VAT reporting and OSS returns

Read each quarter's EU VAT figures, download the OSS return as a CSV file and review orders that need attention. This needs TierMint Pro.

What this screen is for

TierMint → VAT reporting helps you file the VAT that EU VAT and tax charges. It shows what you owe each EU member state for a quarter, gives you a file for your OSS portal, and lists the orders a person needs to look at.

TierMint is not a merchant of record, and this screen is not tax advice. TierMint adds up what it recorded at the time of each sale. You file your own returns. Where the screen shows two figures for the same sale, which one applies depends on facts only you and your accountant know.

Before you start

• Set your Merchant country under TierMint → Settings → Tax. TierMint needs it to tell domestic sales from cross-border ones. Without it, the screen shows "Set your business establishment country in the tax settings before viewing or exporting an OSS return." and builds no return.
• Tax calculation does not have to be on. The return and its download work with the tax engine off, so you can still file the quarters in which you charged VAT.

Who can use it:

Permission	What it allows
View TierMint reports (view_tiermint_reports)	The quarterly return, the CSV download and the flagged orders list. Give this to a bookkeeper.
Manage TierMint (manage_tiermint)	Also opening one order's tax record, because that record is about one identifiable buyer.

Without Manage TierMint, the flagged orders list shows order numbers as plain text, with a line that explains why.

Open the quarterly return

Open TierMint → VAT reporting. The screen opens on the last complete quarter, because you file after a quarter ends. Pick another quarter with Year and Quarter, including the current one if you want a running total.

The heading shows the quarter's start and end dates in UTC, and the country you file from. Sales in that country count as domestic.

The screen has two tabs, and they cover different spans of time:

• Quarterly return covers the quarter you picked.
• Flagged orders covers every flagged order, from any quarter.

Every date and time on the screen is in UTC, and quarters are worked out in UTC. An order placed near midnight at the end of a quarter can fall in the other quarter in your local time. The return uses the UTC date.

Read the quarterly return

On this OSS return

This table is what you file. It has one row for each member state and rate:

Column	What it shows
Member state	The country whose VAT you collected, the place of supply. It is not your own country.
Rate	The rate charged in that country.
Taxable base	The net value of the sales, without VAT.
VAT	The VAT due to that member state.
Sales	How many orders are in the row.
Refunds	How many refunds are netted off the row.

Rows are grouped by currency, with a total for each currency. Amounts in different currencies are never added together.

A refund of a sale from the same quarter is already netted off its row. So a row's VAT is not always the VAT of its sales.

Corrections to earlier periods

A refund of a sale from an earlier quarter cannot change a return you have filed. It goes on this quarter's return as an amendment that names its original period. These rows are in the download.

Corrections that can no longer be filed through OSS

An OSS amendment can be made within three years of the original return's due date. Corrections older than that are listed here and are not in the download. You settle them with the member state directly.

VAT that was not collected from the buyer

This section appears when a later VIES re-check withdrew a reverse charge. VIES gave a final answer that the buyer's VAT number is not registered, so the sale should have carried VAT. These sales are included in On this OSS return.

The table shows two VAT figures for each order, and TierMint does not choose between them:

Column	What it means
VAT on this return	The price the buyer paid is treated as if it included the VAT, and the VAT is split out of it. This is the figure filed in the return.
VAT if you re-invoice the customer	The VAT due if you go back to the buyer and collect the tax from them.

Which one applies depends on whether you can recover the tax from the buyer. See When a re-check finds a VAT number invalid.

A row recorded after the quarter's return was due carries a note saying so. A change after that point belongs on a later return as a correction. Do not re-file the closed quarter with the new figures.

Not on this OSS return

Each quarter, some figures are left off the OSS return on purpose. This section lists them, each with its reason, so your own total of EU sales can be matched to the return. It has three tables: Supplies, Refunds of supplies from earlier periods, and VAT not collected, outside this return.

Reason	What it means for you
A domestic supply	The sale was in your own country, so it goes on your national VAT return.
Reverse charged to a VAT-registered business	It goes on your recapitulative statement (EC Sales List), not on OSS.
The place of supply is outside the EU	There is no OSS liability for it.

For the first two reasons, the figure still goes on another report. Monaco is charged VAT at its own rate but counts as outside the EU here, so Monaco sales appear in this section.

Subscription renewals and plan-change prorations never reach any VAT report. They carry no tax record, so account for them yourself.

Orders that need attention

This section lists orders TierMint could not report completely, each with its finding. For example, a sale with no recorded place of supply, or an order whose audit record failed to save. These orders are not separate rows in the download. Look at each one before you rely on the quarter.

A long list shows its first 200 rows. A notice above the table says so, with the real total, and tells you what to do next.

Download the OSS return

Click Download the OSS return (CSV). The file is named after the quarter, for example tiermint-oss-2026-Q3.csv, and has one row per member state and rate.

Column	What it holds	Example
section	supply for this quarter's sales, correction for an amendment to an earlier period	supply
period	The quarter. On a correction row, the original period being corrected.	2026-Q3
country	The member state	DE
currency	The row's currency	EUR
vat_rate	The rate as a percentage	19.00
taxable_base	The net amount, in major units such as euros, not cents	4900.00
vat	The VAT, in major units	931.00

The file holds only the rows you can file. It does not hold:

• the orders that need attention
• the corrections that can no longer be filed through OSS
• the order-by-order detail of VAT that was not collected (those sales are in the file as ordinary rows)
• anything listed under Not on this OSS return

After each download, a notice counts the first three of those for the quarter you downloaded. If the counts are not zero, the file is complete for filing, but the quarter still has items to check on screen.

