Selling Online From Portugal: IVA, OSS and IOSS Explained (2026)

Selling physical things online from Portugal — on Etsy, Amazon, or your own shop — puts you at the crossing point of three different VAT systems: Portugal’s own exemption regime, the EU’s cross-border rules, and the export rules for everyone else. Each has its own threshold, and the answer to “what IVA do I charge?” depends on which side of each line you’re standing on.

This guide covers the IVA side only for a seller established in Portugal. Income tax on your profit is ordinary Category B — that’s the freelancer guide. Customs duties your buyer may pay in their country, and marketplace fees, are separate topics again.

The six scenarios, answered

This article exists because a seller asked exactly this — books and toys, sold to Portugal, the EU, and outside the EU — and nobody could give a straight answer. Here it is, for a typical starting seller who is under both thresholds (below €15,000 Portuguese turnover, below €10,000 in cross-border EU sales):

You sell…	…to a consumer in	IVA to charge
Books	Portugal	None — you’re art. 53 exempt
Books	another EU country	None — under €10k, Portuguese rules apply, and you’re exempt
Books	outside the EU	None — but see the export warning below
Toys	Portugal	None — same exemption
Toys	another EU country	None — same logic
Toys	outside the EU	None — same export warning

Deceptively simple — until a threshold breaks. Above them, books and toys stop behaving the same (books carry Portugal’s reduced 6% rate, toys the standard 23%), EU sales switch to the customer’s country’s VAT, and exports demand paperwork. The rest of this guide is what happens then.

Do I need to charge IVA at all when I start selling?

Not until your turnover in Portugal exceeds €15,000/year (art. 53 CIVA, unchanged for 2026) — below that you’re VAT-exempt: you issue invoices without IVA, mentioning the art. 53 exemption, and you file no VAT returns.

What happens when I cross €15,000?

Two different speeds, depending on how you cross:

• Gradually — finish a year above €15,000 → you move to the normal IVA regime from the following year.
• Suddenly — exceed €18,750 (125% of the threshold) mid-year → the switch is immediate. The invoice that crosses the line must already carry IVA, and you have 15 business days to declare the change on the Portal das Finanças.

That second rule surprises people every year: one good month on Etsy and your next invoice is legally required to include 23% that you never priced in.

What rate do I charge Portuguese customers once registered?

23% (mainland standard rate) for most physical goods — handmade items, toys, general merchandise. But check your product’s classification before assuming: printed books are at the reduced 6% rate, and several other categories sit at 6% or 13%. Madeira and the Azores apply lower regional rates. The rate follows the product, not the seller.

Do I charge Portuguese IVA or the customer’s country’s IVA in the EU?

Portuguese IVA — until your combined cross-border B2C sales to all EU countries (goods plus digital services, added together, net) exceed €10,000 per year. That’s one EU-wide threshold, not per-country.

Cross it, and VAT on those sales becomes due in each customer’s country, at their rate — a German customer pays German VAT, a French one French VAT. Which sounds like a bureaucratic nightmare, except:

How do I pay other countries’ VAT without registering everywhere?

Register once for the Union OSS scheme (One Stop Shop — “Balcão Único”) through the Portal das Finanças. You charge each EU customer their local VAT rate, then declare and pay all of it in one quarterly return to the Portuguese tax authority, which distributes it. No foreign registrations, no 26 tax portals.

OSS is optional — the alternative is registering for VAT separately in every country you sell into — so in practice it’s optional the way seatbelts are.

Do I charge IVA to customers outside the EU?

No — exports to non-EU customers (US, UK, Canada…) are VAT-exempt under CIVA art. 14. But the exemption is earned, not automatic: you need proof the goods left the EU — the electronic export declaration with exit certification, the invoice, and transport documentation. No proof, and the IVA becomes yours to pay (CIVA art. 29). For small parcels, keep the postal/carrier export documentation systematically — “it was just a €30 package” is not a defence AT accepts.

What is IOSS — do I need it?

Probably not. IOSS (Import One Stop Shop) exists for goods imported into the EU from outside in consignments up to €150 and sold to EU consumers — the classic case is dropshipping from a non-EU supplier directly to an EU buyer. If your goods are made or stocked in Portugal and shipped within the EU, that’s OSS territory, not IOSS.

Does Etsy or Amazon handle the VAT for me?

Mostly no — and assuming yes is the expensive mistake. The marketplace becomes the “deemed supplier” (collects and remits VAT itself) only in specific cases: goods imported into the EU in ≤€150 consignments, or sellers not established in the EU. A Portugal-established seller shipping goods within the EU stays responsible for their own VAT — the platform passes you the money and the obligation. Give the platform your VAT number once you’re registered, and reconcile what it reports against your own records.

The practical sequence

1. Starting out, small: art. 53 exemption, no IVA on anything, keep an eye on two numbers — €15,000 (Portugal) and €10,000 (EU cross-border).
2. Selling to non-EU customers: check the art. 53 export exclusion with a contabilista before it disqualifies you silently.
3. Approaching €15,000: plan the switch — pricing with 23% (or 6%) built in, invoicing software or the Portal, quarterly returns.
4. Crossing €10,000 in EU sales: register for Union OSS on the Portal before the sale that crosses, and start charging destination rates.
5. Any import/dropship leg: that’s IOSS territory plus the new €3 duty — a different setup conversation.

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Once you’re VAT-registered, business purchases start earning IVA back — see deductible expenses for Category B. The invoice mechanics live in the recibo verde guide, and if your shop is growing toward serious volume, the €200k organized-accounting threshold is the next line on the horizon. (And don’t confuse any of this with the e-Fatura IVA receipts rebate — that’s a personal IRS perk, not a business obligation.)