The €150 duty-free limit for online orders has gone. If you dropship, import stock or sell imported goods through a marketplace, this guide explains the new €3 customs duty, how the Import One Stop Shop works, when the marketplace pays the VAT, and what it means for your prices.

What changed on 1 July 2026

For years, goods sent to EU consumers in consignments worth €150 or less were exempt from customs duty. VAT has been due on these goods since 1 July 2021, when the EU removed the €22 VAT exemption, but duty was not. That relief (known as “de minimis” relief) ended on 1 July 2026.

Revenue’s guidance now states that a €3 customs duty applies per item to every e-commerce package valued at €150 or less coming into Ireland from outside the EU. Crucially, “item” means each distinct product type in the package, not each unit. Two identical t-shirts count as one item, while a blouse and a t-shirt count as two.

Revenue’s examples

Package contents	Distinct items	Customs duty
One notepad, one pen and one keyring	3	€9 plus VAT
One silk blouse and one cotton t-shirt	2	€6 plus VAT
Two identical cotton t-shirts	1	€3 plus VAT

Revenue also confirms that the €3 charge is included in the total used to calculate import VAT, so the real cost per item is more than €3 unless the seller uses the IOSS. We explain this below.

Still settling in

Revenue’s own pages describe the charge slightly differently: “per distinct item” on the customs page and “per line item” on the IOSS page. Detailed operational guidance may develop further. If your product range is mixed or you ship multi-item orders, check how your carrier or customs broker is applying the charge.

The charges on a low-value import at a glance

Charge	Consignments of €150 or less	Consignments over €150
Import VAT	Always due. Charged at checkout if the seller uses the IOSS, otherwise collected at import (usually from the customer by the carrier).	Always due at import. IOSS cannot be used.
Customs duty	€3 per distinct item type (from 1 July 2026).	Normal duty rates under the EU customs tariff, depending on the product and its origin.
Excise duty	Excise goods (e.g. alcohol and tobacco) cannot go through the IOSS.	Due where applicable.
Carrier or clearance fees	Carriers may add their own handling fee when they collect charges from the customer.	As for low-value goods, plus broker fees for formal declarations.

The Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) explained

The IOSS lets a seller account for the VAT on low-value imports at the point of sale rather than at the border. The customer pays the full price at checkout, the parcel clears customs without a VAT stop, and the seller pays all the VAT due across the EU through one monthly return.

Who can use it

• EU-established sellers, including Irish businesses, register directly. In Ireland, this is done through the VAT OSS section of your Revenue Online Service (ROS) account.
• Non-EU sellers must generally appoint an EU-established intermediary, who takes responsibility for the IOSS returns and payments.
• Marketplaces acting as deemed suppliers (see below) typically use the IOSS for the low-value imports they facilitate.

The key rules

Rule	What it means
€150 limit	IOSS covers consignments with an intrinsic value of €150 or less. Transport and insurance are excluded from that value unless they are included in the price and not shown separately on the invoice.
No excise goods	Goods subject to excise duty cannot be declared through the IOSS.
VAT rate	VAT is charged at the rate
The €3 duty	Revenue states that no VAT is charged on the €3 duty where the supplier uses the IOSS. The duty itself still has to be paid.

What happens without the IOSS

If the seller does not use the IOSS, the goods must be declared to customs and the VAT (and now the €3 duty) paid before they are released. In practice, the carrier usually pays these charges and collects them from the customer before delivery, often with a handling fee. This is the moment many customers refuse the parcel, which leads to returns, refunds and poor reviews.

Deemed supplier rules: when the marketplace pays the VAT

Since July 2021, a business operating an electronic interface (a marketplace, platform, portal or similar) that facilitates certain sales is treated for VAT purposes as if it bought and resold the goods itself. This is the “deemed supplier” rule. It applies in two situations:

1. Distance sales of imported goods in consignments of €150 or less, sold through the marketplace to EU consumers, whoever and wherever the underlying seller is.
2. Sales of goods within the EU to consumers where the underlying seller is established outside the EU, whatever the value (for example, a non-EU seller shipping from an EU fulfilment warehouse).

