Guidance

Submit your One Stop Shop VAT Return

Use this service to submit your One Stop Shop (OSS) VAT Return and pay the VAT due if you're registered for the OSS Union scheme.

Before you submit a One Stop Shop (OSS) VAT Return, you should find out how to complete your return.

When to submit your return

You must submit a return and pay the VAT owed by the last day of the month, following the end of each quarter. If you’ve not sold any goods in the EU during a tax period, you should submit a nil return.

Tax period Date you can submit from Date you must submit by
Quarter 1: 1 January to 31 March 1 April 30 April
Quarter 2: 1 April to 30 June 1 July 31 July
Quarter 3: 1 July to 30 September 1 October 31 October
Quarter 4: 1 October to 31 December 1 January (of the following year) 31 January (of the following year)

If you miss the deadline

HMRC will issue a reminder on the 10th day following the deadline.

You will have 10 days from when we send this reminder to submit your return or payment. If you miss this deadline for 3 consecutive periods, you’ll be excluded from the scheme.

This exclusion will take effect on the first day of the next calendar quarter and will last for a minimum of 2 years.

If you’re excluded

You’ll no longer be able to complete OSS VAT returns. You’ll need to register for VAT in each EU country where you make sales to consumers in order to report and pay the VAT due.

Submit your return

You can use this service to:

  • submit your latest return
  • correct errors from a previous return in your latest return

If you’ve made a mistake on one of your earlier OSS returns, you’ll need to wait until your next return to correct it. You’ll be able to:

  • change the total VAT amounts you’ve previously declared for each country
  • add VAT amounts on sales for each country that you did not include on an earlier return

If you have over-declared on your return, the EU country where you have over-declared is responsible for any refunds.

To use this service, you need the Government Gateway user ID and password you used when you registered for UK VAT.

Start now

Online services may be slow during busy times. Check if there are any problems with this service.

You can also submit your OSS return and view previous returns by accessing the OSS Union scheme through your HMRC business tax account.

Sign into your business tax account.

After you’ve submitted your return

You’ll receive a unique payment reference from each return you submit.

Find out how to pay the VAT due on your OSS VAT Return.

Published 20 September 2021
Last updated 24 April 2023 + show all updates
  1. You can now access the OSS Union scheme through your HMRC business tax account.

  2. The sections 'If you have over-declared on your return' and 'Submit your return' have been added.

  3. A link has been added to allow you to submit your One Stop Shop VAT Return.

  4. First published.