Vintro Pro
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Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
Means of transport are named separately in the scheme. For motorcycles the snag usually comes from the workshop or from across the border.
Used motorcycles fall under the margin scheme.
Second-hand means of transport fall under the margin scheme, motorcycles included. Watch the European new-vehicle rule on cross-border sales.
Belgium’s FPS Finance names second-hand means of transport separately in the scheme, including cars, motorcycles, caravans, boats and aircraft. For ordinary resale that settles it.
Two things make it harder in practice: the line between repairing and rebuilding, and the European new-means-of-transport rule as soon as you sell across the border.
A motorcycle bought from a private individual, fixed up and resold is second-hand goods usable again after repair. That is exactly the definition the tax authority uses.
Buy from a dealer with VAT on the invoice and it is an ordinary purchase with deduction. That choice is made at purchase, not at sale.
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 used motorcycle: bought for €2,400.00, sold for €3,600.00. 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?
A motorcycle built up from two or three wrecks is no longer the goods you bought. Goods processed so heavily that at the point of sale you cannot establish they are the same goods are excluded, as are goods that can no longer be used in the same state.
On a supply to a buyer in another member state the European new-means-of-transport rule joins in. It looks at age and distance driven, not at the advert, and it sits apart from the margin scheme.
Whether motorcycles 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.
That rule sits apart from the margin scheme and overrides it on a supply to another member state.
The margin is selling price minus purchase price. New parts lower your profit, not your margin.
What comes into being from loose parts is not the goods you bought.
A margin invoice carries no VAT amount. On amounts of thousands of euros that is not a detail.
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 second-hand means of transport among the goods the scheme applies to, motorcycles included. The basis is article 58, § 4 of the Belgian VAT Code and Royal Decree no. 53 of 23 December 1994.
Yes. The definition of second-hand goods itself speaks of goods usable again as they are or after repair. A motorcycle built largely from loose parts falls outside.
The European new-means-of-transport rule joins in. It looks at the age of the vehicle and the distance driven, sits apart from the margin scheme and overrides it. Check it before you invoice.
In Belgium, €208.26. The margin is €1,200, and €1,200 × 21/121 gives €208.26.
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.