When the rule applies, the marketplace charges, collects and pays the VAT to the tax authority, usually through the IOSS or OSS, and must meet the same VAT obligations as any other supplier.

When a platform is not a deemed supplier

Revenue’s guidance confirms that a platform is not “facilitating” the sale if it only:

• processes payments for the goods;
• lists or advertises the goods; or
• redirects or transfers customers to another website where the sale is completed.

What it means for the underlying seller

In the second situation (a non-EU seller supplying within the EU), the seller’s supply to the marketplace is treated as exempt with the right to deduct VAT, and the seller must still issue a VAT invoice to the marketplace (self-billing is allowed). In all cases, sellers should check marketplace statements to see what VAT has been collected on their behalf, so that it is not declared twice.

Who accounts for VAT? Common e-commerce set-ups

Set-up	Who accounts for the VAT	Notes
Irish seller, own website, goods shipped direct from a non-EU supplier to EU consumers (≤€150)	The seller (via IOSS), or import VAT collected at the border	Classic dropshipping. IOSS gives the smoother customer experience. €3 duty per distinct item applies.
Irish seller, marketplace, goods shipped direct from outside the EU (≤€150)	The marketplace as deemed supplier	The marketplace charges VAT at checkout. Your statement should show it.
Irish seller, stock held in Ireland, selling to consumers in other EU countries	The seller	Irish VAT until EU cross-border sales exceed €10,000, then the customer’s country rate, usually through the OSS.
Non-EU seller, stock in an EU warehouse, selling via a marketplace	The marketplace as deemed supplier	The seller’s supply to the marketplace is exempt with the right to deduct.
Any seller, consignment over €150	Import VAT at importation	IOSS is not available. Normal customs duty rates and a full customs declaration apply.
Irish business importing bulk stock for resale	The importer, at importation	VAT-registered traders who are also registered for customs may use postponed accounting to declare import VAT on the VAT3 instead of paying at the border.

What it does to your pricing: a worked example

Consider a €40 order (goods value, ignoring shipping for simplicity) containing three different products, shipped from outside the EU to a customer in Ireland, where the standard VAT rate is 23%. The figures below are illustrative.

	Without IOSS	With IOSS
Customs duty (3 distinct items × €3)	€9.00	€9.00
VAT	23% × (€40 + €9) = €11.27	23% × €40 = €9.20
Collected when?	At delivery, by the carrier	VAT at checkout. Duty per your carrier arrangements
Carrier handling fee	Likely	Usually avoided
Extra cost on a €40 order	€20.27 plus any handling fee	€18.20

On low-value orders, the new duty can add 20% or more to the cost. Sellers have three options: absorb it, build it into prices, or restructure orders (for example, shipping in bulk to an EU warehouse and fulfilling locally). What you should avoid is letting customers discover the charge on their doorstep.

Illustrative scenarios

The following scenarios are illustrative only. They are not Forti clients, and details are invented to show how the rules apply.

Scenario 1: The Dublin dropshipper

An Irish sole trader runs a phone-accessories website. Orders are shipped directly from a supplier in Asia to customers across the EU, with an average basket of €35 containing two different products. Before July 2026, she was registered for IOSS and customers paid VAT at checkout, with no duty. Now each order also carries €6 of customs duty.

She updates her checkout so that prices include the duty, confirms with her carrier how the duty is collected and invoiced to her, and reviews her margins product by product. Her monthly IOSS return still covers the VAT, and she keeps 10 years of transaction records.

Takeaway: IOSS solves the VAT at checkout, but the duty is a new cost that needs its own pricing decision.

