Guidance

Using an intermediary to register and act on your behalf for the VAT Import One Stop Shop scheme

Find out about using the VAT Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) scheme, if you ask an intermediary to register and report and pay VAT due on your behalf.

From:
HM Revenue & Customs
Published
19 February 2026

Intermediary registrations for the VAT Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) scheme will be available from 1 April 2026.

You should read this guidance before you ask an intermediary to register you for the VAT Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) scheme.

Using the VAT IOSS scheme

You can choose to register for the VAT IOSS scheme to report and pay VAT. You can do this if you sell goods imported in consignments with a value of £135 or less (known as low value goods) from countries outside the EU and Northern Ireland, to consumers in the EU, Northern Ireland, or both.

To use the scheme your goods must:

  • be located in a country outside the EU and Northern Ireland at the point of sale 
  • have a consignment value of £135 or less
  • be sold to a consumer in the EU or Northern Ireland

You must not report the VAT on your sales of low value goods that are located in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) at the point of sale to consumers in Northern Ireland on your IOSS VAT return. The VAT due on these sales must be reported on your UK VAT return if registered. This includes sales from the Isle of Man to Northern Ireland.

You cannot use the IOSS scheme for:

  • consignments containing excise goods, this includes alcohol and tobacco products 
  • sales of low value goods from outside the EU and Northern Ireland to consumers in Great Britain
  • sales to VAT-registered businesses

If you only sell low value goods through an online marketplace, the online marketplace will be responsible for reporting and paying any VAT due. Find out more in the section Selling goods through an online marketplace in the EU or Northern Ireland. 

You must follow the normal VAT rules if you sell goods imported in consignments with a value of more than £135. Find out more about consignments valued more than £135 in How VAT will apply for goods imported into Northern Ireland from outside the UK or EU.

If you choose not to use the scheme and you sell low value goods that are imported to consumers in the: 

How to work out the consignment value

You must work out the consignment value of the goods. This is the price the goods were sold for, not including:

  • transport or insurance costs — unless they are included in the price and not separately shown on the invoice
  • any other taxes and charges

Unless sent individually, you must add the individual values of all goods in a consignment together to get the total value of the consignment.

Who can register

Businesses in:

  • Northern Ireland or Norway, can choose to register for the scheme directly
  • countries outside the EU and Northern Ireland (including Great Britain), must ask an intermediary to register and act on their behalf if they choose to use the scheme

If you’re:

  • asking an intermediary to register on your behalf, you should continue to read this guidance
  • using the VAT IOSS scheme directly, without an intermediary, you’ll need to read the VAT IOSS scheme guidance
  • an intermediary, you can read this guidance to find out your client’s responsibilities — you must also read the VAT IOSS scheme for an intermediary guidance to find out your responsibilities

If you are already registered for the scheme 

You can only register with one VAT IOSS scheme. If you are already registered for the VAT IOSS scheme direct with HMRC or in an EU country and you want to register with an intermediary, you will need to cancel that registration first.

If you have been excluded from the scheme 

If you have been excluded from one of the One Stop Shop schemes (OSS or IOSS) for not complying with rules of the scheme, you cannot register for the scheme for 2 years from the date you were excluded.

Before your intermediary registers you for the scheme 

To allow your intermediary to register you for the VAT IOSS scheme, you’ll need to tell them your: 

  • business details — name, address and country where their permanent place of business is established 
  • VAT or national tax number — if UK established, this will be your UK VAT number if registered (of not registered), Unique Taxpayer Reference or National Insurance number 
  • contact details — name, email address and telephone number (HMRC will only contact you directly in exceptional circumstances) 

You’ll also need to provide the name of any: 

  • EU country you’re registered for VAT or tax in, including your business address in that country and VAT registration number or tax ID number — if you have one 
  • EU country you’ve previously registered for the VAT Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) or One Stop Shop scheme and your registration number — if any
  • trading websites you use to sell your goods 

Your responsibility as part of the registration process 

As part of the VAT IOSS registration process your intermediary will email you an online declaration form. This form asks you to agree to appoint your intermediary to act on your behalf for the scheme and that you are both ‘jointly and severally liable’ for any IOSS VAT debts.

HMRC will send you a 6-digit code to the email address you gave your intermediary. You will need this code and your Government Gateway user ID and password to access the link to the declaration form.

If you do not have a Government Gateway account, you will need to set up an account. 

You must read and agree to the statements on the declaration form, by selecting the check box and then selecting the green ‘Join the scheme’ button. 

You’ll have 28 days to complete the declaration form. If you do not complete the declaration form within the agreed period, your intermediary will need to register you for the VAT IOSS scheme again. 

Once you agree to the declaration form, the registration will be complete, and you will receive your unique 12-digit IOSS VAT identification number (starting with IM). Your intermediary will also receive notification of this number. 

