Are you engaged in international or eCommerce trade and shipping products to other EU countries? If so, then you are obligated to submit additional tax declarations on the products sold and services provided across EU borders. VAT declarations must be submitted in the form of an EC Sales List (also: ESL or ECSL). What exactly is this document, and what should it include? Find out when a sales report should be submitted, and what it entails to avoid any problems in the future.
ESL (ECSL) – what is it?
Each entrepreneur who sells products or provides services must submit tax declarations presenting their revenue on a monthly or quarterly basis. This obligation concerns not only those who sell products or provide services in the country but also those who conduct trade internationally. In this case, however, tax settlement looks differently. Additional declarations, such as an EC Sales List (ESL) or its digital format ECSL (so much easier to fill in in the Internet era) are required.
What is the purpose of ESL?
The EC Sales List serves the purpose of reporting VAT on the sale of goods or provision of services across EU borders. Each intra-Community trade should be registered on the list for the convenience of tax authorities. Submitting this declaration is essential in the process of verification whether both parties confirm their tax rates in accordance with EU regulations. In other words, it is possible to check whether tax rates are declared correctly, and taxes are paid in full by both parties of the transaction.
What should ESL include?
The EC Sales List should include information required for verification of a transaction between sellers and customers inside the EU. In addition to such basic information as customer’s details, the list must also include customer’s VAT number, their country code, and the value of sales. More importantly, the VAT numbers must appear in VIES – VAT information exchange system. Only then can the ECSL declaration be submitted.
When should you submit ESL (ECSL)?
The declarations (ESL filed on paper or ECSL filed electronically) should be submitted by anyone who runs their own business and sales products abroad, provides goods or services to an entity which pays VAT in another country, or specializes in the transport of passengers or goods in the EU. For this reason, the declaration must be submitted both by eCommerce traders selling products to customers in another country, and entrepreneurs who provide construction services across EU borders.
ESL or ECSL should be submitted on a monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis in accordance with the schedule set by the government. Before you undertake any business activity or expand to new markets it is good to study tax regulations applicable in a given country, so as to avoid any delays or mistakes, and learn more about the EC Sales List by visiting websites of tax authorities.
ECSL vs. Intrastat – what is the difference between the two?
People often ask about the differences between the EC Sales List and another declaration of a similar scope, that is the Intrastat declaration. In short, Intrastat helps gather statistical data regarding trade conducted between company’s home country and the country of delivery inside the EU. ESL and ECSL, on the other hand, are tax declarations which must be submitted to appropriate tax authorities. The information presented in ESL is not as detailed as in Intrastat.
