Intrastat
Intrastat is the statistical declaration of goods movements between EU Member States, filed in the Netherlands with Statistics Netherlands (CBS). The return runs on the eight-digit CN code and is separate from the customs declaration.
Who has to file Intrastat, and for what?
Intrastat captures goods movements between Member States, now that there is no customs declaration at the internal borders. Anyone who moves goods to or from another Member State and exceeds the threshold must report periodically. In the Netherlands the CBS is the authority, not Customs. That distinction is the first thing that goes wrong in a conversation: an Intrastat obligation is not a customs obligation, and there is no MRN attached. The obligation hangs on the VAT registration. A trader who files a VAT return in the Netherlands and has intra-EU goods movements can be Intrastat-liable for arrivals, for dispatches, or for both. Services fall outside it. Goods to and from third countries too: those already sit in the customs declaration and must not be counted again in Intrastat. The United Kingdom has been a third country since Brexit, with the exception of Northern Ireland, which for goods is partly treated as Union under the Protocol. A consignment to Manchester is export. A consignment to Belfast can be Intrastat. That cut belongs in your master data, not in the head of whoever pulls the monthly statistics.
Which thresholds apply, and how do you keep track of them?
The thresholds for arrivals and dispatches are set annually and published by the CBS. They are not equal: the threshold for dispatches is usually lower than that for arrivals, because the statistics are kept sharper on the outbound side. Anyone who exceeds the threshold in a year becomes liable from that moment, not only from the next calendar year. So do not look only at last year. A growing webshop or a shipper flow that in June suddenly goes to Germany and Belgium can become liable halfway through the year. The CBS then expects returns for the remaining months, not a catch-up over January to May. Anyone who ignores the threshold until the first reminder still has to file, with a penalty in prospect. Keep the threshold per flow, not only at group level. An entity with its own VAT number has its own threshold. After a merger, a new establishment or an extra EORI the counter changes, and then someone has to look again at whether the obligation has arisen.
Which data do you ask for per consignment on the return?
Per line you ask for the partner country, the eight-digit CN code, the nature of transaction, the statistical value, the net mass and, if the nomenclature asks for it, the supplementary unit. In addition come the region of origin or destination in the Netherlands, the mode of transport at the border and, on dispatch, sometimes the delivery term. Statistical value is not automatically the invoice value. It is the value of the goods at the crossing of the Dutch border, including freight and insurance to that border. Under EXW you have to add freight. Under DDP you have to take off the costs after the border. Anyone who copies the invoice one for one supplies a series that the CBS later lays next to the VAT listing and that then does not match. The nature of transaction distinguishes an ordinary sale from a stock movement, a return, processing under contract or a temporary transfer. A warehouse in Belgium that you fill yourself is not a sale. Put code 11 on it anyway and the statistics diverge from your VAT return, and that is exactly the check that is done afterwards.
How does Intrastat relate to the customs declaration and to the VAT listing?
Three reports, three authorities, three definitions of the same flow. The customs declaration covers traffic with third countries. The Intrastat return covers goods traffic with Member States above the threshold. The listing (recapitulative statement of intra-EU supplies) covers the VAT side of those same intra-EU supplies. They never line up one for one, because the thresholds, the valuation rules and the scope differ. What does have to match is the direction. An intra-EU acquisition that sits in the VAT return belongs in the Intrastat arrivals if you sit above the threshold. An export to the US belongs in neither. A consignment that first enters the Union under a customs procedure and then goes to another Member State can count at two moments, depending on where the release into free circulation takes place. For a forwarder who does the customs but not the statistics, the trap is that the client thinks Intrastat sits in the clearance fee. It rarely does. Intrastat is a tax and statistical duty of the trader, not a customs act. Anyone who still offers it does so as a separate service, with the CN code as the bridge to the customs side.
What is the difference between arrivals and dispatches in Intrastat?
Arrival is the entry of goods into the Netherlands from another Member State. Dispatch is the departure of goods from the Netherlands to another Member State. You can be liable for one flow and not for the other, because the thresholds differ. An importer who brings a lot in from Asia and buys little intra-EU can still be dispatch-liable if they onward-supply from the Netherlands to Germany. The partner on the return is the country of dispatch on arrivals, and the country of destination on dispatches. Not the country of origin. Goods of Chinese origin that come from Belgium to the Netherlands count as an arrival from Belgium. Origin plays a smaller role in Intrastat than on the customs declaration, and anyone who still fills it in as partner country pollutes the statistics. Returns and stock movements run in both directions. A return to the supplier in Italy is a dispatch, not a correction of the original arrival. Anyone who deducts returns from the arrivals return undervalues the flow and diverges from the VAT figures.
What happens if you file late or incompletely?
The CBS expects the return within the period that applies for that month, in practice in the first half of the following month. Late is a default. Repeatedly late or structurally incomplete produces an administrative penalty, and if it persists a penalty payment. Customs does not come into this. It is the statistical authority that enforces. Incomplete is harder than late. A forgotten flow, a series with the wrong CN code or a statistical value that ignores freight, stays until a comparison with the listing or with mirror statistics of another Member State shows the gap. Then a question follows, and sometimes a correction over several periods. The practical protection is the same as on a customs declaration: one source file, with the CN code, the partner country, the value and the mass per consignment, from which both the listing and Intrastat are drawn. Anyone who hunts the statistics together from invoices at the end of the month misses the returns and the stock movements.