Declaration of exchange of goods (Intrastat)

The declaration of exchange of goods is a document intended to inform customs of intra-Community exchanges of goods. 

Today, for a company in the European Union (EU) to carry out commercial operations in other member countries, it must prepare a declaration of exchange of goods. The customs service will thus be able to update trade statistics between EU member countries, as well as also ensure control of intra-Community transactions, particularly with regard to VAT.

The Declaration of Exchange of Goods (or Intrastat declaration), must group together all the movements of Community goods circulating between the Member States. However, certain categories of goods continue to be subject to more complex formalities (alcoholic beverages, medicines, etc.) and are therefore excluded from the declaration of exchange of goods. 

The Intrastat declaration must be prepared by any person subject to VAT carrying out intra-Community transactions of goods. This can be mandated to another person (SORECO for example).

Declaration of exchange of goods (Intrastat)

The thresholds for presentation differ according to country and according to the nature of the operation:

Nature of the operation

DEB Spain

DEB Italy

DEB Portugal

Reception of goods

€400,000

€200,000

€350,000

Shipping of goods

€400,000

From the 1st euro

€250,000

The Intrastat declaration is not submitted until the cumulative transactions reach these thresholds. It should be noted that the Italian DEB also includes the acquisition and sale of services intra-Community.

The Spanish DEB must be submitted before the 12th of each month and the Italian DEB before the 25th. The Portuguese Intrastat is submitted before the 15th of the month.

The information to be provided is as follows:

  • Product nomenclature (according to European nomenclature code),
  • Weight of goods,
  • Tax value,
  • Purchase or sale,
  • Country of destination,
  • Country of origin,
  • Client identification number (for shipments).