Free EU VAT resource · Updated August 2026 · Advisory, EU-only
The EU VAT Migration Playbook
After Taxdoo — an August 2026 update for EU sellers under €500k annual revenue. Taxdoo ended its VAT services on 30 April 2026; this edition reflects the state of the market four months on.
Who this is for: EU-based creators, SaaS founders and freelancers earning €10k–€500k a year from digital products, digital services, courses or SaaS — selling into 27 EU countries, and still on legacy Taxdoo data, on a stopgap, or shopping around.
1. Where things stand — August 2026
Taxdoo discontinued its VAT services on 30 April 2026, exactly as announced. Their public rationale — that VAT compliance is becoming increasingly automated under ViDA (VAT in the Digital Age) and that they see more long-term value in pure accounting than in standalone VAT services — has now played out for four months.
If you're reading this in August 2026, one of four scenarios describes you:
| Scenario | What to do next |
|---|---|
| A. You migrated cleanly. New provider handled Q2 2026 filing (deadline was 31 July). Reconciled against Taxdoo-era data. You're set. | Skip to Section 3 for the buyer's checklist to reassess annually, or Section 5 if you want to price-check. |
| B. You migrated to a stopgap. A spreadsheet, a manual process, or a tool that doesn't fit your revenue mix. Audit exposure is growing quarter by quarter. | Read Section 4 — the migration sequence still applies. Q3 2026 (deadline 31 October) is your next filing window. |
| C. You're on Quaderno or similar and feeling squeezed on per-transaction pricing as your volume grows. | Section 5 covers alternatives. Flat-pricing options have improved since April. |
| D. You didn't migrate. Missed the Q2 2026 filing, no provider in place, mounting exposure. | Priority is remediation before Q3 deadline. Talk to a fiscal representative in your primary country of registration this week. |
What stays. What goes.
This part of the original April playbook remains accurate.
| Stays with you | Moves with your provider |
|---|---|
| Your VAT registration numbers (they belong to you, not to any provider) | Power of Attorney for filings and authority correspondence |
| All your transaction data (Taxdoo export should be archived if you haven't already) | Day-to-day filing workflow and deadline calendar |
| Your existing filings (keep copies — audit retention is 10 years under Article 369k) | Ongoing reconciliation to CESOP-reported amounts |
2. Critical dates
| Date | What happens | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 31 July 2026 | Q2 2026 OSS return deadline (past) | If missed, contact a fiscal rep this week. Voluntary disclosure typically reduces penalty exposure. |
| 31 October 2026 | Q3 2026 OSS return deadline | Your provider should have Q3 data flowing now. If they don't, evaluate alternatives before month-end. |
| 1 January 2026 | Belgium B2B e-invoicing became mandatory (already live) | Verify your provider handles Peppol if you sell B2B into Belgium. |
| January 2027 | Poland KSeF phase 2 begins | Not urgent for digital-only sellers, but note for Polish B2B revenue. |
| July 2030 | ViDA digital reporting requirements go live EU-wide | Five-year tailwind — any provider you pick now should have a public roadmap toward it. |
Reality check
Most providers quote 2–8 weeks for a full migration including tax-authority notification. If you're evaluating now and want the new provider live by the Q3 deadline (31 October), you have roughly 10 weeks. Comfortable, not urgent.
3. The 10 questions every buyer should ask
Use this checklist in every sales conversation. Get the answers in writing — email is enough. Providers who struggle to answer directly are telling you something about the relationship you will have with them later.
- Coverage — every country you're active in. Does the provider cover every EU country where Taxdoo filed for you? Get the list in writing. Watch for providers that exclude less common countries (BG, RO, HR, LT, LV, EE).
- OSS and IOSS. If you use both Union OSS (for intra-EU B2C sales) and IOSS (for non-EU sellers shipping into EU), confirm both are in scope. Some tools handle OSS well but not IOSS, and vice versa.
- Intrastat. If you ship physical goods above per-country thresholds (commonly €200k–€1M), confirm Intrastat filings are covered. Most digital-first tools, including VatForge, do not cover Intrastat.
