Belgium Advances ViDA VAT Bill Ahead of Parliamentary Debate on 22 October 2026

• Belgium’s draft legislation partially implements the EU VAT in the Digital Age reforms, with key provisions taking effect on 1 January 2027 and 1 July 2029.
• The bill extends the One Stop Shop, adjusts platform and distance-selling rules, harmonises VAT chargeability and prepares for the gradual replacement of the call-off stock simplification.
• The Finance and Budget Committee approved the complete bill by 11 votes and two abstentions. It is scheduled for discussion in Parliament on 22 October 2026.

Extended article

Belgium is progressing with the partial implementation of the European Union’s VAT in the Digital Age, or ViDA, reforms. The draft law amends the Belgian VAT Code to introduce measures applicable from 1 January 2027 and 1 July 2029.

The bill, covered by parliamentary document DOC 56 1718, implements Articles 2 and 4 of the ViDA Directive. According to the government, the provisions have been transposed closely and without additional Belgian “gold-plating”, because the relevant EU rules leave Member States little or no national discretion.

The measures form part of the broader ViDA framework, which is built around three pillars:

• the simplification of VAT registrations through the One Stop Shop;
• revised VAT rules for the platform economy; and
• the further development of electronic invoicing and digital reporting.

The present Belgian bill primarily addresses the first two pillars and a series of related technical amendments.

Extension of the One Stop Shop

A central objective is to reduce the need for businesses to maintain VAT registrations in multiple Member States. The bill extends and adjusts the OSS special schemes so that additional cross-border transactions can be reported through a single Member State.

The non-Union OSS scheme will be broadened by removing the requirement that the customer must be established in a particular Member State. In addition, certain cross-border supplies of gas, electricity, heating and cooling may temporarily be reported through the Union scheme from 1 January 2027 until 30 June 2028. This temporary arrangement is intended to bridge the period before a more comprehensive simplification for transfers of own goods becomes available.

The government stressed that these changes concern the mechanism through which VAT is reported and paid. They do not change the place of taxation or the applicable VAT rate. For example, an electricity supplier operating charging points in another Member State could use the simplified scheme instead of obtaining a local VAT registration there.

Gradual end of the call-off stock simplification

The current call-off stock arrangement will be phased out as the permanent ViDA simplification for transfers of own goods becomes available.

From 1 July 2028, businesses will be able to use a new optional OSS mechanism for qualifying movements of their own goods between Member States. Transitional rules will remain available for goods transferred before that date, but only until 30 June 2029 at the latest.

This staged transition may require businesses using call-off stock structures to review:

• their cross-border inventory flows;
• existing call-off stock agreements;
• foreign VAT registrations;
• ERP tax determination and reporting logic; and
• the timing for migrating transactions to the new OSS mechanism.

A separate Belgian legislative proposal covering provisions taking effect around the middle of 2028 was still being prepared at the time of the committee discussion.

Broader deemed-supplier rules for platforms

The bill also expands the VAT deemed-supplier fiction for electronic platforms.

Under the existing rules, a platform facilitating certain sales of goods by a non-EU seller to a private customer may be treated as having purchased and resold the goods itself for VAT purposes. The revised provisions extend this mechanism to additional categories of customers treated similarly to non-taxable persons in the context of distance sales.

These categories include certain diplomatic and consular missions, international organisations and taxable persons covered by special arrangements, subject to the applicable conditions. The purpose is to align the platform rules more closely with the wider EU e-commerce framework.

Revised application of the EUR 10,000 threshold

The legislation clarifies the calculation of the EUR 10,000 EU threshold for intra-EU distance sales and certain telecommunications, broadcasting and electronically supplied services.

Under the revised approach, only qualifying transactions made from the Member State in which the supplier is established will be included in the threshold calculation. Sales dispatched from a Member State in which the supplier is not established will no longer be counted.

As a result, the EUR 10,000 threshold may be exceeded later than under the previous interpretation. The Belgian tax administration intends to issue an administrative circular containing practical examples, including guidance for businesses holding inventory or operating fulfilment centres in different Member States.

The bill also introduces an irrebuttable presumption that a taxable person using OSS has opted for the general place-of-supply rules relating to the transactions concerned.

Harmonised VAT chargeability

The draft legislation further aligns the time at which VAT becomes chargeable under the relevant OSS schemes.

In principle:

• for supplies of goods, VAT becomes chargeable when the goods arrive at their destination;
• for services, VAT becomes chargeable when the service is completed; and
• where payment or an advance is received before the taxable event, VAT becomes chargeable upon receipt of that payment.

Businesses applying OSS will therefore need to ensure that transactional data, logistics information, service-completion dates and advance payments are correctly captured in their systems.

Small businesses excluded from the import scheme

Businesses applying the special VAT exemption scheme for small enterprises will not be permitted to use the Import One Stop Shop. According to the government, this mainly codifies a practice already followed in the Belgian VAT system.

Questions over costs and measurable benefits

Although the bill is presented as an administrative simplification, several members of the Finance and Budget Committee questioned whether its benefits had been adequately quantified.

Concerns included:

• transition costs for accounting and ERP systems;
• recurring data and compliance expenses;
• the impact on SMEs and smaller online sellers;
• the cumulative effect of successive changes between 2027 and 2029;
• the costs transferred by platforms to sellers and consumers; and
• the absence of reliable estimates of avoided foreign VAT registrations.

The government acknowledged that it did not yet have sufficiently detailed figures on the number of affected businesses, implementation costs or expected savings. It described the measures as budget-neutral or potentially slightly positive, while recognising that the economic effects were difficult to quantify.

Committee approval and next step

The Finance and Budget Committee approved Article 1 unanimously. Articles 2 through 14 were adopted by 11 votes and two abstentions. The complete bill, following legislative and linguistic corrections, was also approved by 11 votes and two abstentions, with no votes against.

The bill is scheduled to be discussed in Parliament on 22 October 2026. If adopted, businesses involved in cross-border sales, platform transactions, energy supplies, call-off stock arrangements or OSS reporting should begin translating the legal changes into concrete system, registration and process requirements well ahead of 1 January 2027.

Source: Belgian Chamber of Representatives, Belgium, DOC 56 1718/002, committee report dated 2 October 2026.