One phrase, two products

Read enough vendor pages and you will find "VAT return" on nearly all of them. It covers two different things. One is a report: the software works out the figures and shows you a screen or a PDF, and you type those figures into the tax authority's own portal yourself. The other is a filing: the software transmits the return to the tax authority and gets a receipt back.

Both are honestly described as "VAT return" by the people selling them, and the difference is a monthly chore. The reason the distinction can be established at all is that every authority in these four countries has published what the channel is — and, without exception, has published nothing about which product may use it.

Germany: the law names an interface, not a product

The German VAT Act is unusually explicit. § 18(1) UStG:

"Der Unternehmer hat […] bis zum zehnten Tag nach Ablauf jedes Voranmeldungszeitraums eine Voranmeldung nach amtlich vorgeschriebenem Datensatz über die amtlich bestimmte Schnittstelle zu übermitteln, in der er die Steuer für den Voranmeldungszeitraum (Vorauszahlung) selbst zu berechnen hat."

A prescribed data set, over the officially designated interface, with the tax calculated by the business itself. A prescribed data set and a designated interface — not a designated program. The paper route survives only as an exception you have to ask for: "Auf Antrag kann das Finanzamt zur Vermeidung von unbilligen Härten auf eine elektronische Übermittlung verzichten."

That interface is ELSTER, and which products reach it is a matter of what their manufacturers say they do — see our guide on certification.

Austria: FinanzOnline, or the U30 form

Austria says the same thing in administrative rather than statutory language: "Beachten Sie bitte, dass Sie grundsätzlich verpflichtet sind, die Umsatzsteuererklärung elektronisch über FinanzOnline einzureichen." The exception is narrow and technical: "Ist die elektronische Übermittlung mangels technischer Voraussetzungen (z.B. fehlender Internet-Anschluss) unzumutbar, ist der amtliche Vordruck U30 zu verwenden."

Whether you file at all, and how often, follows last year's turnover: above €100,000 monthly, above €55,000 quarterly. And for software builders the finance ministry publishes the "Vorgaben und Strukturen" for transmitting each type of declaration as a data stream — the same pattern again: a documented pipe, no approved products at the end of it.

Belgium: Intervat, and paper only when you cannot

Belgium is the most direct of the four: "In principe moet u uw periodieke btw-aangifte altijd op elektronische wijze indienen via de toepassing Intervat."

The way out is an inability, not a preference: "Alleen als u of uw mandataris in de onmogelijkheid verkeert om deze aangifte op elektronische wijze in te dienen, kunt u worden vrijgesteld van de verplichting tot elektronische indiening." The examples given are having no IT resources, filing through a foreign representative, or technical problems — and then you request blank paper forms (no. 625) and send them to the scanning centre.

The Netherlands: three routes, and one condition

The Dutch tax administration names three ways to file: through a tax service provider, through your administration software, or through its own portal. About the middle one it adds the condition that decides everything: filing through administration software works "dan is het belangrijk dat de software een rechtstreekse koppeling heeft met de Belastingdienst" — the software needs a direct link. Those links run over SBR and Digipoort, the channel described in that same guidance.

Four channels, no approved products

Country Prescribed channel Paper fallback
Germany the officially designated interface (ELSTER) on request, for undue hardship
Austria FinanzOnline form U30, if electronic filing is unreasonable
Belgium Intervat form 625, if you are unable to file electronically
Netherlands software with a direct link, an adviser, or the portal the portal itself

What we do with this

This section is our own reasoning, not a rule of any authority.

Because none of these authorities certifies a product, the only place a filing claim can be established is the vendor's own pages — so that is where we read it, and we record what we found with the page and the date. A package that transmits the return and returns a receipt is a different product from one that prints the figures for you to retype, and we keep the two apart even when the marketing does not.

Where a vendor's page says the return is filed from within the software, we record that. Where the capability exists but not in the plan we show — a more expensive tier, a paid add-on — we record that instead. And where the page does not answer the question unambiguously, we record nothing: an unanswered question shows as "not established", never as a "no". See the comparison for the current state, and the methodology for why silence is not an answer.

Official sources

Read on 8 September 2026. Thresholds, forms and exceptions change — check the source before you act on it.