GPSR Obligations for eCommerce
March 20, 2025
Sell easily to the EU again via your Woocommerce store with IOSS
Want to sell to the EU? IOSS is the way to go!
Brexit and EU regulatory changes have pretty much seized all cross-border commerce from outside of the EU. With the dust settling everyone should take another look at selling to the EU. Especially since there is now well priced, fully automated solution for the most popular e-commerce platform, WooCommerce!
So what is IOSS?
Since 1st July 2021 EU is collecting VAT on all sales to the EU. IOSS VAT scheme makes it possible for e-merchants to collect VAT at the time of sale. The IOSS VAT scheme helps in multiple ways:
No post-purchase actions required from the end-customer:
- Full cost of delivery and merchandise can be paid at checkout
- Every action required increases the likelihood of return
- Every action required creates simply poor customer experience
Simplified customs process:
- The shipment can be customs cleared in any EU country, reducing costs
- Faster customs process
- Faster delivery is good customer service
Simplified reporting for merchants:
- Reporting by EU country is no longer required
Reduced need for - VAT registrations mean simplified accounting requirements and lower costs
- VAT liable parties changed, the marketplaces are currently VAT liable in most instances
So what is the catch with IOSS for your Woocommerce store?
- It works only for shipments below 150€. It is calculated from VAT-free merchandise value without shipment cost
- You need to register for IOSS. Registration itself is simple, less than 10 minutes.
- Once registered, the IOSS report must be filed every month. That means even zero reports have to be filed.
- Unless you are incorporated in EU, you need an Intermediary. The Intermediary role bears the VAT responsibility jointly with the merchant. The cost of Intermediary services varies wildly and price is no indication of quality or level of services provided. Actually seems the exact opposite.
- IOSS reports have to be generated – which requires new calculations and accounting. Without automations that will increase your costs significantly.
In our opinion, IOSS is a no-brainer. As long as you choose the right partner and solution. EAS Compliance Solutions is the clear choice:
- Registration and intermediary services are included in the price
- Smart VAT calculator with support for 600 000 + reduced EU VAT rates
- No starting fees
- No monthly fees
- Logistics solution agnostic, continue using your current logistics partners
- No-code installation with WooCommerce plugin
- Automatic IOSS report generation
- IOSS reporting
- IOSS filing
- Data generation for accounting
And the cost of all this? 1,25€ per transaction. Yes, that is all. The catch? None, you gain access to 445 million affluent EU customers.
Starting to sell to EU could not be easier:
Register with EAS at: www.easproject.com/reg and we’ll take it from there! You will be selling in hours, we will help you along the way!
Plugin can be reviewed here: https://wordpress.org/plugins/eas-eu-compliance/
Have a talk with us about IOSS
Learn more about EAS compliance
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