OSS returns (One-Stop Shop)
OSS (the EU One-Stop Shop) is a VAT scheme for companies that ship goods to consumers in other EU countries. Under OSS, such a sale carries the VAT of the buyer's country, and the seller reports it once per quarter, in Poland, on the VIU-DO return. Complaia marks these invoices as OSS documents and, on this screen, works out the quarterly return for you. You download the return as an XML file, file it with the Polish tax office and pay the tax in euro.
Where to find it: Finance → OSS returns. The OSS settings of a seller are on Finance → Sales entities, in the entity's Sales to consumers in other EU countries section.
For companies with a sales entity in Poland only
OSS in Complaia is for sales entities (your invoicing companies) whose country is Poland. The OSS returns menu item appears only when your company has at least one such entity. Sellers from other countries never see OSS options on their invoices.
When you'll use it
- Your Polish company ships goods to private customers in other EU countries, and its sales there have passed the PLN 42,000 threshold.
- You have chosen to charge the buyer's country VAT even below the threshold (the VAT-29 choice).
- A quarter has ended and you need the VIU-DO return and the amount to pay.
- You corrected an invoice from a quarter you have already filed.
- Your accountant asks for the OSS register for a quarter.
Key concepts
- OSS document — an invoice, a correction or a pro forma that carries the VAT of the delivery country instead of Polish VAT. It has its own numbering series, has no exchange rate of the National Bank of Poland (NBP) and is never sent to KSeF (Poland's national e-invoicing system). The invoice page marks it with an OSS badge.
- Basis — the reason the document carries foreign VAT. There are two:
- the entity's sales to consumers in other EU countries exceeded the PLN 42,000 threshold;
- the entity chose the buyer's country VAT below the threshold, on the VAT-29 form.
- Delivery country — the country the goods go to. It is not necessarily the buyer's address.
- Quarter — each OSS invoice belongs to the return of the quarter in which the goods were delivered. A correction belongs to the quarter in which it was issued.
- ECB rate — amounts in a currency other than euro are converted at the rate of the European Central Bank (ECB) for the last day of the quarter. When the ECB published no rate that day, the next published rate is used. Each document is converted separately.
- Nil return — a return for a quarter with no OSS sales and no corrections. It must still be filed on time.
- Filed — once you mark a return as filed, it does not change any more. A document issued, corrected or withdrawn later goes to the next return that is not filed yet, as a correction.
Return states
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Quarter in progress | The quarter has not ended. The amounts can still change. |
| To file | The quarter has ended and the deadline has not passed. |
| Overdue | The deadline has passed and the return is not marked as filed. |
| Filed | You marked the return as filed. |
| Outside the scheme | The entity did not use OSS in that quarter, so no return is filed. |
The deadline for filing and paying is the last day of the month after the quarter. It is not moved when it falls on a weekend or a public holiday.
The screen
📷 Screenshot to add: OSS returns with the Quarters list on one side and a quarter in the To file state on the other, showing the amount payable, the deadline and the buttons
Sales entity — shown only when your company has more than one Polish sales entity. Choose the entity whose returns you want to see.
Quarters — the list of quarters of the chosen entity. Each row shows the quarter, its state, the number of documents and the deadline, or the date the return was filed. Click a quarter to open it.
The quarter shows, from the top:
- Amount payable — the total tax to pay, in euro. For a nil return a note says so.
- Unique reference number UNR — the reference you must use as the title of the bank transfer. Copy puts it on the clipboard.
- Filing and payment deadline.
- The buttons Download XML, Download CSV register and Mark as filed (or Undo marking on a filed return). When a button is greyed out, a line under it says why.
- Notes — information, warnings and errors about this return. Some notes have a button that takes you where you can fix the problem.
- Changes after filing — on a filed quarter, the documents that were created or changed later and go to the next return.
