Paying tax on Vinted sales in Belgium: what you actually need to know
2026-09-18
Table of contents
The question comes up every time someone sells more than a few times a month on Vinted. Do I owe tax on this? The answer most people want to hear is no, until you cross a certain amount. That answer doesn’t exist. There’s no magic number under which you’re automatically safe.
I’m not an accountant and this isn’t tax advice. This is how I figured it out and applied it myself, after four years and more than 2,500 transactions in Belgium. For your own situation, talk to an accountant or a social insurance fund. What I can do is give you the frameworks this question gets answered within, so you know which questions to ask.
It’s not about an amount, it’s about your behaviour
Belgian tax authorities draw a line between three situations, and that line doesn’t sit at a revenue figure, it sits at intent and regularity.
The first situation is selling your own belongings. The sweater you no longer wear, the jacket that no longer fits. That’s normal management of your private assets, and the proceeds are, in principle, untaxed, however much they add up to.
The second situation is occasionally buying something to resell at a profit. Spotting one bargain and flipping it doesn’t make you a business, but the profit can still be taxable as miscellaneous income, at 33 percent on the net gain.
The third situation is systematically buying stock with the intent to resell it, regularly and with a built-out process around it. That’s a self-employed activity, with all the obligations that come with it. Anyone doing hundreds of purchases a year with resale in mind is almost certainly in this third category. Acting as if you’re in situation one while you’re really operating in situation three is the most expensive mistake you can make.
What DAC7 does and doesn’t mean
Since the European DAC7 directive, Vinted reports seller data to the tax authorities once you complete 30 or more sales in a calendar year, or generate more than €2,000 in revenue. This is where beginners most often get it wrong in their heads.
That threshold is a reporting threshold, not a tax exemption. Below 30 sales, the platform doesn’t automatically pass on your data, but the tax rules above still apply in full. Anyone buying to resell needs to declare that income from euro one, reported or not. Anyone building their activity on the idea that they’re flying under the radar because they’re under 30 sales is building on a misunderstanding.
When you need a business registration number
Once you’re running a self-employed, profit-making activity on a regular basis, you’re legally a business owner and need a business registration number (ondernemingsnummer), which you get through a Belgian business counter (ondernemingsloket). There’s no revenue threshold below which you’re automatically exempt. The test is regularity and intent, and hundreds of purchases a year with resale in mind is fairly unambiguous evidence of that.
For students, there’s the student self-employed status (student-zelfstandige), with reduced social security contributions under certain income limits. That’s how I started myself. The application runs through a social insurance fund and is about an afternoon’s worth of paperwork. That’s a low price for the difference between operating legally and not. In 2026, students validly enrolled under this status owe no social security contributions below a net professional income of €8,687.04. This isn’t an automatic arrangement; a social insurance fund assesses which status applies to you.
VAT: the threshold most people misunderstand
As a business owner you’re in principle liable for VAT, but under an annual turnover of €25,000 excluding VAT, you can opt into the small business exemption scheme. You then charge no VAT, deduct no VAT, but you do get a VAT number and file an annual client listing. Exceed that threshold by up to 10 percent, up to €27,500, and you can keep the scheme until the end of that calendar year. Exceed it by more than 10 percent, and you fall under the standard VAT regime from the sale that pushed you over.
Above that, there’s a VAT margin scheme for professional resellers of second-hand goods, where VAT is calculated on your profit margin instead of the full sale price. That requires solid record-keeping with purchase documentation and registers. This isn’t something you apply on your own as a beginner without an accountant.
| Threshold | Amount / condition | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| DAC7 reporting | 30 sales OR €2,000 revenue per year | Vinted reports your data to the tax authorities, not an exemption |
| Small business VAT exemption | €25,000 revenue excl. VAT | No VAT charged or deducted, but a VAT number is required |
| VAT exemption tolerance margin | up to €27,500 (max. 10% over the threshold) | Scheme kept until the end of the calendar year |
| Student self-employed exemption | €8,687.04 net professional income (2026) | No social security contributions owed |
What it ends up costing
As a self-employed person, main or side occupation, you pay social security contributions of roughly 20.5 percent on your net taxable income. Combined with personal income tax, the total burden on your profit quickly reaches 45 to 48 percent once you start earning seriously. That’s not an unusually high figure, it’s simply what happens once a hobby becomes a business.
It does mean your net profit is roughly half of what your gross margin promises on paper, and that’s a miscalculation a lot of beginners make when estimating their future income.
When you need an accountant
Get an accountant at the latest when you’re structurally buying stock for resale, when your inventory grows beyond what you can track manually, when you need to activate VAT, when you’re considering the margin scheme, or when you no longer know exactly what you net per item. An accountant for a sole proprietorship in Belgium typically costs between €1,000 and €2,000 a year. That’s an investment, not a cost. The certainty that your books are correct outweighs the amount you pay for it.
The short version
If you’re occasionally clearing out your own closet, in most cases there’s nothing to worry about. If you’re systematically buying stock to resell, you’re a business for tax and legal purposes, regardless of how much or how little you sell. Vinted’s own 30-sales threshold is about reporting, not about whether you owe anything. And once it becomes structural, a conversation with an accountant or a social insurance fund isn’t an unnecessary luxury, it’s the starting point of a business plan that actually holds up.