One Stop Shop". The switch is visible only on a regional tax. With it on, the platform applies the customer's country rate to sales to consumers in the EU.
5. Choose how prices are shown. With or without VAT included, and whether the tax also applies to delivery.
6. Write the reasons for zero VAT. One field is for EU companies with a checked VAT number, the other for customers outside the EU. The text prints on the invoice when an order has no VAT.
7. Repeat for Greece and your other markets. "VAT Greece", 24%, zone "Greece". A zone can have only one tax.

The customer's country is taken from the billing or the delivery address, as chosen in the cart settings. If two zones contain the same country, the newer tax wins, so keep one zone per country.

A separate store for a market adds prices in lei, texts in the local language, local couriers and its own domain. How it works is in the guide to a multilanguage store and multistore, and showing prices in euro in the guide to euro prices in an online store. Selling to each market is covered in the guides to selling online in Romania and selling online in Greece.

Sameday, Cargus and FAN Courier for Romania and ACS for Greece are built into CloudCart, next to Econt and Speedy, the main Bulgarian couriers. The waybill is created from the order, and the delivery address is also your evidence of where the customer is.

IOSS: VAT on imported parcels of up to €150

IOSS (Import One Stop Shop) is the scheme that lets a store charge VAT at the moment of sale on goods shipped from outside the EU in consignments of up to €150. The customer pays the VAT in the store's price and does not pay it again on delivery. Without IOSS, the customer pays the import VAT, often with a courier handling fee on top.

• Scope. Consignments with an intrinsic value of up to €150 from outside the EU to consumers in the EU, Bulgaria included. Excise goods are excluded.
• Who can register in Bulgaria. Under Art. 157a of the VAT Act, a business registered for VAT under Art. 96 or Art. 100(1). A business from outside the EU as a rule acts through an intermediary established in the EU.
• Return. Monthly, by the end of the following month. The OSS return is quarterly.
• Customs duty. From Jul 1, 2026, parcels of up to €150 from outside the EU also pay a temporary €3 customs duty per tariff line, on top of VAT: 5 T-shirts pay €3, while T-shirts and a watch pay €6, according to the European Commission.

How to work out a model with a supplier outside the EU, with VAT, duty and returns, is covered in the guide to what dropshipping is and how to start.

Common OSS mistakes for online stores

The costliest OSS mistake is tracking the threshold country by country. The threshold is shared: €4,000 in Romania, €4,000 in Greece and €2,500 in Germany make €10,500, which is already over it.

• Stock in a warehouse in another country. OSS covers sales where the goods travel from one EU country to a customer in another. Goods you sell from a warehouse in Romania to a customer in Romania are a local sale there and stay outside OSS, which usually means a VAT registration in Romania. Ask your accountant before you hold stock abroad, on a marketplace included.
• One price for every market without doing the maths. At 24% in Greece, every order brings about 3% less than the same order in Bulgaria.
• Waiting for the end of the year. The sale that crosses €10,000 is already taxed abroad, and the 10th-day deadline for the registration runs from it.

Frequently asked questions

Questions about the VAT settings in your store? Write to support@cloudcart.com.