OSS registration in Germany: how it works, and when it starts
A German Union OSS registration generally starts on the first day of the calendar quarter after you apply, so an application filed any time in July, August or September takes effect on 1 October. You apply electronically through the BZStOnline-Portal (BOP) using your VAT identification number (USt-IdNr.), and you can register in only one EU member state.
Four things decide this.
When it starts: the first day of the quarter after you apply, which is the fact that reorders launch plans. Who can use Germany: businesses established in Germany, platform operators, and non-EU businesses with a facility here such as a warehouse (Warenlager). Where you file it: the BZStOnline-Portal (BOP), not by post and not by email. Which number: your VAT identification number (USt-IdNr.), not the tax number (Steuernummer) your local tax office issued.
When does a German OSS registration actually take effect?
This is the fact that changes plans, so take it first. The Federal Central Tax Office (Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, BZSt) states that registration generally begins on the first day of the calendar quarter following the application. Your OSS participation does not start on the day you send the application, and sending it early inside the same quarter buys you nothing: an application filed on 2 July and one filed on 29 September both take effect on 1 October. That gap is what catches sellers who plan an EU launch around the date a German warehouse goes live. The word the BZSt uses is grundsätzlich, meaning as a general rule, so narrow exceptions exist for a business making its first qualifying supply. We are not going to guess at their conditions here: if you have already started selling into other EU countries, your start date needs checking case by case.
| If you apply during | Your OSS registration starts on | What that means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| January, February or March (Q1) |
1 April | A January application and a late-March one give you the same start date. |
| April, May or June (Q2) |
1 July | Applying in April does not bring the July start forward. |
| July, August or September (Q3) |
1 October | The autumn peak-season case: apply in July, you are still live from 1 October. |
| October, November or December (Q4) |
1 January | The start date falls in the following calendar year. |
The practical read: work backwards from the quarter you want to be live in, not forwards from the day you are ready to apply. If you want OSS covering your Q4 sales, the application belongs in Q3.
„Registrierungsbeginn ist grundsätzlich der erste Tag des Kalendervierteljahres, das auf die Antragstellung folgt.“
Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, One-Stop-Shop, EU-Regelung
Who can register for Union OSS through Germany?
The BZSt names three groups for the Union OSS scheme (EU-Regelung) run through Germany: businesses established in Germany, platform operators, and businesses not established in the EU that nevertheless have a facility in Germany, such as a warehouse (Warenlager). That third group is the one worth reading twice, because it is routinely assumed to be excluded. A company seated in the United States, the United Kingdom, China or Switzerland that holds stock in a German warehouse is not shut out of Union OSS: the German facility is what brings it inside the group the BZSt describes. This matters for the fulfilment pattern almost every non-EU seller ends up in, where goods sit in a German warehouse and ship to consumers across the EU. The seat of the company is not, on its own, the disqualifier people expect it to be.
One clarification so the terms do not blur together: Import OSS is a separate scheme covering imported goods, distinct from the Union OSS scheme this page describes. Vaytax does not offer or advise on Import OSS. If you want to sanity-check which situation you are in before reading further, the OSS checker walks through it in a couple of minutes.
Where do you actually file the OSS application?
The application is filed electronically through the BZStOnline-Portal (BOP), also referred to as Mein BOP, at elster.de/bportal/start. Three routes people reach for do not exist here: there is no postal application, no email application, and the form is not submitted on the BZSt website itself, even though the BZSt is the authority behind the scheme. The portal is also not a one-time visit. Once you are registered, the same portal is where you change your registration data, where the quarterly returns are submitted, and where you deregister when you stop. Everything the scheme touches runs through that one login, which is why access to it is worth setting up properly rather than improvising when a deadline is close. The BOP sits on the same ELSTER infrastructure German businesses already use, which is why the address carries an elster.de domain.
Which number do you apply with, the USt-IdNr. or the Steuernummer?
You apply quoting your VAT identification number (USt-IdNr.), the number issued by the BZSt. This is the point where applications stall, because it is a different number from the tax number (Steuernummer) your local tax office (Finanzamt) issues, and the two are easy to conflate when both arrive in German letters within a few weeks of each other. A business that holds only a Steuernummer does not yet have what the OSS application asks for: the USt-IdNr. has to exist first. If you are registering for German VAT and OSS in the same season, that sequencing is the thing to get right, because the quarter-start rule above means a delay in obtaining the USt-IdNr. can push your OSS start date a full three months. For a VAT group (Organschaft) the application is made by the controlling company (Organträger) under its own USt-IdNr.
- Tax number (Steuernummer): issued by your local tax office, used for your German VAT returns.
- VAT identification number (USt-IdNr.): issued by the BZSt, and the number the OSS application is made under.
- VAT group (Organschaft): the controlling company (Organträger) applies, under its own USt-IdNr.
- Sequencing: no USt-IdNr., no OSS application, and a delay costs you a whole quarter.
Can you register for OSS in more than one EU country?
