Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
A simple type with one awkward edge: when does an incomplete set stop being goods that can be used again?
A second-hand toy is second-hand goods and falls under the margin.
Second-hand toys fall under the margin scheme. A set missing so much that it is no longer usable falls outside it.
A used toy is tangible movable property that can be used again. That clears the tax authority’s test in a single sentence.
The edge that really matters in this trade is completeness. A building set half empty, a jigsaw missing three pieces: at some point a set is no longer usable goods.
Vintage toys and ordinary second-hand toys follow the same rule. If a piece is rare enough to count as a collectors’ item, that category is named separately too — with the same treatment.
Buy from private individuals, at an estate sale 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 box of building bricks: bought for €25.00, sold for €95.00. 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 set so incomplete that it cannot be played with comes close. Sell it as loose parts and you are no longer selling a toy.
New toys from end-of-line stock are new goods and named on the exclusion list, however long the box sat in a warehouse.
Whether toys 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.
What comes out of an unusable set is no longer a second-hand toy. Goods out of use are on the exclusion list.
New goods are excluded, even if the box is years old.
For a batch at one price, Royal Decree no. 53 asks for a register, not an estimate after the fact.
In Belgium you take the margin across the whole return period. With many small sales that matters.
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 defines second-hand goods as tangible movable property suitable for further use as it is or after repair. A used toy fits that. The scheme sits in article 58, § 4 of the Belgian VAT Code and in Royal Decree no. 53 of 23 December 1994.
As long as it stays usable it is second-hand goods. If so much is missing that it cannot be played with and you sell it as loose parts, you touch the exclusion of goods that can no longer be used in the same state.
No. New goods are expressly on the exclusion list. A never-used toy is sold with ordinary VAT on the full price.
In Belgium, €12.15. The margin is €70, and €70 × 21/121 gives €12.15.
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.