The file is not a submission. You still upload it, or copy the figures, into your own OSS portal. TierMint offers no IOSS export, because IOSS covers imported goods and TierMint sells electronic services.

Flagged orders

The Flagged orders tab lists every order the tax engine flagged, newest first. Pick a flag in Show to narrow the list: All flags, Awaiting a VAT number re-check, Thin location evidence or VAT not collected.

The table shows each order's number, completion date (UTC), place of supply, rate, total, VAT charged, and what needs attention.

Awaiting a VAT number re-check

The buyer gave a VAT number, VIES did not answer at the time, and your settings accepted the number. The sale was reverse charged on an unchecked number.

TierMint asks VIES again on its own, in a daily sweep. When VIES stays unavailable, the gap between tries grows, up to a week. After 12 tries with no answer, TierMint gives up.

What to do: usually nothing. The flag clears when VIES answers. If the answer is that the number is not registered, the order moves to VAT not collected. Twelve tries take about seven weeks, so a flag that stays longer means the re-check gave up. Check the number yourself on the VIES website and decide what to do about the sale.

Thin location evidence

The sale has fewer than two pieces of location evidence that agree. Most often your store has no IP country, so the only evidence is the country the buyer picked.

What to do: the sale itself is fine, and this is a note about your records. If every order has the flag, your store has no second signal. The EU VAT and tax page explains how to add one. New orders then stop being flagged. Past orders keep the flag, because their evidence is what was captured at the time.

VAT not collected

A re-check gave a final answer that the VAT number the sale was zero-rated on is not registered. The reverse charge no longer applies, so VAT is due on a sale where you collected none.

What to do: see When a re-check finds a VAT number invalid.

Only Awaiting a VAT number re-check clears on its own. The other two flags describe a past sale and stay.

When a re-check finds a VAT number invalid

TierMint does not change the order. The buyer paid what they paid and was invoiced for it, so the totals stay.

TierMint records the new VIES answer on the order's tax record, next to the original one, so the evidence for your decision at the time is kept. It then reports the sale under VAT that was not collected from the buyer.

You decide whether you can recover the tax from the buyer:

• If you cannot, the price paid is treated as if it included the VAT. The return files the figure in VAT on this return, and you absorb it.
• If you can, you invoice the buyer for the VAT, and the figure is VAT if you re-invoice the customer.

TierMint shows both and files the first, because that is the treatment when recovery is not possible. Ask your accountant, especially when the amounts are large or there are many such orders.

If the finding came after you filed the quarter, do not re-file it. The row says it was recorded late, and the correction goes on a later return.

Open one order's tax record

From the Flagged orders tab, click an order number. This needs the Manage TierMint permission. The record has a Back to flagged orders link and an Open the order link, and these sections:

Section	What it shows
The order	Status, completion date, order total and VAT charged.
What the engine decided	Place of supply, the rate applied, the rate at the place of supply, the rate source, whether the sale was reverse charged, the VAT assessed and when.
The buyer	The VAT number, whether it was verified, and whether it was accepted without a VIES answer.
Location evidence	Billing country, IP country, the country the buyer declared, the resolved country, whether the signals agree, and whether there were two proofs that agree.
VIES consultation	The answer, the consultation number, when it was checked, and whether the answer came from the cache.
Later re-check	The outcome, how many answers came back, how many times VIES was unavailable, and when it was last tried.

The record never shows the buyer's IP address or the business name and address VIES returned. Neither is needed to justify a tax decision, and both are removed when a buyer's data is erased.

If the VAT assessed differs from the VAT charged, a notice says so. The charged figure is what the buyer paid and what the return uses. An order placed while tax calculation was off has no tax record, and the screen says so.

Common questions

Why does the screen ask me to set my establishment country?

TierMint cannot tell a domestic sale from a cross-border one without it. Set Merchant country under TierMint → Settings → Tax.

The quarter is empty, but I made sales. Why?

Check that you picked the right quarter, in UTC. Renewals never appear in a quarter. Then check that the sales are completed orders: pending and abandoned orders are not on a return. Then check Orders that need attention: a sale with no recorded place of supply is listed there instead.

Why do the figures not match my own total of EU sales?

Look at Not on this OSS return. Domestic sales, reverse-charged business sales and sales outside the EU are left off the return, each with its reason. Renewals and prorations are in no report at all.

Why is a row's VAT not the rate times the taxable base?

A refund from the same quarter was netted off the row, or the row includes a sale whose reverse charge was withdrawn. That sale's VAT is worked out as already included in the price.

Why does nothing download when I click the button?

The browser receives the file after TierMint builds it, so a browser setting or extension that blocks automatic downloads can stop it. Check your download settings, and check whether the notice on screen shows an error.

A list stops at 200 orders. How do I see the rest?

Orders that need attention gets shorter as you repair the orders in it, so fix what is shown and reload. VAT that was not collected from the buyer does not get shorter, because those findings are settled. Use the Flagged orders tab with VAT not collected to work through those orders.