EU VAT AREA

EU VAT-area and exceptions from it. Which countries and regions are included in the EU VAT area? List of exemptions from the value-added tax area of the European Union? EU VAT? Where can I find a table with the regions and parts of countries that are not included in the EU-vat-area?

VAT-area of the European Union

To be able to handle EU VAT and to know whether to book sales or purchases as EU sales or EU purchases, one must know which countries are part of the EU.

In addition, one must check which areas of the EU are part of the EU VAT area, the EU Customs Union or both.

There are some confusing exceptions. Did you know Finland has limitations too? Consequently, sales to Åland should not be included in the EC-sales list (periodic reporting for EU-sales of services).

But unfortunately this is not the only exception, even Germany has exceptions. Luckily, these exceptions are quite small and insignificant areas. Consequently, it doesn’t affect that many, but today when more and more small businesses sell items and services online on the internet to customers around the world, a growing number of small companies will be affected by these exceptions.

Value Added Tax region of the EU

Here is the complete list of countries and territories that are included in the EU VAT area and which states and territories, for tax purposes, are considered to be outside the EU.

EU countries	Exceptions (treated as exports outside EU)
*Belgium*
*Bulgaria*
*Cyprus*	those areas not controlled by the Republic of Cyprus, ie the Turkish part. However, the British basins *Akrotiri* and *Dhekelia* will be seen as part of the Republic of Cyprus.
*Denmark*	*The Faroe Islands and Greenland are not included in the EU*
*Estonia*
*Finland*	the landscape of *Åland*
*France, including the Principality of Monaco*	the French Overseas Departments (French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Réunion)
*Greece*	Agion Oros (*Mount Athos*), a peninsula in northern Greece, with monasteries where only monks can live, a bit like a Greek Vatican City.
*Ireland*
*Italy*	*Livigno, Campione d’Italia* and the Italian parts of *Lake Lugano*
*Croatia*
*Latvia*
*Lithuania*
*Luxembourg*
*Malta*
*Netherlands*
*Poland*
*Portugal, including the Azores and Madeira***
*Romania*
*Slovakia*
*Slovenia*
Spain, including the Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Ibiza, Menorca and Formentera)	*Ceuta, Melilla*, and *Canary Islands* (Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro)
*Great Britain*	Only Northern Ireland is part of the EU VAT AREA 2021-> and only for physical goods
*Sweden*
*Czech Republic*
*Germany*	The island of *Helgoland* and the *Büsingen am Hochrhein area* (enclave in *Switzerland*)
*Hungary*
*Austria*

SEE VAT RATES FOR ALL EU COUNTRIES

States and Regions not part of the EU-VAT-AREA:

• French Overseas Territories

• Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles

• The Faroe Islands and Greenland

• Liechtenstein

• Vatican City

• San Marino

• Gibraltar (UK)

• Andorra

• Iceland

• UK (Northern Ireland is part of EU VAT AREA for goods)

Which European countries are not in the EU?

There are also several countries in geographic Europe that you may think are EU countries, but these areas are not EU countries and are not part of the EU VAT area:

Switzerland

Norway

Iceland

Moldova

Ukraine

Belarus

Turkey

Kaliningrad oblast / Ostpreussen (the region between Poland and Lithuania belongs to Russia)

Ex-Yugoslavia:

Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia.

(Croatia and Slovenia are EU members)

Albania