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Many dealers see Brexit as customs paperwork. If you sell under the margin scheme it changes more than that: you pay VAT at the border, and the British margin scheme does not come with it.
Written by Griet Coussement, founder of Vintro Pro and Vintiques Export
Which law? This page follows the Belgian rules. The Netherlands, France and the UK differ — you will find the comparison further down this page.
Are you a UK dealer buying from the EU? Read Imported from the EU: can you still use the margin scheme?
Since 1 January 2021 the United Kingdom is a third country for VAT.
Buying from a British dealer is no longer an intra-Community acquisition. It is an import. That one word changes who charges the VAT, when you pay it and what it is calculated on — and it is exactly the part that surfaces in an audit.
This page is about goods coming from the UK into Belgium. New to the margin scheme itself? Start with What is margin VAT? — this one is about what happens at the border.
A dealer applying his own margin scheme puts no VAT on the invoice. Inside the EU and outside it, that means two very different things:
If he applies his margin scheme there is no intra-Community acquisition at all. Nothing to report, nothing to deduct: your purchase price is the full invoice amount, and the piece stays a margin good.
There his scheme does not help you. The piece enters the European Union, so Belgian import VAT is due — even though his invoice shows not one cent of VAT.
The same cabinet, the same VAT-free invoice, and a completely different treatment. That difference is what this page is about.
A Belgian dealer buys €10,000 of second-hand goods in the UK, with €500 transport to the EU border. The 3% customs duty is charged on that €10,500: €315.
It is the VAT that becomes due the moment goods from outside the European Union enter EU territory. The British seller does not charge it; the Belgian state does — on arrival, through customs or through your courier.
That last rate matters most in this trade. In Belgium the reduced rate of 6% covers works of art, collectors’ items and antiques, and also their import (Royal Decree no. 20, table A, section XXI). You do not choose that rate: it follows from what the goods are. Section XXI of table A of Royal Decree no. 20 defines antiques as objects more than a hundred years old — so it is the age that counts. At customs, that category carries code 9706.
On a consignment of €10,815, 6% instead of 21% is over €1,600 you do not have to advance.
⚠️ That reduced rate costs you the margin scheme
Since 31 December 2025, a reduced VAT rate applied at an earlier stage rules out the profit margin scheme. Pay 6% import VAT on a work of art, a collectors’ item or an antique, and you then resell that piece under the normal scheme: VAT on the full selling price, not on your margin. Since the same Act that rate is 6% in Belgium, not 21%: the reduced rate covers every supply of art, collectors’ items and antiques outside the margin scheme (section XXI of table A of Royal Decree no. 20). You can deduct the 6% import VAT.
There is no choice between 6% and 21% import VAT: if the piece is art, a collectors’ item or an antique, import VAT is 6%, and that closes the margin scheme for that piece. Work it out before the consignment leaves, with 6% on import and 6% on resale.
An antique from the UK, imported at 6%
Import
6% import VAT The rate follows from what the goods are. You do not choose it.Margin scheme
Closed It no longer applies to this piece.Resale
6% on the full price Normal scheme, and you deduct that 6% import VAT.In Belgium, for art, collectors’ items and antiques only. Ordinary second-hand goods fall outside it.
This affects works of art, collectors’ items and antiques only. Ordinary second-hand goods — furniture, clothing, tools — fall outside it.
Act of 19 December 2025 (Belgian Official Gazette, 31 December 2025), transposing Directive (EU) 2022/542, explained in circular 2026/C/14 of 13 January 2026; explanatory memorandum, Chamber document DOC 56 1077/001. Verified 7 October 2026. The Belgian FPS Finance has not yet updated its own page on the margin scheme — verified 8 September 2026. If your accountant finds nothing there, that is why. We are monitoring this and will update this page as soon as the FPS does.
Not on the purchase price alone. Article 34 of the Belgian VAT Code starts from the customs value: purchase, transport and insurance to the EU border. Customs duty is added on top, and the costs up to the first place of destination in the country. That base is therefore higher than what you paid the British seller:
| Description | Amount |
|---|---|
| Goods value | €10,000 |
| Transport to the EU border | €500 |
| Customs duty (3% of €10,500) | €315 |
| Taxable base | €10,815 |
Import VAT at 21%: €2,271.15. For antiques at 6% it is €648.90 — on the same base. Customs duty is charged on the customs value: purchase plus transport and insurance to the EU border (Union Customs Code, Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, art. 70 and art. 71(1)(e): “the cost of transport and insurance of the imported goods” “up to the place where goods are brought into the customs territory of the Union”). Article 72(a) leaves transport after the border out of the customs value; it only counts in the VAT base.
The same €10,815 base, two rates
The difference is €1,622.25 you do not have to advance.
Transport sits inside the base. An underestimated shipping cost therefore understates your VAT as well.
Enter what you pay the British seller, what the transport costs and which rate applies. The tool does the same sum as customs: duty on purchase + transport to the EU border, VAT on that customs value + duty + transport after the border. It starts on the example above.
| Customs value (purchase + transport to the border) | €0,00 |
| Customs duty | €0,00 |
| Taxable base | €0,00 |
| Estimated total (base + VAT) | €0,00 |
Antiques over a hundred years old? Set the rate to 6. The duty percentage depends on your commodity code: look it up in TARIC and enter it here. This is a help, not a customs declaration — the real base is on your import document.
Send me this calculation
Then you have it to hand when you talk to your accountant. We are not signing you up for anything.
