VAT compliance can be a stressful process for many businesses. With regulations changing and new schemes coming into play it can become overwhelming. Unlike GB, Northern Ireland has stayed within the EU VAT regime for goods to a large extent. Businesses in NI can still process EC Sales and use the reverse charge mechanism with businesses in the EU and declare these on their UK VAT return and EC Sales List. Northern Ireland VAT registrations can be verified on the EU VIES system using the prefix XI instead of GB, making trade with NI much more convenient for European businesses than other regions of the UK, as the VAT can be zero rated B2B.
For non-VAT registered customers, Northern Ireland businesses are able to utilise the Union One Stop Shop for EU VAT so sales to all countries in the EU can be accounted for on one HMRC OSS VAT return based on the destination country of the customer. No nasty VAT or Duty surprises for customers when they receive their goods from Northern Ireland retailers.
From an e-commerce fulfilment point of view, retailers need to be very careful about holding stock in the EU. This will immediately trigger a VAT registration requirement in the warehouse country. You may see a great fulfilment set up in Germany for example but to hold your goods in a 'Fulfilled By Amazon' warehouse or an independent German warehouse you will need to secure a domestic VAT registration in that country and submit returns every month/quarter for sales to customers in that country and movement of your goods to that country. VAT registration is mandatory when you hold stock even if you haven't made one sale yet!