Some marketplaces advise adding their EU VAT IOSS number to the customs declaration. However, you shouldn’t add a marketplace IOSS number to the shipping address for your Printful orders because it causes shipping and tax reporting issues.
Using the marketplace IOSS number causes several problems:
- For Printful shipments imported to the EU, when the marketplace IOSS is added to the shipping label (shipping address), Printful’s IOSS number is still used in the customs declaration, and the value of the import item is Printful’s price. The marketplace withholds VAT for the full retail price using its IOSS number. As a result, the import declaration shows the Printful price but has the marketplace IOSS number on the label, and it can cause discrepancies in the tax reports.
- The marketplace IOSS number shouldn’t be added to the orders fulfilled in the EU with the destination to the EU. For these orders, the OSS tax regime is used, where the VAT for the Printful price is deducted under the Printful OSS VAT number. Printful has fulfillment centers all over the world, and if the order is shipped to the EU, it most likely will be fulfilled in the EU. In this case, neither Printful’s nor the marketplace’s IOSS number should be on the shipment.
- If you add the marketplace IOSS number to the shipping address line 1 and 2, it causes the address to be too long, and shipping carriers need to edit the address to be able to ship the order.
You can use the marketplace IOSS number as per marketplace instructions only if you ship the orders yourself.
If you are registered as a taxpayer in the EU, you can submit your EU VAT registration number to Printful and receive VAT exemptions.