Selling used cars to EU consumers abroad: VAT rules
Selling used cars to EU consumers in another country: margin scheme vs normal VAT, distance sales, OSS, new means of transport and buyer collection.
· 9 min read
When selling used cars to EU consumers in another member state, the VAT depends on how you bought the car. A margin-scheme car is always taxed in your country, on the margin, whoever transports it. A car bought with deductible VAT is taxed in the buyer's country if you deliver it (a distance sale, usually declared via the OSS); if the buyer collects, your VAT applies.
Selling used cars to EU consumers: which VAT applies
The VAT treatment follows two questions: which VAT scheme the car is in, and who moves the car across the border. Everything else follows from those two answers.
| Car and situation | Where VAT is due | Which rate | How it is declared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Margin-scheme car, any transport | Dealer's country | Dealer's rate, on the margin | Normal domestic VAT return |
| VAT-qualifying car, buyer collects and drives or ships it home | Dealer's country | Dealer's rate, on the full price | Normal domestic VAT return |
| VAT-qualifying car, dealer delivers or arranges transport | Buyer's country (distance sale) | Buyer's rate, on the full price | OSS return, or local VAT registration |
| New means of transport (≤ 6 months or ≤ 6,000 km) | Buyer's country, paid by the buyer | Buyer's rate | Exempt supply by the dealer; buyer declares it at home |
The legal basis sits in the VAT Directive 2006/112/EC: Article 32 (goods dispatched by the supplier are supplied where transport begins), Article 33 (intra-Community distance sales of goods are taxed where transport ends), Article 35 (the distance-sales rule does not apply to second-hand goods and second-hand means of transport taxed under the margin scheme) and Article 138(2)(a) (exemption for new means of transport).
Margin-scheme cars: taxed in your country, always
A car bought from a private seller, or from another dealer under the margin scheme, stays in the margin scheme when you sell it to a consumer in another EU country. Article 35 of the VAT Directive switches off the distance-selling rule for these cars, so the place of supply remains the place where the car is when transport begins – your country.
In practice that means:
- You charge your own national VAT on your margin only, exactly as for a local customer.
- It makes no difference whether you deliver the car to Vienna or the buyer collects it in Munich.
- The OSS is not relevant for these sales.
- The invoice must not show VAT separately and should refer to the margin scheme (in English, "Margin scheme – Second-hand goods", per Article 226(14) of the Directive).
Example (German dealer, 19%): a 2020 VW Golf bought from a private seller for €14,000 and sold for €16,900 to a consumer in the Netherlands. Margin €2,900, VAT 2,900 × 19/119 = €463.03, paid in Germany. For reference, according to listings tracked by MyCarDealer in Germany in October 2026, the median asking price of a 2019–2021 Golf was €16,900 (1,107 listings).
The buyer's country may still charge its own registration tax when the car is registered there – Dutch BPM, Austrian NoVA or Polish excise, for example. That is not VAT and is paid by whoever registers the car, but it changes what a buyer from that country can afford to pay you. See the VAT margin scheme across borders for the purchase side of the same rules.
For car dealers
Know your margin before you buy
MyCarDealer compares any car from an auction or listing with the market in your country and shows the net margin after VAT, transport and costs – and the maximum bid.
Request accessVAT-qualifying cars: distance sales and the €10,000 threshold
When you sell a car on which you deducted VAT – typically an ex-lease or ex-fleet car bought on a normal VAT invoice – and you deliver it to a consumer in another member state, it is an intra-Community distance sale of goods. Under Article 33(a), the place of supply is where the transport ends, so the buyer's country's VAT applies.
Three details catch dealers out:
- "Arranged by the dealer" is wide. Under Article 5a of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 282/2011, goods count as dispatched "by or on behalf of the supplier" also when you intervene indirectly – for example by booking or recommending the transporter, or invoicing transport to the buyer. Putting the customer in touch with "your" carrier can be enough.
- The €10,000 threshold is EU-wide and tiny for car dealers. Article 59c lets a supplier established in only one member state keep its own country's VAT while total cross-border B2C distance sales (plus certain electronic services) stay at or below €10,000 per calendar year. One car normally exceeds that, so in practice destination VAT applies from the first or second sale.
- Proof of transport matters. Keep the CMR consignment note or transport invoice and the delivery confirmation, because the place of supply depends on them.
When must a dealer use the OSS for car sales?
The One-Stop Shop (the "Union scheme" in Articles 369a–369k of the Directive) is the optional way to declare destination VAT on distance sales without registering in each buyer's country. You register in your own member state, charge the buyer's VAT rate on the invoice and file one quarterly OSS return that lists the sales per country.
