Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
With ceramics it is rarely about renovation and almost always about damage. And the exclusion list has something to say about that.
Second-hand ceramics and pottery fall under the margin scheme.
Second-hand ceramics fall under the margin scheme. A piece damaged so badly that it can no longer be used as an object falls outside.
A used vase, dish or tile is tangible movable property that can be used again. That clears the tax authority’s test.
Where ceramics get delicate is not the bench but the damage. A crack, a chip, a glue line: at some point a piece is no longer a usable object.
Signed pieces and old pottery may additionally count as antiques, works of art or collectors’ items. All three categories are named separately, with the same treatment.
Buy from a private individual, from an estate or from a colleague working under the margin, and there is no deductible VAT, so the scheme applies.
Belgium’s FPS Finance defines second-hand goods as “tangible movable property that is suitable for further use as it is or after repair”. Excluded are, among others, new goods, precious metals, precious stones and pearls, renovated goods, goods that are consumed on first use, and goods that cannot be used again in the same state.
That is the whole test, and it is a test about the goods, not about your trade. Alongside second-hand goods, FPS Finance explicitly names works of art, collectors’ items, antiques and second-hand means of transport. The scheme sits in article 58, § 4 of the Belgian VAT Code and is worked out in Royal Decree no. 53 of 23 December 1994. This page describes the Belgian scheme; the four-country panel below shows where the Dutch, French and UK rules diverge.
The example is a vintage vase: bought for €45.00, sold for €165.00. Put your own figures in.
Sold at a loss: there is no margin, so no VAT is due. A negative margin does not give you anything back either.
The VAT is inside the margin, not on top of it. That is the mistake this calculator is built to prevent: 21% on a €400 margin is €84, while you owe €69.42. How to do this across a whole return period — and why France calculates piece by piece by law — is set out in How do you calculate margin VAT?
Goods that can no longer be used in the same state are excluded. A glued crack need not lead there — repair sits in the definition of second-hand goods itself — but shards sold as material do.
New tableware or new tiles from end-of-line stock are new goods and named on the exclusion list, however long the box has stood.
Whether ceramics fall under the scheme is answered the same way in all four countries: it is European law. The rate and the calculation method are not.
Margin across the whole return period. Article 58, § 4 VAT Code and RD no. 53.
Globalisation scheme or individual method. Wet OB 1968, article 28b onwards.
Legally piece by piece. Globalisation is an option there, not the default. CGI art. 297 A.
HMRC’s own scheme, outside the EU. Below the registration threshold you pay nothing.
Goods that can no longer be used in the same state are on the exclusion list.
The margin is selling price minus purchase price. Glue, hours and packaging sit outside it.
New goods are excluded, even if the model is no longer made.
For a box at one price, Royal Decree no. 53 asks for a register.
Written on 8 September 2026. The scheme, the definition of second-hand goods and the exclusions were measured on 8 September 2026 at Belgium’s FPS Finance, Regeling van belastingheffing over de marge, which names article 58, § 4 of the VAT Code and Royal Decree no. 53 of 23 December 1994 as its basis. Since 1 January 2026 the law of 19 December 2025 excludes goods bought at a reduced rate from the margin scheme — explained in circular 2026/C/14 of 13 January 2026, measured via eur-lex.europa.eu on 31 August 2026. FPS Finance has not yet updated its own page on that point — re-checked on 10 September 2026.
This is an explanation, not tax advice. Whether the margin scheme is the right choice in your case, and how to enter it in your return, is a question for your accountant.
Yes. Used ceramics are tangible movable property that can be used again, which is the definition of second-hand goods at Belgium's FPS Finance. Old or signed pieces may additionally count as antiques, works of art or collectors' items.
Repair does not take a piece out of the scheme: the word sits in the definition of second-hand goods. What matters is whether the object can still be used as an object.
Those fall outside. The tax authority excludes goods that can no longer be used in the same state, naming goods out of use explicitly.
In Belgium, €20.83. The margin is €120, and €120 × 21/121 gives €20.83.
The same question, a different kind of piece. The answer differs more often than you would expect.
Every piece gets its own purchase price, selling price and scheme. Vintro Pro keeps margin goods separate from the rest and works out your margin per return period.
Free up to 10 pieces, no card number and no end date.