Vintro Pro
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Vintro Pro
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Works of art are named in the scheme in so many words. But since January 2026 there is one way of buying that throws you back out.
Art belongs in the margin scheme — it is even named there separately.
Works of art fall under the margin scheme. Watch the buying side: since 1 January 2026 a purchase at a reduced rate rules the scheme out.
For most types of goods a page like this opens with the question of whether the goods fit the definition at all. For art it does not: Belgium’s FPS Finance names works of art literally, alongside second-hand goods.
So the question moves to the other end of the transaction. What decides here is not what you sell, but who you bought it from and at which rate.
A painting bought from a private individual, from an heir or at auction carries no deductible VAT. That is exactly what the margin scheme exists for: you pay VAT on your margin instead of on the full selling price.
If you buy from a fellow dealer who sells under the margin themselves, the result is the same. Their invoice shows no deductible VAT and the chain continues.
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 an oil painting: bought for €1,200.00, sold for €2,100.00. 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?
The most important limit no longer sits with the painting but with the invoice. The Belgian law of 19 December 2025 excludes goods bought at a reduced rate from the margin scheme. For art that is not a textbook case: buying directly from the artist runs at a reduced rate in several countries.
Beyond that the ordinary exclusions apply. A work altered so heavily that it can no longer be identified as the same piece, and a frame you buy new and resell separately, fall outside the scheme.
Whether art 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.
The scheme hangs on the buying side. A gallery invoice with VAT on it is an ordinary purchase with deduction, not a margin piece — even if the work is otherwise identical.
On a €900 margin that is €189 instead of €156.20. In art, where margins are large, that gap runs into tens of euros per piece.
The margin is selling price minus purchase price. What you spend on restoration does not enter that subtraction, however illogical that feels.
A margin invoice carries no VAT amount. Put it there anyway and your buyer may deduct it while you owe it.
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. Belgium’s FPS Finance explicitly names works of art alongside second-hand goods, collectors’ items and antiques as goods to which the margin scheme applies. The scheme itself sits in article 58, § 4 of the Belgian VAT Code and in Royal Decree no. 53 of 23 December 1994. In the UK, HMRC runs its own margin scheme that also covers works of art.
Yes, and that is the typical case. A private individual charges you no VAT, so there is nothing to deduct. You then pay VAT on the difference between your selling price and your purchase price, not on the full selling price.
The Belgian law of 19 December 2025, in force since 1 January 2026 and explained in circular 2026/C/14 of 13 January 2026, excludes goods bought at a reduced rate from the margin scheme. A work bought directly from an artist at a reduced rate can no longer be resold under the margin. FPS Finance had not yet updated its own page on this as of 8 September 2026.
In Belgium, €156.20. The margin is €900 and the VAT sits inside it: €900 × 21/121. Charge 21% on top of the margin and you land on €189, paying almost €33 too much.
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.