Expand across all 27 EU nations without registering for foreign VAT. Learn how our Pure Hybrid Tax Model, Dutch Union OSS filings, and automated self-billing eliminate cross-border tax compliance friction.
The 30-Second Compliance Summary: • Zero Foreign VAT Registrations: You never need to register for VAT or file returns in any of the other 26 EU nations. • We File Your Cross-Border Tax: For cross-border EU sales, Salp acts as the legal Seller of Record (Deemed Supplier) and remits destination VAT directly via our centralized Dutch Union OSS return. • Domestic Sales Stay Yours: Sales to customers in your home country remain standard domestic sales on your normal local VAT return. • Automated Invoicing: Salp generates compliant self-billing credit notes for every payout cycle. No manual B2B invoicing required. • Protected Margins: Platform commission is calculated strictly on your net retail price, ensuring identical profit margins across all European tax jurisdictions.
For independent European brands, expanding across the EU Single Market is the fastest way to access over 450 million consumers. However, cross-border commerce historically carries a significant administrative penalty: Value-Added Tax (VAT) fragmentation.
Each EU member state operates its own tax authority, with standard VAT rates ranging from 17% in Luxembourg to 27% in Hungary. Managing individual country tax thresholds, registering with foreign treasuries, and filing multiple monthly returns can easily cost thousands of euros in local accounting fees, which erodes the profitability of international expansion.
Salp was engineered to eliminate this barrier completely.
Operating under the European Union's 2021 E-Commerce VAT Directive, Salp utilizes a verified Pure Hybrid Tax Model. By dynamically distinguishing between domestic sales and cross-border European shipments, our engine takes full legal and administrative responsibility for foreign tax collection, remittance, and One-Stop Shop (OSS) filings, while allowing you to run your business as usual from your home country.
Our intelligent tax engine automatically evaluates each order based on two data points: your physical dispatch warehouse and the customer's delivery destination. Here is how the two operating models compare:
| Transaction Dimension | Cross-Border EU Sales | Domestic Home-Country Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Routing Scenario | Warehouse in Country A → Customer in Country B (for example, German brand shipping to France) | Warehouse in Country A → Customer in Country A (for example, German brand shipping to Germany) |
| Legal Model | Deemed Supplier (Art. 14a EU VAT Directive) | Disclosed Agent (Direct Brokerage) |
| Statutory Seller of Record | Salp Operating B.V. | Your Brand |
| Who Remits Destination VAT? | Salp (remitted quarterly via Dutch Union OSS) | Your Brand (remitted via your domestic VAT return) |
| Payout Type to You | Net Payout (VAT retained by Salp to remit to authorities) | Gross Payout (includes product net + domestic VAT) |
| Your Tax Filing Action | 0% Intra-Community Supply (Zero foreign filings) | Standard domestic sales declaration (Normal business) |
| Invoicing Mechanism | Automated Self-Billing credit note issued by Salp | Standard customer invoice or receipt |
Whenever an order is shipped from your warehouse to an EU customer in a different member state, Salp dynamically operates as the statutory Deemed Supplier under Article 14a(1) of the EU VAT Directive (transposed into Dutch law under Article 3c of the Wet op de omzetbelasting 1968).
Under this legal "Buy-Sell" framework, the single customer purchase is structured into two concurrent transactions:
What this means for you: You never have to track foreign sales thresholds, register for VAT in other countries, or file European OSS returns. From your accounting perspective, you have simply made a routine B2B sale to a Dutch corporate partner.
When an order is shipped to a customer located within your own home country (for example, your German warehouse ships to an address in Germany), cross-border tax rules do not apply.
In this scenario, Salp operates as a Disclosed Agent:
This hybrid structure ensures you never pay double taxation or surrender domestic tax credits while maintaining seamless operations at home.
Creating manual B2B invoices for hundreds of individual cross-border marketplace orders would create unacceptable administrative friction. Salp eliminates this through Automated Self-Billing under Article 224 of the EU VAT Directive.
