Special scheme of the single administrative place
If your company provides telecommunications services, broadcasting services (radio or television), or electronic services (i.e. selected services), these services must be taxed in the member state of the recipient. The Special scheme of the single administrative place (known as the Mini One Stop Shop) is designed to simplify tax compliance in cases where these services are provided to a non-taxable person. This means you do not need to register in multiple member states — instead, you can declare and pay VAT due in other member states through the Mini One Stop Shop.
Examples of individual services covered by the special scheme (for the full list, see Council Implementing Regulation 282/2011 as amended by Council Regulation 1042/2013)
electronically supplied services
websites,
downloading of apps,
music,
films,
computer games,
access to online computer games,
antivirus software,
e-books,
online auctions, etc.
Note: In all cases, the service must be provided via a data or electronic network. Online sales of goods on physical media (e.g. books on CD/DVD) do not qualify as such a service.
telecommunications services
fixed and mobile telephone services,
videophone services,
telephone services provided over the internet,
fax,
telegraph,
telex,
internet access, etc.
radio and television broadcasting:
transmission of radio or television programmes via a radio or television network,
live streaming of radio or television programmes over the internet (IP streaming), etc.
Initial setup
Before you start issuing documents under the Mini One Stop Shop scheme, you need to complete several initial configuration steps to ensure correct functionality:
In the "Company" – "Settings" menu, on the "Legislation" tab, check the "Special scheme of the single administrative place" checkbox.
In the "Tools – Codebooks – Posting rules" menu, create a new posting rule that you will use when issuing invoices under the MOSS scheme. On this posting rule, select "VAT fulfilment code" – "Special scheme of the single administrative place (Mini One Stop Shop)" from the list.
In the "Money – List of bank accounts" menu, fill in the "BIC" and "IBAN" codes for the bank accounts from which you will remit the tax. Without entering this information, it is not possible to generate a MOSS tax return for the given bank account.
Creating an issued invoice
In the Sales menu, select "Issued invoices" and click the "New" button to open a new form.
Fill in all required fields in the "Invoice type" section.
Select the customer. The customer must have a country specified and must not be marked as a VAT payer.
In the "Specification" tab, enter the posting rule for which the "VAT fulfilment code" field is set to "Special scheme of the single administrative place (MOSS)".
In the "Accounting and VAT line" tab, the customer's country of residence and VAT line "26" are already loaded, and the VAT rates are updated for the selected VAT country.
Save the invoice using the "Save and close" button.
MOSS tax return
The tax period for MOSS purposes is a calendar quarter (§ 110q of the VAT Act). The tax return must be submitted exclusively via the tax portal. The user is required to submit the tax return within 20 days after the end of the tax period, even if no selected services were provided during that period (§ 110r para. 1 of the VAT Act). A so-called "nil return" must therefore also be submitted. The tax return deadlines fall on 20 April, 20 July, 20 October, and 20 January, even if that date falls on a weekend or public holiday.
You can generate the relevant XML file in ABRA Flexi under "Accounting" – "Accounting outputs" – "MOSS Tax Return". Detailed instructions can be found in the help section of this guide.