No. Participation in the scheme applies uniformly across all EU member states, which is exactly why you can register in only one of them. There is no arrangement where Germany covers part of your EU sales and a second member state covers the rest, and no advantage to be found in shopping between administrations. Once you pick Germany, Germany is where the registration lives, where the quarterly return goes, and where the correspondence about it arrives. The practical consequence is that the choice is worth making deliberately rather than by accident of whichever registration happened first. If your stock and your German VAT obligation are already in Germany, running OSS through Germany keeps one authority, one portal and one set of deadlines instead of splitting your compliance across two countries that do not talk to each other on your behalf.
What happens in the portal once you are registered?
Everything, and that is the part to plan for. All communication from the BZSt under the scheme, including reminders, responses and confirmations, is delivered through the BZStOnline-Portal rather than by letter or email. So the notification function needs to be switched on: leave it off and messages sit unread in a portal nobody logged into, which is the quiet way a deadline gets missed. The same portal carries the rest of the lifecycle. Changes to your registration data are made there, the quarterly returns are submitted there, and deregistration happens there. Leaving the scheme has its own timing rule that mirrors the one for joining: withdrawal generally requires 15 days notice before the start of a new quarter, the quarter being the tax period for the scheme. Miss that notice window and you carry into another full quarter, with the return that goes with it.
The notification setting is not optional in practice
If BZSt messages only appear inside the portal, an unmonitored portal is the same as an unopened letter. Switch notifications on when the registration goes through, and give the alerts an address someone actually reads.
So who actually registers you for OSS?
We do. The one-time OSS fee covers registering you for the scheme through Germany, and after that a licensed German tax advisor prepares and files your quarterly Union OSS return. Your part is the part only you can do: telling us where you hold stock, which EU countries you sell to, and your sales figures for each quarter. What we will not do is pretend the scheme is invisible to you. OSS is a real registration with a real start date and a real quarterly obligation, and the sections above are those mechanics whether you run them with us or by yourself. Two expectations are worth setting either way. The quarter-start rule decides when your cover actually begins, so the calendar above constrains any launch date we plan together rather than being a formality to squeeze. And the portal is where the scheme lives afterwards, which makes the notification setting part of the setup rather than an afterthought.
On price, so nothing is a surprise: OSS is an add-on at €250 one-time plus €150 per quarter. It sits on top of a German VAT plan, which is €89 per month or €990 per year if you already hold a German tax number, or €1,299 per year all-in if you still need the German VAT registration itself, charged in full at signup. All of it is on the pricing page. If you want the service side of OSS rather than the mechanics, OSS through Germany covers what we file and when.
One registration, one portal, one quarterly deadline.
Vaytax runs German VAT for foreign companies: the German registration where you need one, the monthly and annual returns, and Union OSS as an add-on when your EU sales call for it. €1,299 per year all-in including the German registration, or €89 per month if you already have a Steuernummer, plus €250 one-time and €150 per quarter for OSS.
Start the registration Licensed German tax advisor · English throughout · No calls requiredAsked about OSS registration
As a general rule, on the first day of the calendar quarter following your application. An application sent in July, August or September takes effect on 1 October; one sent in October, November or December takes effect on 1 January. Applying early inside the same quarter does not move the date forward. Narrow exceptions exist for a business making its first qualifying supply, so if you have already started selling, the start date needs checking case by case.
Yes, if it has a facility in Germany. The Federal Central Tax Office (Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, BZSt) names businesses not established in the EU that nevertheless have a facility in Germany, such as a warehouse (Warenlager), as one of the groups that can use the Union OSS scheme through Germany. A US, UK, Chinese or Swiss seller holding stock in a German warehouse therefore falls inside that group.
Electronically, in the BZStOnline-Portal (BOP), also called Mein BOP, at https://www.elster.de/bportal/start. There is no postal or email route and the application is not submitted on the BZSt website itself. Changing your registration data, filing the quarterly returns and deregistering all happen in the same portal.
You apply quoting your VAT identification number (USt-IdNr.), which is issued by the BZSt. That is a different number from the tax number (Steuernummer) your local tax office issues, and a business holding only a Steuernummer needs the USt-IdNr. as well before it can register for OSS. For a VAT group (Organschaft) the application is made by the controlling company (Organträger) under its own USt-IdNr.
No. Participation in the scheme applies uniformly across all EU member states, so you can register in only one member state. Choosing Germany means Germany is where you register, where you file the quarterly return, and where the correspondence goes. Import OSS is a separate scheme and should not be confused with this one.
Withdrawal is declared in the portal and generally requires 15 days notice before the start of a new quarter, the quarter being the tax period for the scheme. Because the notice is tied to the quarter boundary, missing it by a day carries you into another full quarter of the scheme, with the return that goes with it.
Sources & official references
- BZSt: One-Stop-Shop, EU-Regelung (Union OSS)
- BZSt: elektronische Abgabe der OSS-Meldung
- BZStOnline-Portal (Mein BOP)
General information on the Union One-Stop-Shop scheme as administered by the BZSt, current as of July 2026. Not individual tax advice for your company.