eBay can be held liable for payments of value added tax (VAT) that have not been made by its sellers, and eBay has therefore been obligated to require proof of VAT registration from its VAT registered sellers by collecting their VAT identification number (VAT ID).
Legal VAT requirements in Portugal
Most eBay merchants already have a valid VAT identification number (VAT ID) on file for their eBay account. Merchants who don't have a VAT ID on file should provide a VAT ID as soon as possible.
Who is required to provide a VAT ID in Portugal?
As a seller, you are typically required to register for the Portuguese value added tax if you meet one of the following conditions:
- You are a seller who resides in Portugal and your total sales are more than €12,500 per year.
- You sell goods that are stored in Portugal.
- You sell goods to private individuals in Portugal and your business is established in Europe. You ship these goods from another EU country. You have total sales from all sales channels within Europe in excess of €10,000 per year. You do not participate in a special taxation process for intra-Community distance sales in another EU member country (One-Stop-Shop, OSS) and declare your Portuguese sales there.
Who is required to confirm participation in the One-Stop-Shop process or needs to provide additional VAT IDs?
As a seller, you are typically required to register for VAT in other EU countries or declare and pay the VAT owed in those countries via the One-Stop-Shop (OSS) process if you meet one of the following conditions:
- You sell goods to private individuals within the EU. You ship these goods from one EU country to another EU country and your total EU cross border sales via all sales channels exceed €10,000 per year. Then you either need a VAT ID for all ship-to-countries or you need a VAT ID of the country where you participate in the special taxation process for intra-Community distance sales (One-Stop-Shop, OSS) and via which you declare your respective EU sales.
- You sell goods to private individuals in an EU country where you’re not residing, and you ship these goods from a warehouse in the same EU country.
Please check with your tax adviser if you need to register for VAT in the respective country or if you can declare your sales in that country via the special taxation process for intra-Community distance sales (One-Stop-Shop, OSS).
You can enter your VAT ID here and also confirm participation in OSS.
Please check with your tax adviser if you have questions about your VAT obligations or the participation in OSS.
Information for providing additional data
- Please make sure that you enter your VAT identification number correctly and that the data stored by the tax authorities with your VAT ID matches the data that is on file for your eBay account. This includes your name or the name of your company (including the legal form) and the complete address.
- eBay is required to verify your VAT ID and the associated data by using the electronic verification procedure for VAT IDs provided by the tax authorities.
- If you have questions regarding your VAT ID or the data stored by the tax authorities, please contact your tax adviser or responsible tax office.