- UK VAT. If any revenue touches UK consumers, ask about UK VAT and MTD separately. UK left the EU VAT regime; most EU-only tools (including VatForge) do not cover it.
- Filing model. Is the provider filing returns on your behalf (full-service), helping you file via e-gov APIs (assisted), or generating filing-ready data for you to submit yourself (advisory)? Each model has different pricing, liability profile, and workflow. Get the answer in writing.
- Handover timeline. Ask for a written migration plan with specific dates: POA execution, tax authority notification, first parallel-validated filing. Expect 2–8 weeks total.
- Historical data. Will all Taxdoo-era transactions, filings, and supporting documents be imported into the new system? For how many years? This matters if you're audited in 2027 for 2024 transactions — the EU OSS retention requirement is 10 years under Article 369k.
- Audit export. If a tax authority audits you next year, can the new provider generate a read-only audit pack covering both the Taxdoo era and the new era — in one file? This is where low-cost tools often disappoint.
- Languages and support hours. Which languages does support operate in, and what are the response-time commitments? If you're in Stockholm and support is US-hours-only in English, problems in Swedish will be painful.
- Pricing transparency. Flat subscription or per-transaction? Per-country filing fees extra? Per-registration fees? Ask for total cost of ownership at your specific transaction volume, in writing.
4. The 5-step migration sequence
If Section 1 placed you in scenario B, C, or D, run these in order.
- Archive Taxdoo data properly. If not done, do it now. Transactions, filings, VAT registrations, POA history, supporting documents. Store in two locations: your cloud storage and an encrypted local backup. The retention period is 10 years.
- Shortlist three replacement providers and ask the 10 questions. Compare their written answers side-by-side in a spreadsheet. Weight coverage, filing model, and migration timeline highest. Price last.
- Sign power-of-attorney with your pick by mid-September. Your new provider should have pre-filled POA templates for your countries. They file the POAs with each national tax authority. Recognition typically takes 1–3 weeks, which is why mid-September matters if you want a clean Q3 2026 filing.
- Run parallel validation for Q3 2026. File your Q3 OSS return through the new provider. Keep your Taxdoo-era and stopgap-era data as reconciliation reference. If amounts match within a small variance (under 0.5% is a reasonable threshold), you're cleanly migrated. This is the date-of-supply reconciliation that trips people up. Parallel validation means read-only reconciliation against your old setup — don't attempt a cutover inside a live filing window without one full parallel quarter first.
- Archive everything in two places, permanently. One copy in the new provider's system (as imported history). A second copy in your own encrypted cloud storage. Retention is 10 years under Article 369k. You want the data to survive anything — including the new provider itself exiting in turn.
5. Replacement providers at a glance
Honest comparison. VatForge is the publisher of this playbook — we flag that up front. The market has real alternatives and we want you to pick the right tool for your situation.
| Provider | Best for | Pricing model | Key strength | Watch-out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VatForge (publisher of this playbook) | EU creators + solo SaaS under €500k, revenue across Stripe / Gumroad / Patreon / Lemon Squeezy / Substack | Flat: Free tier / €19 / €49–€79 / €199–€249 per month | Creator-native multi-platform. CESOP-aware. 10-year audit archive. MCP integration for AI assistants. | Live today. Advisory model — we prepare, you file. |
| Quaderno | Digital entrepreneurs, SaaS, ecommerce | Per-transaction tiers | 20+ integrations, strong Stripe / Shopify | Transaction pricing can be expensive at high volume |
| hellotax | Amazon FBA EU sellers | Service + software | Deep Amazon FBA expertise | Amazon-focused; less suited to direct-to-consumer creators |
| countX | DACH ecommerce SMBs | Service + software | Direct Amazon / Shopify connections. Full-service filing. | Pricier than software-only tools. Ecommerce-focused. |
| Norman Finance | German freelancers + micro-SaaS | Subscription | DE-native bookkeeping + OSS | Germany-only workflow; limited outside DACH |
| Lovat | Cross-border sellers, 100+ countries | Subscription + filing | Broad country coverage | Complex UI. Not creator-native. |
| AVASK, Marosa, 1stopVAT | SMBs wanting full-service | Service-priced | Human fiscal reps, authority correspondence handled | Higher cost. Human-led, not product-led. |
| Paddle (merchant-of-record) | SaaS + digital sellers willing to offload VAT liability entirely | 5% + $0.50 per transaction | Zero VAT liability for you | Expensive above ~€50k/year. Not usable for services outside their MoR scope. |
Our honest take
If you're a Taxdoo-era ecommerce seller with high transaction volume and physical goods, countX or hellotax are the natural full-service replacements. If you're a creator, SaaS founder, or digital-service freelancer selling across multiple platforms, evaluate VatForge or Quaderno. If you want zero VAT liability and can absorb 5% transaction fees, Paddle is worth considering. If you sell primarily in Germany, Norman Finance is worth a look.