Scenario 2: The marketplace seller

An Irish company sells kitchen gadgets on a large marketplace, with some low-value orders shipped directly from its manufacturer outside the EU. For those orders, the marketplace is the deemed supplier: it charges VAT at checkout and pays it over. The company’s bookkeeper uses the marketplace’s reports to separate these orders from the company’s own VAT-able sales, so the VAT is not declared twice, and checks how the new €3 duty is being passed through in the marketplace’s fees and charges.

Takeaway: when the marketplace collects the VAT, your job is to make sure your records reflect that correctly.

Scenario 3: The growing brand that imports in bulk

An Irish homewares brand has outgrown dropshipping. It now imports pallets of stock from outside the EU into an Irish warehouse. These consignments are well over €150, so the IOSS and the €3 flat duty do not apply. The goods go through a full customs declaration, normal duty rates apply, and the company, which is registered for VAT and customs, uses postponed accounting so that it does not have to pay import VAT at the border. Its sales to EU consumers are then covered by its Irish VAT registration and the OSS.

Takeaway: once volumes grow, bulk importing can simplify the VAT position and reduce the per-parcel impact of the new duty, although it brings its own customs obligations.

A practical checklist for sellers of imported goods

1. Map your order flows. Identify which orders ship from outside the EU, their values and how many distinct items a typical order contains.
2. Decide on IOSS. If you sell low-value imported goods through your own website, consider IOSS registration so customers pay VAT at checkout.
3. Price in the €3 duty. Update product pricing or checkout logic so that customers are not surprised by charges on delivery.
4. Talk to your carrier. Confirm how duty and VAT are collected, who is invoiced and what handling fees apply.
5. Check marketplace statements. Where the marketplace is the deemed supplier, make sure VAT it collected is not declared again on your own returns.
6. Watch the €150 line. Transport and insurance can count towards intrinsic value if they are not shown separately on the invoice.
7. Keep records. IOSS records must be kept for 10 years, so make sure your systems can produce them.
8. Review your model as you grow. Bulk importing into the EU, postponed accounting and the OSS may suit a larger business better than parcel-by-parcel imports.

How Forti can help

Forti Ltd. is an accountancy firm based in Sandyford, Dublin 18, working with e-commerce businesses at every stage. For sellers of imported goods, we can help you:

• Register for Irish VAT, the One Stop Shop and the Import One Stop Shop, and prepare the returns
• Set up bookkeeping that separates IOSS sales, marketplace deemed-supplier sales and your own VAT-able sales
• Understand the VAT and landed-cost effect of the new customs duty on your pricing
• Plan the move from dropshipping to bulk importing, including postponed accounting

Forti Ltd. does not itself act as a customs broker or as an IOSS intermediary for non-EU sellers; we can introduce you to agents in our network who provide these services. Find out more about our and read our guide to .

Q. Do I have to register for the IOSS?

A. No, the IOSS is optional. Without it, VAT is collected at importation, usually from your customer by the carrier. Most sellers of low-value imported goods find IOSS gives a better customer experience.

Q. Can a non-EU business register for the IOSS in Ireland?

A. Generally only through an EU-established intermediary, who takes responsibility for the returns and payments.

Q. If I sell on Amazon or eBay, do I need the IOSS?

A. For imported consignments of €150 or less sold through a marketplace, the marketplace is usually the deemed supplier and collects the VAT itself, so you would not declare that VAT again. Your own-website sales are a separate matter.

Q. Does the IOSS apply to orders over €150?

A. No. Consignments over €150 must be declared to customs, with import VAT and normal customs duty paid at importation.

Q. How often are IOSS returns filed?

A. Monthly. Each return and the VAT due must be submitted by the end of the month following the period it covers.

Q. How long do I need to keep IOSS records?

A. Ten years from the end of the year in which the transaction took place.

Q. Can I avoid paying import VAT at the border on bulk stock?

A. Businesses registered for both VAT and customs in Ireland can use postponed accounting to declare and, where entitled, reclaim import VAT on the same VAT3 return, rather than paying it at importation.