You need the OSS – or a local VAT registration in the buyer's country – only when all of these apply:
- the car was not sold under the margin scheme,
- the buyer is a consumer (no valid VAT number),
- you deliver the car or arrange its transport to another member state,
- your cross-border B2C sales exceed the €10,000 threshold.
If you opt into the OSS, it covers all your intra-Community distance sales, not only cars. You cannot use it for one country and register locally for another. Input VAT is not reclaimed through the OSS; it stays in your domestic return.
Example: a German dealer sells a VAT-qualifying 2022 BMW 3 Series for €24,000 net to a consumer in Austria and delivers it with his own transporter. Austrian VAT at 20% applies: invoice €28,800, of which €4,800 goes into the OSS return. Had the Austrian buyer collected the car in Germany, German VAT at 19% (€4,560) would apply and the invoice would show €28,560.
What changes if the buyer collects the car?
If a private buyer collects the car and takes it home themselves, there is no distance sale. The supply happens in your country and you charge your domestic VAT – margin VAT for margin-scheme cars, full VAT for VAT-qualifying ones – exactly as for a local customer.
Collection must be real. If you book the truck, pay the driver or add a transport charge to your invoice, the tax authority may treat it as dispatch on your behalf. Write the collection arrangement into the sales contract and keep the collection confirmation signed by the buyer or their carrier.
Practical points for collected cars:
- The buyer usually needs export or temporary plates from your country, or a transporter. German export plates are the common route for cars leaving Germany on their own wheels.
- The buyer pays any registration tax at home; you only provide the documents (registration certificate, CoC, invoice).
- Because VAT was charged in your country, the buyer pays no further VAT at home for a used car.
New means of transport: the exception for nearly-new cars
A car supplied within six months of first registration, or with no more than 6,000 km, is a "new means of transport" under Article 2(2)(b) of the Directive. For these cars the rules flip: you invoice without VAT (exempt under Article 138(2)(a)), even to a private buyer, and the buyer pays VAT in their own country when registering it.
The margin scheme does not apply to such supplies, and the distance-selling rules do not either. You need proof that the car left your country and should inform the buyer that VAT will be collected at home. More detail is in new means of transport VAT.
Consumer law follows the buyer as well
Tax is only half of a cross-border consumer sale. If you actively target buyers in another country – a translated website, local ads, a delivery offer – the buyer can generally rely on the mandatory consumer protection of their home country under Article 6 of the Rome I Regulation, including the two-year legal guarantee rules as implemented there. A contract concluded entirely at a distance also gives the consumer a 14-day right of withdrawal under the Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU.
Price that risk into the deal. A car you will have to collect from 900 km away if the buyer withdraws needs a larger margin than a local sale. Our guide to selling cars to customers abroad covers the contract side.
How to price a cross-border consumer sale
Before agreeing a price with a foreign private buyer:
- Confirm the VAT scheme of the car from your purchase invoice.
- Decide who transports the car, and write it into the contract.
- Apply the right rate: yours for margin-scheme or collected cars, the buyer's for delivered VAT-qualifying cars.
- Add transport, plates and paperwork costs.
- Check what the same car sells for in the buyer's market, including that country's registration tax.
The net margin after VAT is what pays your overheads. MyCarDealer calculates it with your own country's margin-scheme rate; you can test a car with a free valuation.
A note on future rules: the EU's VAT in the Digital Age package (Directive (EU) 2025/516) extends the OSS from 1 July 2028. An early proposal to tax cross-border margin-scheme sales at destination was, according to published summaries of the final package, not adopted, but check your national implementation before 2028.
Frequently asked questions
Which VAT applies when I sell a used car to a private buyer in another EU country?
If the car is in the margin scheme, your own country's VAT applies to the margin, regardless of transport. If the car is VAT-qualifying and you deliver it, the buyer's country's VAT applies to the full price. If the buyer collects it, your own VAT applies.
Does distance selling apply to margin-scheme cars?
No. Article 35 of the VAT Directive excludes second-hand means of transport taxed under the margin scheme from the distance-selling rule in Article 33. These sales are always taxed where the car is when transport begins.
When must a dealer use the OSS for car sales?
Only when you deliver a VAT-qualifying car to a consumer in another member state and your cross-border consumer sales exceed €10,000 a year. The alternative is a VAT registration in the buyer's country. Margin-scheme sales and collected cars never go into the OSS.
What changes if the private buyer collects the car?
The sale becomes a domestic supply in your country, so you charge your own VAT. Make sure collection is genuinely organised by the buyer and documented, otherwise the tax office may treat it as a distance sale.
Can I sell a car VAT-free to a foreign private buyer?
Only if it is a new means of transport – supplied within six months of first use or with no more than 6,000 km. Then the supply is exempt and the buyer pays VAT at home. Older used cars sold to consumers always carry VAT in one of the two countries.