If you are VAT-registered with a right to deduct, import VAT is usually not a final cost. You report it in your periodic return and recover it.
What remains is the timing. You pay at the border and only recover it in your next return — with quarterly returns that can be three months.
Where your money waits
At the border
You pay The import VAT, through customs or through your courier.In between
Up to three months With quarterly returns, you wait for the next one.Your return
You get it back With a right to deduct, you recover the import VAT.Not a cost, but cash flow. At four consignments a quarter there is permanently money sitting with the state that could have been sitting in your stock.
For frequent importers, one licence removes that gap: the ET 14.000.
You pay the import VAT to customs or to your courier and recover it weeks later through your return. Until then you are financing it.
The VAT is no longer paid on import. It appears in the same return as due and as deductible at once. Net effect: zero, with no pre-financing.
The scheme sits in Royal Decree no. 7, and the licence is for taxable persons filing periodic returns; your EORI number must be linked to your Belgian VAT number. You apply through MyMinfin. Note: once you hold it, you must use it — the ordinary route via customs no longer applies.
The ET 14.000 above is Belgian. Import through the Netherlands or France and the same principle exists — but the route to it differs sharply, and France is the most favourable.
In Belgium and the Netherlands the authorisation has to be applied for in advance. In France it does not: it happens by itself.
apply in advance; then you defer to your VAT return
apply in advance; you must be established in the Netherlands or have a fixed establishment or fiscal representative there, and import regularly (occasional importers only through a fiscal representative)
since 1 January 2022 mandatory and automatic for anyone holding a French VAT number
in this article the UK is where the goods come from, not where you import them
The practical upshot: importing through France, you have nothing to apply for and you front no cash at the border. Through Belgium or the Netherlands without an authorisation, you do — and that is working capital you only see again months later.
This is where the confusion starts. A British dealer selling under the UK VAT Margin Scheme puts no VAT amount on your invoice. That does not mean you may resell the piece in Belgium under the margin scheme.
Belgian import VAT on the customs value, plus any customs duty. Which scheme the British seller applied plays no part here.
Only then does the Belgian scheme come into play — and what you paid on import helps decide what is still allowed.
For ordinary second-hand goods you import yourself, the Belgian margin scheme is in principle not available: it is meant for goods bought inside the EU without deductible VAT. For art, collectors’ items and antiques there used to be an option (article 58 §4 of the Belgian VAT Code). Since the Act of 19 December 2025, however, the margin scheme may no longer be applied to goods imported or bought at a reduced rate. Import antiques at 6% and you resell them under the normal scheme, in Belgium also at 6% — with that 6% import VAT as deductible VAT.
The British margin scheme does not travel across the Channel.
Position as at 7 October 2026. This is an explanation, not tax advice — put your own situation to your accountant before applying a scheme.
Brexit is not only VAT. Whether duty is due depends on the origin of the goods, your proof of origin and the trade terms.
We deliberately name no fixed percentage. Every EU country applies the same external tariff, but that tariff depends on your commodity code: a chair, a bicycle and a jacket each have their own. Look your code up in TARIC before you agree a price — a wrong percentage in your head costs more than a search. The zero rate under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement is not automatic either: the seller has to declare the origin. Without that statement you pay the ordinary rate, which immediately raises your VAT base.
One more thing, because it hits this trade squarely: since 28 June 2025 certain cultural goods need an import licence or an importer statement when they enter the EU. Not every old piece is caught by it, but check whether yours is before the shipment leaves.
Five years after Brexit they are still in the books:
The first four cost money in an audit. The fifth costs no fine, but working capital — every month.
Vintro Pro is neither a customs declaration nor accounting software. What it does: the sum up front, so you know what a British bargain really costs.
And per item it keeps your purchase price — including what the import cost you — so the margin VAT overview later calculates on the right base.
Where to find this in the app: tab 🛃 Export → 🇬🇧 UK customs calculator (post-Brexit). Choose I buy in the UK and bring it to Belgium (import), fill in weight, price (€ or £) and age, then click Calculate. You get the purchase price, the estimated transport, the customs duty and the Belgian import VAT on purchase + transport + duty, with the estimated total underneath. If it is art, a collectors’ item or an antique, pick Art, collectors’ items or antiques (reduced rate): the tool then calculates at 6% instead of 21%. It stays a rough estimate, not an official customs calculation. The tab only appears once you have a piece priced in pounds or with a commodity code; until then, open the calculator directly.
The British scheme says nothing about the Belgian one. That is the question for your accountant before you resell the piece.
No. Since 1 January 2021 the United Kingdom is a third country for VAT. Goods coming from the UK into Belgium are an import, and Belgian import VAT is due on them.
On the customs value (value of the goods, transport and insurance to the EU border), plus any customs duty and the incidental costs up to the first destination in Belgium. Not on the purchase price alone.
If you are VAT-registered with a right to deduct, it is usually not a cost but pre-financing: you report it in your return. With an ET 14.000 licence you do not pay it to customs up front but report it as due and deductible in the same return.
Not automatically. The fact that the British seller applied the UK VAT Margin Scheme says nothing about the Belgian scheme. For goods you import yourself the margin scheme is mostly not available, and for art and antiques imported at 6% it has been excluded since 31 December 2025. Put your situation to your accountant.
Vintro Pro works out the import up front and keeps what you paid per item — ready for your margin VAT overview and for your accountant.