# EU Council agrees VAT position: IOSS for all values from July 2028

> The Council agreed a position on 9 November 2026 to extend IOSS to goods of any value and make platforms collect VAT. It is not adopted law; the measures are due to apply from 1 July 2028, conditional on the data hub timetable.

- Publication: The Sourcing Herald
- URL: https://sourcingherald.com/articles/eu-council-agrees-vat-position-ioss-for-all-values-from-july-2028
- Format: News
- Section: Marketplaces
- Published: 2026-11-13
- Sources last checked: 2026-11-11

## Key points

- The EU Council agreed a position on 9 November 2026 to extend the IOSS to goods of any value and make online platforms responsible for collecting VAT on goods sold into the EU [3][4].
- The position is not adopted law; the European Parliament will be consulted before formal Council adoption, and the measures are due to apply from 1 July 2028 [3][4].
- Today the IOSS can only cover parcels valued below €150, so the change matters most for non-EU sellers with consignments above that threshold [1].
- Products subject to excise duty would remain excluded from the IOSS [5].
- The 1 July 2028 date is conditional: if the EU customs data hub's IOSS functionality is not operational by 1 June 2028, application follows the transitional solution [5].

The Council of the European Union agreed a position on 9 November 2026 to extend the VAT Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) to goods of any value and to make online platforms responsible for collecting VAT on goods sold into the EU [3][4]. It is a position, not adopted law, and the measures are due to apply from 1 July 2028 [3][4]. For non-EU sellers, the change matters most for consignments above €150, which the IOSS cannot cover today [1].

## EU Council agrees position on further VAT simplification for online sales

The Council agreed its position on 9 November 2026 on further measures to improve VAT collection on e-commerce sales into the EU [4]. PwC Deutschland reported it on 9 November and Regfollower on 10 November 2026 [4][3]. Ecommerce News said the proposal would expand the IOSS, which lets non-EU sellers register in one member state to account for VAT across the EU [1].

The position is not yet law. The European Parliament will be consulted before the Council formally adopts the rules [3][4]. We did not have the Council's own press release of 9 November 2026, so the detail below comes from secondary reports. Check the wording against the official Council text once you have it. Our baseline for existing rules is the 2025 directive, which the Council formally adopted on 18 July 2025 [2].

## Who is affected: non-EU sellers, platforms and EU consumers

The change concerns non-EU online sellers and the online platforms that sell their goods into the EU. Under the current rules, the IOSS can only be used for parcels valued below €150 [1]. Council Directive (EU) 2025/1539, published on 25 July 2025, already makes the supplier, or the deemed supplier under Article 14a(1), liable for import VAT on distance sales of imported goods that would be eligible for IOSS [5]. A supplier established in a third country without a suitable VAT mutual assistance agreement must also appoint a tax representative in the member state of importation [5].

Under the proposal as reported, platforms would collect VAT on behalf of the underlying seller and the EU consumer and pay it to the relevant authorities [4][1]. Regfollower says platforms will generally need to include applicable VAT and customs charges in the final prices shown to EU consumers at checkout [3].

For EU consumers, the European Commission says no new tax is created, because VAT is already due on all imported goods and is charged at checkout where the IOSS is used [5].

## What changes for sellers, and when

The reported changes are:

- **IOSS for all values.** The IOSS would cover goods of any value, not only consignments under €150 [3]. This is conditional on Parliament approving it [1]. The Council's agreement removes the value restriction [3].
- **Customs warehouses.** The IOSS would extend to e-commerce sales of goods already stored in EU customs warehouses by non-EU operators [3][1].
- **Platforms as deemed suppliers.** From 1 July 2028, following the launch of the EU customs data hub, non-EU online platforms would be treated as deemed suppliers for VAT on all goods they sell into the EU, regardless of value [3][4].

Products subject to excise duty would remain excluded from the IOSS [5]. The Council's measures also complete a package with the customs reform. That reform removed the €150 customs duty exemption threshold [3], and Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 removed threshold-based customs duty relief from 1 July 2026 [5].

