European Sales Listing in Europe or ESL Returns

What Is an ESL Return?

The ESL return is an informative reporting obligation that must be submitted when a transfer goods or supply of services takes place from one EU country to another EU country, i.e., when you perform intra-Community supplies.

In most countries, you only need to report your sales to other EU countries. But in some cases, you should also include your purchases from the EU. In these countries, the ESL return is also due when making intra-Community acquisitions of goods and services – for example, in Spain, Poland or Hungary. In such cases, we refer to European Sales and Purchases Listing (ESPL).

What Information Should Be Included in the ESL Returns?

The ESL declaration must always include the following information about each sale to another EU country:

1. The customer’s name
2. Your customer’s EU VAT number
3. The value amount of the transactions reported

The VAT numbers of both the supplier and the customer of the transactions included must be registered in the VIES system (VAT Information Exchange System).

How Often Do you Submit an ESL Return?

The ESL can be submitted on an annual, quarterly, or monthly basis depending on the thresholds established by each country.

It is important that you calculate your thresholds correctly to avoid penalties for late submission of your ESL return. The most common rule, as established in the VAT Directive, is that ESL returns are filed monthly unless the total amount of intra-Community supplies in the current or any of the previous four quarters does not exceed 50,000 €. However, the interpretation of this rule is different in each country, so we recommend checking with Marosa what is the right frequency of your ESL returns.

You can find information about the due date to submit your ESL returns in this overview of due dates in Europe.

You can also find information about the frequency in which you should submit your ESL return (monthly or quarterly) in our country manuals.

Do you Charge VAT on Intra-Community Supplies?

Normally, if your customer is registered in VIES you will not charge VAT on your intra-Community supply transaction, due to the reverse charge mechanism established via EU Directive. In these cases, VAT will be “paid” or reported by the person purchasing the goods or services – i.e., the person performing an intra-Community acquisition.

It is important that your customer has an EU VAT number registered in VIES in order to be able to correctly apply this exemption.

Because you only report zero-rated intra-Community supplies in your ESL return, you should not declare an VAT amounts on the ESL return.

What Is the Difference Between Intrastat and ESL Returns?

Intrastat is a different reporting obligation which provides the EU authorities and governments further and more detailed information on the movements of goods within the European Union than the ESL, for statistical purposes.

Intrastat is a statistical return and ESL return is a tax return. Intrastat is sent to customs and statistical authorities whereas ESL return is submitted in the portal of your usual tax returns. They both cover intra-Community transactions, but the scope of the information included is different in Intrastat and ESL returns. 

These are the main differences between Intrastat and ESL returns:

• The information reported: Intrastat returns require more detailed and extensive information on the transactions to be reported than the ESL. The additional information required on Intrastat includes quantity, commodity code, Incoterm, way of transport and regions of departure and arrival.
• Supplies of Services: Intrastat does not include the supplies of services to other EU countries, while the ESL does.
• Intrastat Thresholds: Intrastat is due only when the applicable thresholds of exemption are exceeded. In the case of ESL returns, usually there is no exemption threshold for the supplies to other EU countries. This means that you have to submit an ESL from the first intra-Community supply made in an EU country, irrespective of the value of said intra-Community supply. However, you do not have to submit an Intrastat return until you reach the relevant threshold in the relevant country.
• Reporting Flows: the ESL is normally due only on the departures flow (although some exceptions apply in certain countries as explained above), while Intrastat has a relevant threshold applicable for both flows of arrivals and departures.
• Frequency of filing: Intrastat is always submitted on a monthly basis, but the ESL can be submitted on a monthly, quarterly, or even annual basis – depending on the thresholds and rules established by each country.