Below come the parts of the return:
| Section | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Supplies in the quarter | Taxable amount and VAT in euro, by country of consumption and rate, with the total VAT. |
| Corrections of earlier quarters | VAT changes for quarters already filed, by country and period, with the documents behind each change. |
| Balance by Member State | VAT on supplies plus corrections, for each country, and the Amount payable. A negative balance does not lower the amount payable. The country concerned refunds the overpayment. |
| ECB rates | The exchange rate used for each currency, with its date. |
| Documents | Every OSS invoice and correction in the return, with its role, for example Issued after filing or Withdrawn after filing. |
| How to file and pay | The four steps below, and the bank account, BIC, payment currency and transfer title. |
Common tasks
Set up a sales entity for OSS
Do this once, with the data from your OSS registration (the VIU-R form).
- Go to Finance → Sales entities, open the Polish entity and click Edit.
- Find the section Sales to consumers in other EU countries.
- Switch on OSS registration.
- Set OSS applies from to the date from the VIU-R form. Leave OSS applies until empty unless you have left the scheme.
- Answer Seat and activity only in Poland. Complaia issues OSS documents only for a business whose seat and activity are in Poland alone.
- Choose the JPK settlement period: month or quarter. JPK is the Polish electronic VAT record that you file for each period. The setting decides the deadline for the proof that the goods were delivered.
- Choose Who files the VIU-DO return: a company under its full name, or a natural person under first name and surname. A sole proprietorship files as a natural person.
- Record the basis:
- If sales passed the PLN 42,000 threshold, tick the matching year and, for the current year, enter the day the threshold was passed.
- If you chose the buyer's country VAT on the VAT-29 form, fill in the date of the choice and the first delivery after it.
- Click Save.
The section also shows a counter of your sales towards the threshold this year and last year, based on the documents in Complaia. You can add sales that Complaia cannot see, as a net amount in PLN. When the counter shows that the threshold was passed, a note suggests marking it. Mark fills in the answer for you.
A line at the end of the section tells you what Complaia will do today with an invoice for a consumer in another EU country: issue it with the buyer's country VAT, or with Polish VAT, and why.
To give OSS documents their own number prefix, use Prefix for OSS in the entity's numbering. See Sales entities.
Issue an OSS invoice
You do not switch OSS on by hand for each invoice. Complaia checks the conditions and, when all of them are met, the form shows the section Sale to a consumer in another EU country with Settle under the OSS scheme switched on. The conditions are:
- the seller is a Polish entity with OSS set up, and the delivery date falls in its OSS period;
- the entity has a basis: the threshold was passed or the VAT-29 choice is in force;
- the Buyer type is Individual;
- the goods go to an EU country other than Poland;
- you ship the goods or arrange their transport. When the buyer takes the goods away in person, or sends a carrier of their own, the sale is domestic;
- the document contains goods only. Services, goods installed at the buyer's, new means of transport and margin-scheme goods are not supported.
When an invoice is built from an order, the delivery country comes from the order's delivery address. On an invoice written by hand, open the section with the link under the buyer's country.
With OSS switched on:
- Check the Delivery country. For some countries a Region field appears, because the rate depends on the region, or a territory is outside EU VAT. A sale to such a territory is an export, not OSS.
- Check the VAT rate of each line. The field shows the rates of the delivery country, marked standard or reduced. A line needs a rate from 0 to 100. Exemption codes are not allowed.
- For a line you typed by hand, set Item type to goods or service.
- Issue the invoice as usual — see Invoicing.
The issued document takes its number from the OSS series. It has no NBP rate and no VAT in PLN. Give it to the customer as a PDF.
To keep a document on Polish VAT, switch Settle under the OSS scheme off. The section then explains that the document stays domestic. When the conditions are not met, the section explains which one is missing.
One OSS document covers one place of delivery and one quarter. Orders going to different countries, or deliveries in different quarters, need separate invoices.
Pro formas can be OSS documents too. They stay in the pro forma series. The invoice made from such a pro forma is an OSS document only if the conditions are still met on its date.
Corrections of an OSS invoice keep its delivery country, region and rates. To change the country, correct the invoice to zero and issue a new one.
Check the proof of delivery
An issued OSS invoice has an OSS scheme card. It shows the basis, the return quarter, the delivery country and the Proof of delivery.
The proof is the carrier's delivery confirmation. The status changes by itself when the shipment linked to the document is delivered in the delivery country. Until then the card shows the deadline for the proof, which follows from the JPK settlement period. When the deadline passes without proof, the card warns you.
