Payments, Payouts, VAT, and Sales Documents

Secure Money Flow#

A small and medium marketplace should use a licensed payment provider offering a marketplace product: seller onboarding, accounts/sub-accounts, payment splitting, payout schedules, refunds, chargebacks, holds, and reconciliation reports.

The agreement and platform functions define:

• who is the acquirer and recipient of funds;
• when the consumer's payment is considered made to the seller;
• conditions for payout and its suspension;
• the method for full and partial refunds with multiple sellers;
• responsibility for chargebacks, fraud, and negative balances;
• PSP fees and operator commission;
• reconciliation of orders-payments-refunds-payouts;
• procedures following seller suspension or product withdrawal.

Invoice, Receipt, and Platform Confirmation#

If the seller is the party to the sale, they are responsible for the correct sales document and tax on their supply. The operator documents their own commission/service. The platform's "order confirmation" email should not resemble the seller's invoice if it is not one.

The buyer receives a breakdown by seller. The system allows each seller to download data necessary for their settlements but does not share data of other sellers.

When a Marketplace May Be Considered a Supplier for VAT#

In specific transactions, an electronic platform may be treated as an entity for VAT purposes that has itself acquired and supplied the goods, including when it facilitates:

• distance selling of imported consignments with a real value not exceeding EUR 150; or
• delivery of goods in the EU to a consumer when the relevant seller is not based in the EU.

Then VAT collection, invoicing, record-keeping, OSS/IOSS, and liability change. Additionally, an interface facilitating specific transactions may be obliged to store detailed records for 10 years, even when it is not the deemed supplier.

Cross-border sales in the EU#

OSS can simplify the settlement of specific B2C sales in the EU, and IOSS for specific shipments imported up to EUR 150. Who uses the procedure depends on the role of the supplier and the platform. The system must store the consumer's country, the basis for determining the place of supply, amounts, rates, returns, and adjustments in a manner agreed upon with a tax advisor.

Basis and sources: European Commission - VAT One Stop Shop; Ministry of Finance - OSS and IOSS; VAT Act - text in ELI; Payment Services Act - text in ELI.