Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
Almost all the stock in this trade comes out of businesses. And that is exactly where the margin scheme falls away.
Second-hand laptops fall under the margin, if you bought them without VAT.
Second-hand laptops fall under the margin scheme. Bought from a corporate fleet with VAT on the invoice, it is an ordinary purchase with deduction.
A used laptop that still works is tangible movable property that can be used again. That clears the tax authority’s test.
And yet in this trade the margin scheme falls away more often than anywhere else — not because of the machine, but because of the invoice. Companies sell their written-down fleet with VAT.
Buy from a private individual, from a school or from a colleague working under the margin without deductible VAT, and the scheme applies.
Adding memory, replacing a battery or swapping a drive is repair work. That word sits in the definition of second-hand goods itself.
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 second-hand laptop: bought for €240.00, sold for €520.00. 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?
If there is VAT on your purchase invoice and you deduct it, the machine is not margin goods. You then sell it with ordinary VAT on the full price. That choice is made at purchase, not at sale.
Machines bought to be broken and sold as parts fall under goods out of use. And a machine largely rebuilt from new parts sits against the renovated-goods exclusion.
Whether laptops 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.
If you deducted VAT at purchase, the machines are not margin goods. In this trade that is the most common mistake.
Separate bookkeeping, or at least separate columns, is required for margin sales.
The margin is selling price minus purchase price. A new battery lowers your profit, not your margin.
Securely wiping data is a separate obligation. It says nothing about the margin scheme.
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, if you bought them without deductible VAT. A working second-hand laptop is tangible movable property that can be used again, which is the definition of second-hand goods at Belgium's FPS Finance. The scheme sits in article 58, § 4 of the Belgian VAT Code and in Royal Decree no. 53 of 23 December 1994.
If there is VAT on the invoice and you deduct it, it is an ordinary purchase with deduction and not margin goods. You then sell with ordinary VAT on the full price. In this trade that is the rule rather than the exception.
That depends on how far you go, not on the word on the box. A clean, a new battery or a larger drive sit close to repair. A machine largely rebuilt from new parts sits close to the renovated-goods exclusion.
In Belgium, €48.60. The margin is €280, and €280 × 21/121 gives €48.60.
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.