6. About VatForge
VatForge is a creator-first EU VAT compliance dashboard built for EU-based freelancers, SaaS founders, and digital creators earning €10k–€500k per year. Flat pricing. One dashboard across Stripe, Gumroad, Substack, Patreon, and Lemon Squeezy. CESOP-aware from day one. 10-year audit archive per Article 369k.
What VatForge does today
- Tracks your €10,000 pan-EU B2C threshold in real time across every connected platform
- Applies the correct VAT rate for each of 27 EU countries at the date of supply
- Generates quarterly OSS returns for Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France
- Monitors your CESOP exposure — flags the 25 cross-border payments per quarter threshold before authorities do
- Live VIES verification for every B2B customer VAT number
- Article 24b two-piece evidence collection (billing address + IP-derived location)
- Deemed-supplier exclusion for Lemon Squeezy sales (Article 14a) so they don't inflate your OSS return
- MCP integration — connect Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, or Cursor to your VatForge data (read-only)
- CSV history import — bring your Taxdoo exports in as CSV today and VatForge rebuilds your position from that data so you can validate one parallel quarter before you file (a dedicated Taxdoo field-mapping importer is in progress)
- 10-year read-only audit archive — one click, one folder
What VatForge explicitly does not do (yet)
- UK VAT / MTD (UK has its own regime — different provider)
- Intrastat reporting for physical goods (digital-first only)
- Full-service filing with POA (advisory model; assisted filing via e-gov APIs on the roadmap)
- Amazon FBA-specific storage and threshold mapping (hellotax is stronger there)
- Direct invoicing module (2027 roadmap)
- SOC 2 / ISO 27001 certification today (SOC 2 Type II readiness Q1 2027, certification Q3 2027 target)
Pricing
| Tier | Standard monthly | Founding 100 (first 24 months) |
|---|---|---|
| VAT Radar | Free | Free |
| EU SME Scheme | €19/mo | €19/mo |
| OSS Filing | €79/mo | €49/mo |
| VAT Operations | €249+/mo | €199/mo |
All plans are billed monthly. Founding 100 pricing is protected for 24 months, then transitions to standard. Permanent Founding Customer status (badge, priority support, beta access) never expires.
Ready to see your regime?
VatForge is live. Connect your platforms in minutes and see your EU VAT position across 27 countries. Free tier forever — no credit card required.
Sources and further reading
- Taxdoo VAT services discontinuation — Staxxer, 2026
- Taxdoo partner selection criteria — vatai.com
- EU OSS and IOSS performance (€26B, 170k traders) — vatcalc.com
- ViDA timeline — Sovos
- CESOP overview — European Commission
- Norman Finance — OSS Ultimate Guide 2026
- Sweden Skatteverket — remote audits guidance (live since April 2026)
This playbook is for informational purposes only and is not tax or legal advice. VAT rules vary by country and change frequently; verify specific obligations with a qualified advisor before acting on any decision. Published August 2026 by VatForge. Updates reflect state of the market four months after Taxdoo exit.