ViDA pillars 2 and 3: Single VAT Registration (SVR), OSS/IOSS expansion, mandatory reverse charge, and new VAT rules for platforms.
In addition to e-invoicing and digital reporting, ViDA contains two pillars that significantly reduce the administrative burden of cross-border VAT obligations. The Single VAT Registration simplifies registration, and the platform economy rules ensure that online platforms remit VAT on facilitated transactions. The legal framework is laid down in Directive EU 2025/516 and accompanying regulations, published on 25 March 2025.
Currently, businesses that supply goods or provide services in multiple EU countries must register for VAT separately in each of those countries. This creates a substantial administrative burden: multiple VAT numbers, multiple local returns, and sometimes multiple fiscal representatives.
ViDA addresses this by drastically expanding the One Stop Shop (OSS) and Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) system. The goal: businesses should ideally only need to register in their own member state and handle their EU-wide VAT obligations through a single portal.
The OSS is expanded with new categories of transactions:
From 1 July 2027, the reverse charge mechanism becomes mandatory for all B2B supplies and services where the supplier is not established in the member state where VAT is due, provided the customer is VAT-registered. The recipient then pays the VAT instead of the supplier.
This sounds technical, but the effect is significant: a supplier no longer needs to register in the customer's country purely to remit VAT. The customer does this through their own VAT return.
ViDA also introduces a simplification for businesses that move their own goods between EU member states (for example from a central warehouse to a branch in another country). Instead of a separate VAT registration in the destination country, these movements can be declared via the OSS with a monthly overview.
The existing call-off stock arrangement (a simplification for inventory shipped to a customer for later delivery) will be abolished on 30 June 2028 and replaced by the new OSS arrangement.
The third pillar of ViDA targets online platforms. From 1 July 2028, platforms that facilitate certain services are designated as deemed supplier: they themselves become liable for VAT on the transaction, even though the actual service provider is a third party.
The rules apply to platforms that facilitate:
If the actual service provider does not charge VAT (for example because they are a private landlord), the platform becomes responsible for calculating and remitting VAT.
The platform economy has grown explosively in recent years, but VAT legislation lagged behind. Individual landlords and drivers are not always VAT-registered or do not remit VAT, creating an uneven playing field compared to traditional hotels and taxi companies that do. By making platforms responsible for VAT remittance, the playing field is levelled.
During the Implementation Dialogue that Commissioner Hoekstra hosted on 28 October 2025 with 38 stakeholders, a harmonised application of the deemed supplier regime was one of the key themes. SMEs explicitly called for attention to the impact on smaller platform users.
The SVR and platform rules do not directly affect the e-invoicing process, but they do influence the VAT treatment on invoices. If you invoice via Peppol, the VAT regime on the invoice must be correct. The PSB of eConnect adjusts the VAT processing based on the applicable rules per transaction.
For businesses active in multiple EU countries, the advice is to discuss with your tax advisor which registrations you can cancel once the expanded OSS becomes available. This can result in a significant simplification.
Want to learn more about the full ViDA timeline and the status per country? See the implementation timeline.
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