Digital products follow EU-wide place-of-supply rules — where IVA is due depends on your customer’s location, not just where your business is based.
Last updated: June 2026
If you’re an Italy-based business under regime ordinario selling ebooks, software, apps, or online courses to Italian consumers, you charge 22% IVA on those sales like any other taxable supply. If you’re under regime forfettario, you don’t charge IVA at all, regardless of the digital nature of the product, as covered in our regime forfettario guide.
If you sell digital products to consumers in other EU member states, you generally must charge VAT at the rate of the customer’s country, not the Italian rate, once your combined cross-border digital sales exceed the EU-wide €10,000 threshold. Most Italian sellers use the EU’s OSS (One Stop Shop) scheme — register once, charge the correct local VAT rate per customer country, and file one consolidated OSS return.
If your customer is a VAT-registered business in another EU country, the sale is usually outside Italian VAT scope, with the business customer accounting for VAT themselves under the reverse charge. Verify their VAT number via the EU’s VIES system before treating a sale this way.
Yes, OSS is a separate registration, though many businesses need both once selling digital products across the EU above the relevant thresholds.
This interaction has specific rules — regime forfettario businesses have particular treatment under the EU’s SME scheme provisions, so check current guidance before assuming standard OSS mechanics apply unchanged.
The standard VAT rate of the consumer’s own country, not the Italian 22% rate. Your OSS return breaks sales down by country and rate.
Often yes for larger marketplaces, which may act as deemed supplier under EU platform rules. Check your specific platform’s terms.
No — that’s exactly what OSS avoids. One OSS registration covers reporting for all EU consumer sales.
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