Salp charges a transparent platform commission fee only on successfully completed and delivered orders. How VAT is applied to this fee depends on your corporate tax residency:
The Net-Base Margin Guarantee: Equal Profit Across All 27 Nations On traditional marketplaces, if your product sells for €100 gross in Germany (19% VAT) versus Hungary (27% VAT), differences in local tax rates can drastically compress your net earnings unless you constantly manage 27 localized price lists. Salp protects your margins with our Net-Base Model: • Marketplace commission is calculated strictly on the Net product price (excluding destination VAT). • Whether a customer buys in Munich, Milan, or Budapest, your net payout per unit remains identical. • You maintain predictable wholesale profitability across the entire European Union with zero manual price recalculations.
When you present your quarterly financials to your chief financial officer, bookkeeper, or external tax advisor, here is the exact summary they need to reconcile your accounts in minutes:
Booked as a Zero-Rated Intra-Community Supply of Goods (B2B) to Salp Operating B.V. (Dutch VAT ID verified).
• VAT Rate: 0% (EU VAT Directive Art. 138).
• Periodic Return: Reported under your national tax return's Intra-Community Supply box (such as Box 3b in the Netherlands, Field 41 in Germany, Line 06 in France) and included in your standard quarterly EC Sales List (ICP declaration).
• Documentation: Reconciled using the automated Self-Billing statements and carrier tracking logs provided in your portal.
Booked as standard Domestic Retail Sales (B2C) directly to the customer.
• VAT Rate: Your standard national rate (such as 19% DE, 21% NL/ES, 20% FR).
• Periodic Return: Declared on your normal domestic sales tax return, with VAT remitted directly to your home tax office from the gross payout received.
Booked as a B2B Marketplace Intermediary Service from the Netherlands.
• For Non-Dutch EU Partners: 0% VAT under Reverse Charge (Art. 196). Booked as reverse-charge input/output service.
• For Dutch Partners: 21% Dutch BTW, fully deductible as input tax (voorbelasting).
No. For all cross-border EU sales made through Salp, our platform acts as the legal Deemed Supplier and files destination taxes under Salp's own centralized Dutch Union OSS registration. You do not need to register for OSS or file any foreign returns.
No. Salp operates an automated self-billing system compliant with EU Directive Article 224. For every payout cycle, our platform issues compliant self-billed credit notes on your behalf, complete with itemized breakdowns and transaction references.
European shoppers see all-inclusive pricing in their local currency with their country's exact VAT rate applied at checkout. Because our platform calculates commission on net prices, your net profit margin per unit remains uniform across every country.
When a return or cancellation is processed, our system automatically issues an adjustment credit note. For cross-border sales, Salp reclaims the refunded destination VAT through our Union OSS filings, and the corresponding net payout adjustment is reconciled transparently in your portal.
Under EU tax law, zero-rated B2B intra-community supplies require proof of transport. Salp automatically synchronizes shipping tracking numbers directly from your e-commerce store (DHL, DPD, PostNL, UPS) and stores them permanently as audit-ready 'Proof of Exit'.
Yes. Our Pure Hybrid Tax Model routes each transaction automatically. When an order stays domestic, it is processed under the Disclosed Agent model; when it crosses an EU border, it seamlessly shifts to the Deemed Supplier model.
Partner Onboarding Checklist: To ensure our tax engine routes your transactions accurately from day one: 1. Verify Your VAT Identification Number: Go to Settings > Onboarding and enter your corporate VAT ID. Our system validates it instantly via the EU VIES registry. 2. Confirm Your Warehouse Dispatch Locations: Go to Settings > Warehouses and ensure every dispatch facility has an accurate country set. The system requires physical origin data to distinguish domestic from cross-border orders. 3. Accept the Electronic Self-Billing Agreement: During partner onboarding, confirm the self-billing authorization so Salp can generate legal payout invoices on your behalf.