Prepare and file a quarterly return
- Go to Finance → OSS returns. Choose the Sales entity if you have several.
- Click the quarter. It must have ended: during the quarter the return can be viewed, but not downloaded or filed.
- Read the notes. Fix every error, for example a missing exchange rate or a document with an unclear rate type. Download XML stays greyed out until the errors are fixed.
- Check Supplies in the quarter, Corrections of earlier quarters and Balance by Member State.
- Click Download XML. File it in the Polish tax portal
e-Urząd Skarbowy, or throughe-Deklaracjewith a qualified electronic signature. - Pay the Amount payable in euro to the account shown under How to file and pay, with the UNR as the transfer title. Check the account number on the Polish Ministry of Finance website before you pay.
- Back in Complaia, click Mark as filed, set the Filing date and click Save.
From now on the return does not change. Documents of this quarter that are issued, corrected or withdrawn later go to the next open return as corrections.
Download CSV register gives the OSS register of the quarter: every document and line, including lines that are not part of the return, such as lines at 0%.
Undo the filed mark
Use this only if you marked a return as filed by mistake.
- Open the filed quarter and click Undo marking.
- Confirm.
The quarter goes back to the returns to file. Documents changed after the filing date go back to it, instead of to corrections in the next return. The file you already sent to the tax office does not change.
When it doesn't work
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| OSS returns is not in the menu | Your company has no sales entity in Poland, or you have neither Finance: View nor Finance: settings. | Add a Polish sales entity, or ask for the permission. |
| This entity does not use the OSS scheme. | OSS registration is off in the entity settings. | Click Entity settings and set up OSS. |
| Download XML is greyed out | The quarter is still in progress, the entity was outside the scheme, or the return has errors. | Read the line under the button and the notes. |
| Mark as filed is greyed out | The same reasons, or the return is already filed. | Fix the errors first. |
| A note says the ECB has not yet published a rate | The ECB publishes rates on working days in the afternoon. | Come back later. |
| A note says the ECB does not publish a rate for a currency | Documents in that currency cannot be converted to euro. | Prepare the return for them outside Complaia. |
| A note says the entity's NIP is not valid | The return needs a valid Polish tax number. | Correct the tax number of the sales entity. |
| A note says it is not set who files the return | Who files the VIU-DO return is empty. | Fill it in the entity's OSS settings. |
| A note lists earlier quarters that are not marked as filed | Changes to documents of those quarters may land in the wrong return. | File those returns, or mark them as filed if they are already with the tax office. |
| A note says lines with a 0% rate or a code are not part of the return | A return row needs a positive rate. | Nothing to fix. The CSV register lists these lines. |
| A note says a correction is past the deadline for corrections | A correction can go to an OSS return only within three years. | Settle that correction directly in the country concerned. |
| On the invoice: Choose the delivery country: an EU country other than Poland. | OSS is on, but no valid delivery country is set. | Choose the country, or switch OSS off. |
| On the invoice: OSS document lines need a rate from 0 to 100, without a code instead of a rate. | A line has an exemption code or no rate. | Type a rate on each line. |
| On the invoice: orders go to different countries, or lines have deliveries in different quarters | One OSS document covers one place and one quarter. | Issue a separate invoice for each. |
| The OSS switch is greyed out | One of the conditions is not met. The section says which one. | Fix the entity settings or the buyer data, or issue a domestic invoice. |
Permissions
| To do this | You need |
|---|---|
| Open OSS returns and view the returns | Finance: View or Finance: settings |
| Download the XML file and the CSV register | Finance: export or Finance: settings |
| Mark a return as filed, or undo the mark | Finance: settings |
| Change the OSS settings of a sales entity | Finance: settings |
| Issue an OSS invoice | the same as any invoice — see Invoicing |
Related
- Sales entities — where OSS is set up, and the OSS number prefix
- Invoicing — issuing invoices
- VAT on invoices — rates and exemption codes on lines
- Corrections & cancellation — correcting an OSS invoice
- KSeF — why OSS documents are not sent there