The steps to date and the planned timetable are:

1. Council agrees position (9 November 2026) [1][4]
2. European Parliament consulted [4][5]
3. Council formally adopts the rules [4][5]
4. Rules apply from 1 July 2028 [4][5]

The 1 July 2028 date is conditional. Member States apply the provisions from that date, but if the IOSS functionality of the EU customs data hub is not operational by 1 June 2028, they apply them from the end of the transitional solution. That solution is limited to six months after the regulation's deadline, so there is a ceiling but no fixed calendar date [5]. The Commission proposal on IOSS intermediary criteria is due by 31 December 2027, and member states have until 30 June 2028 to transpose the directive [5].

## What sellers should do now

Because the position is not adopted law, we do not recommend changing VAT or checkout set-ups on the strength of it alone. A sensible preparation list is:

- **Map your current EU VAT and IOSS registrations** against the goods, channels and consignment values you sell, so you can see what the 2028 change would affect.
- **Identify any excise goods in your range.** Those stay outside the IOSS [5].
- **Ask marketplaces and fulfilment partners** how they plan to handle VAT collection and checkout display for EU orders.
- **Track the next steps:** the European Parliament's opinion, the Council's formal adoption, and publication in the Official Journal. The 2025 directive was published there on 25 July 2025 [5].

## What is not yet known

The following points are open in our sources:

- **Parliament's decision.** It is not known whether Parliament will approve the IOSS extension in the reported form or change the text [1].
- **Adoption date.** No date for formal Council adoption or Official Journal publication is given in our sources [4][5].
- **Customs warehouse scope.** RegReporting Desk reads the amended definition as covering goods dispatched from a customs warehouse for distance sales [5]. Other reports describe the warehouse change only in general terms [1][3], and we found no official text confirming the detail.
- **Platform obligations.** The Commission's summary says platforms will be responsible for VAT on all the sales they facilitate. RegReporting Desk says the operative text is narrower, covering distance sales of imported goods [5]. Regfollower's description of checkout display uses the word 'generally' [3], so the final wording could differ.
- **Data hub readiness.** Whether the data hub will be operational by 1 June 2028 is not known. A later start is possible under the transitional rule [5].

## Frequently asked questions

### Is the EU VAT change for online sellers now law?

No. The Council agreed a position on 9 November 2026, but it is not yet adopted law, and the European Parliament will be consulted first [3][4].

### When would the IOSS extension apply?

The measures are due to apply from 1 July 2028 [3][4]. That date is conditional on the data hub timetable, and a later start is possible under the transitional rule [5].

### Does the change create a new tax for EU consumers?

According to the European Commission, no new tax is created, because VAT is already due on all imported goods and is charged at checkout where the IOSS is used [5].

### Should sellers change their VAT set-up now?

The article does not recommend changing VAT or checkout set-ups on the strength of the position alone. Sellers should map current EU VAT and IOSS registrations and ask marketplaces how they plan to handle collection [5].

## Sources

1. European Council approves VAT simplification for online sales — Ecommerce News (Eurolutions), published 2026-11-10. https://ecommercenews.eu/european-council-approves-vat-simplification-for-online-sales/
2. VAT: Council formally adopts new rules simplifying tax collection for imports — Council of the European Union, published 2025-07-18. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2025/07/18/vat-council-formally-adopts-new-rules-simplifying-tax-collection-for-imports/
3. EU approves further VAT simplification rules for online sales — Regfollower, published 2026-11-10. https://regfollower.com/eu-approves-further-vat-simplification-rules-for-online-sales/
4. EU Council approves further VAT simplification rules for online sales — PwC Deutschland (Tax & Legal blog), published 2026-11-09. https://blogs.pwc.de/en/german-tax-and-legal-news/article/257716/eu-council-approves-further-vat-simplification-rules-for-online-sales
5. IOSS EUR 150 Threshold Removal: Council General Approach — RegReporting Desk, published 2026-11-11. https://regreportingdesk.com/ioss-eur-150-threshold-removal/