What to do after you’re registered

Your registration for the VAT IOSS scheme will begin from the date that you receive your IOSS VAT identification number. 

From this date you must:

  • charge your customer VAT at the rate applying to the goods in the EU or UK at the point of sale — find out about the VAT rates for different EU countries in the Taxes in Europe Database (TEDB) — European Commission website
  • include your unique 12-digit IOSS VAT identification number, on the customs declaration for each consignment of imported goods
  • keep records for of all eligible sales under the scheme ― you must keep these records for 10 years and your intermediary must be able to send them to HMRC if asked

You also need to:

If your registration details change 

You must tell your intermediary if any of your registration details change to allow them to make the change on your behalf. They must tell HMRC by the 10th day of the month, following any change. 

If you want to cancel your registration

You must tell your intermediary if you want to cancel your registration from the scheme. They must tell HMRC at least 15 days before the end of the month before you want to cancel your registration from the scheme.

Your intermediary’s responsibilities

Your intermediary is responsible for completing the VAT IOSS registration, managing the reporting and payment of VAT due to HMRC on your behalf.

You and your intermediary are ‘jointly and severally’ liable for any IOSS VAT debts from the date that you register and they begin representing you for the scheme.

To find about your intermediary’s responsibilities you should read the section ‘what you need to do after you’ve registered a client’ in the intermediary guidance register your client to allow you to act as their intermediary for the VAT IOSS Scheme.

If your intermediary misses the IOSS VAT return or payment deadline

HMRC will issue your intermediary a reminder 10 days after the date they should have submitted your return or made the payment by.

Your intermediary will have 10 days from when we send a reminder to submit your return or payment.

If your intermediary misses this deadline for 3 consecutive periods, you’ll be excluded from the scheme. This means your registration will be automatically cancelled. 

You and your intermediary will be excluded from the scheme for 2 years (this is known as the quarantine period). This exclusion will take effect on the first day following the exclusion decision and will last for a minimum of 2 years.

If you disagree with the exclusion

If you or your intermediary disagree with HMRC’s decision to exclude you from the scheme, you or your intermediary can either: 

  • request a review
  • appeal to the tax tribunal 

Find out what to do if you disagree with an indirect tax decision.

Records you must keep

You must keep records as evidence to support the information your intermediary submits on your monthly IOSS VAT return.

For each sale, you must keep records of the:

  • country where you made the sales — this will either be an EU member state or Northern Ireland
  • description and quantity of goods supplied
  • date you supplied the goods
  • taxable amount, including the currency used
  • increase or decrease of the taxable amount, if any *VAT rate you applied
  • amount of VAT due and the currency used 
  • payments your business received — the dates and amounts
  • information shown on any invoices you issued
  • information used to decide the place where the dispatch (sent from) or transport of the goods the consumer ends
  • proof of returned goods including the taxable amount and VAT rate
  • order number

You must keep records of all eligible VAT IOSS sales for 10 years and be able to send these records to your intermediary electronically if asked. The One Stop Shop Standard Audit file (SAF-OSS) can be used for keeping electronic records and is available on the OSS European Commission website ― How does the taxable person or intermediary make these records available to the tax authority?.

Importing low value goods into the EU and Northern Ireland using IOSS

Your unique 12-digit IOSS VAT identification number must be included on the declaration for each consignment of low value goods that are imported to consumers in the EU and Northern Ireland.

If you get someone to transport the goods on your behalf, such as an express, parcel or postal operator, you must give them your IOSS VAT identification number. This is to make sure they can complete the customs declaration process.

Selling goods through an online marketplace to the EU or Northern Ireland

If you sell goods through an online marketplace, the online marketplace will be responsible for reporting and paying any VAT due when the goods: 

  • are located in a country outside the EU and Northern Ireland at the point of sale
  • have a consignment value of £135 or less
  • have been sold through the online marketplace to a consumer in the EU, Northern Ireland, or both

If the online marketplace is registered for the VAT IOSS scheme, they must report and pay the VAT due on all eligible sales of low value goods to consumers in the EU or Northern Ireland (or both) on their IOSS VAT return. 

If you are sending the goods, the online marketplace’s unique 12-digit IOSS VAT identification number must be included on the customs declaration for each consignment of low value goods that are imported to consumers in the EU and Northern Ireland. 

If you get someone to transport the goods on your behalf, such as an express, parcel or postal operator, you must give them the online marketplace’s IOSS VAT identification number. This is to make sure they can complete the customs declaration process.

If the online marketplace does not use the VAT IOSS scheme, they must report and pay VAT due under the normal rules.

Online marketplaces are not responsible for reporting and paying the VAT due when a business in Great Britain makes sales of goods to consumers in Northern Ireland through the online marketplace. The seller will be responsible for reporting and paying any VAT due.

You can find out about using an online marketplace to sell goods to customers in the UK.

Updates to this page

Published 19 February 2026

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