VAT registration thresholds in different countries

EU - VAT registration thresholds





VAT Registration Thresholds. Which limits are there for VAT registration in different countries? When must I VAT-register a company in the UK? When does the company need to be registered for VAT in Germany? Which country has the highest VAT registration threshold?
[Read about VAT registration thresholds in Swedish instead]

Which country has the highest VAT registration threshold?

Singapore, which in many studies can be found at the top of the hill when it comes to business friendliness, has an almost unbelievably high VAT registration limit of the equivalent of 600000 Euro.

Other small business-friendly countries are the UK, Russia and Switzerland, all of which allow small business owners to grow without interference from bureaucratic red tape until they reach about 1 million in turnover. Other exemplary countries which deserve praise for allowing small businesses to avoid tax hassles during the start-up year(s) are Italy, Australia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ireland, Poland, Czech Republic, and Thailand.

Table with VAT registration thresholds

Here you can see the different thresholds for VAT registration in different countries around the world. EU pretends to have a single common market but still has incredibly different limits for VAT registration, which means that the conditions for small businesses around Europe are very different. A small business owner from the UK, Italy or Romania, which doesn’t have to be registered for VAT, can hold much lower prices on the very international market of today because they do not have to sell with VAT. If you own a business in Sweden, Spain or Netherlands and sell internationally and/or on the net your prices will be much higher than your competitors. Here in the table, you can see the VAT registration limits of Europe and some selected countries around the world:





COUNTRYEURSEKLOCAL CURRENCYCOMMENT
Singapore65700061000001000000SGD
United Kingdom115300107000083000GBP
Russia10800010000008000000RUB, 2M/Q.
Switzerland 97100903000100000CHF
Italy65000620000
Romania65000620000287000ROL
Australia5100047400075000AUD
Latvia50000465000
Slovakia50000465000
Slovenia50000465000
Thailand460004300001800000THB
Lithuania45000418500
Ireland3750034900075K Products/37,5K Services
Poland37300347000150000PLZ
Check republic364003390001000000CZK
France32600303000
Croatia30400283000230000HRK (300K 2017)
Austria30000279000
Bulgaria2550023700050000BGL
Luxembourg25000232500
Belgium25000232000
Hungary199001850006000000HUF
Germany17500163000
Estonia16000149000
Cyprus15600145000
Portugal12500116000
Finland1500015000(changed 2021)
Greece1000093000
Iceland8000740001000000ISK
Denmark67006200050000DKK
Norway59005500050000NOK
China300003800030000CNY
Sweden32003000030000SEK
Netherlands134512500
Malta00
Spain00

Malta and Spain extinguish themselves with nil or zero VAT registration threshold, closely followed by Netherlands and Sweden. This is bad for small business growth, which in turn is bad for job creation since most new jobs are produced in small companies these days. The Swedish Tax Authorities even proposed a lower limit for registration of 90000 SEK some years ago, but politicians rejected it because of fear of losing tax income. They didn’t understand the value of the lost jobs that were never created.. and the tax income from those companies and the people they would have employed..




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