Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
Vintro Pro
NL · FR · EN
Yes — but not because you sell antiques. The purchase decides, not the trade.
Yes. An antiques dealer may use the margin scheme for pieces bought from someone who could not charge VAT, such as a private individual, a non-taxable person, or a fellow dealer who sold under the margin scheme himself. You then pay VAT on your profit margin instead of on the full selling price. On a piece bought with deductible VAT, it is not allowed in Belgium, the Netherlands and France.
Who did you buy the piece from?
Margin scheme allowed
Margin scheme not allowed
Under the margin scheme you pay VAT on your profit margin, not on the full selling price.
The mistake made most often is to think the scheme attaches to the trade. It attaches to the piece. Two cabinets standing side by side in the same shop can each follow their own scheme — one bought from a private seller at a house clearance, the other on an invoice with VAT from a dealer who did not sell under the margin scheme.
So what you must be able to show per piece is not your activity code but your purchase: from whom, when, for how much, and whether there was VAT on it. According to the Belgian FPS Finance, without proof of the purchase price the margin cannot be established, and the full selling price is taxed.
Two cabinets in the same shop
Cabinet 1
Margin schemeBought from a private seller at a house clearance.Cabinet 2
Normal rulesAn invoice with VAT from a dealer who did not sell under the margin scheme.Per piece you show your purchase: from whom, when, for how much, and whether there was VAT on it.
From a private individual, from a non-taxable person, from a taxable person who supplied the item exempt because he had no right of deduction, from a small business under the VAT exemption scheme selling a capital good, or from another dealer who sold the piece under the margin scheme himself. All five share one feature: there was no deductible VAT on your purchase (VAT Directive, article 314).
In Belgium the standard rate of 21 %, and this is where it usually goes wrong: the margin is a VAT-inclusive amount. You calculate margin × 21/121, not margin × 21 %. On a margin of 100 euros that is 17.36 euros, not 21 euros. The Netherlands also uses 21 %, France 20 %, and in the UK HMRC itself calls it one sixth of the margin.
Vintro Pro keeps, per piece, what you paid, when, and where it came from. Your stock list and your margin VAT build themselves while you work.
30 days free, no card number.