Czech e-shops selling to Slovakia, Poland and Hungary: OSS, local prices and three currencies

A Prague e-shop selling home fragrances grows past the Czech market and opens Slovak, Polish and Hungarian versions of its site. Orders come in. So do three new VAT rates, three new payment habits and two new currencies. At the end of the first quarter, the shop realises its payment provider has been converting zloty and forint payouts to korunas at a rate it never checked.

VAT: the €10,000 line

EU rules treat cross-border sales to consumers in one way across the bloc. Below €10,000 a year in total such sales, a Czech seller can charge Czech VAT. Above it, VAT is due at the rate of each customer's country, from the sale that crosses the threshold.

The One Stop Shop (OSS) avoids registering in each country. You register with the Czech tax office, charge each country's rate at checkout and file one quarterly OSS return. Rates differ: Hungary's standard rate of 27 percent is the EU's highest, and Poland and Slovakia have their own.

Payment methods by market

• Slovakia: cards, bank transfers, cash on delivery still common. Prices in euros.
• Poland: BLIK, the mobile code system, and fast bank transfers dominate. Cards and pay-later options follow.
• Hungary: cards, bank transfers, cash on delivery.

Your payment provider can enable most of these. Prices in the local currency raise conversion, especially in Poland and Hungary.

Settlement: where margins leak

When the provider pays out zloty and forints, it either converts them to korunas first or pays out in the local currency. Conversion at payout happens at the provider's rate, on every payout, whatever the market is doing.

Holding euros, zloty and forints lets settlements arrive as they are. You can pay local costs from them, such as Polish marketing agencies, Hungarian returns handling or Slovak fulfilment, and convert the surplus to korunas when you choose.

Practical order

1. Register for OSS before you expect to cross €10,000.
2. Localise price, currency and payment methods per country.
3. Settle each currency into its own balance.
4. Reconcile OSS figures against payouts each quarter.

Paying into Czechia: the local rail

Source: Czech National Bank: CERTIS. Checked when this guide was last updated; the scheme's own page has the current figures.

Where Rivet fits

Rivet is not a checkout or an OSS filing service. On the Scale plan, a Rivet business account holds balances in 30 currencies, including korunas, zloty and forints, beside the euro and sterling details from Growth and the US dollar details on every plan. Balances can be converted at a rate shown before you confirm or paid out to suppliers in 120+ countries. Rivet is not a bank; regulated partner institutions hold the funds.