Key takeaways
- Intrastat is a monthly statistical return on goods moving between Cyprus and other EU countries: arrivals in, dispatches out. It is not a tax return, and services are not reported.
- For 2026 a business must file for arrivals once they exceed €380,000 a year, and for dispatches once they exceed €75,000; each direction is tested on its own.
- The declaration is due by the 10th of the month after the month it covers, and goes electronically to the Tax Department, which collects it for the Statistical Service (CYSTAT).
- Intrastat is separate from VIES and from the VAT return: different thresholds, goods only, both directions. A late declaration carries a fixed charge of €15.
01The short answer
Intrastat is a monthly return of the goods a business moves between Cyprus and other EU member states. It feeds the trade statistics compiled by the Statistical Service (CYSTAT); the Tax Department collects it. A business files only once its trade in goods passes the year's thresholds.
The rest of this guide covers who is caught, when the obligation starts and stops, how Intrastat differs from VIES and the VAT return, and what to have ready each month.
02Who has to file
A business files Intrastat when its trade in goods with other EU countries passes the year's exemption threshold. The two directions are tested separately:
- Arrivals: goods coming into Cyprus from another member state. The 2026 threshold is €380,000 a year.
- Dispatches: goods leaving Cyprus for another member state. The 2026 threshold is €75,000 a year.
A business over the dispatches threshold but under the arrivals threshold files for dispatches only, and the other way round. A business that only buys and sells services has no Intrastat obligation, whatever its size.
Above a second, higher pair of figures, the simplification thresholds of €2,700,000 for arrivals and €5,800,000 for dispatches, a declaration has to carry the full detail; below them, less is asked for.
03When the obligation starts, and when it stops
There are two ways in:
- Last year's trade. If the previous year's arrivals or dispatches exceeded the threshold, you file for that direction from January.
- This year's trade. If the running total for the current year crosses the threshold, you file from the month in which it was crossed.
Once you are in, you stay in for the rest of that year, and a full year under the threshold is what takes a business back out. So a business that crosses the dispatches threshold in September files from September, and keeps filing through the following year if its dispatches for the year as a whole stayed above the threshold.
Because the thresholds change every year, the test is worth running each January, and again whenever a client's goods trade picks up during the year.
04Intrastat, VIES and the VAT return: three different returns
All three touch EU trade, and a business can owe all three for the same shipment. They are built on different rules, so their figures will not match line for line.
The overlaps are where errors surface. Goods you sell to VAT-registered customers in other EU countries go in Box 8A of the VAT return and on the VIES statement, and, above the dispatches threshold, on Intrastat as well. Goods you buy from EU suppliers go in Box 2 and Box 11A of the VAT return and, above the arrivals threshold, on Intrastat. Services appear on VIES and the VAT return, never on Intrastat. The VIES declaration guide and the VAT return boxes guide cover the other two in detail.
05What to have ready each month
An Intrastat declaration is built from the month's goods invoices and the movements behind them. For each month, the file should let you answer:
- which purchase invoices were for goods arriving from another EU country, and their values;
- which sales invoices were for goods dispatched to another EU country, and their values;
- the counterparty's country for each, taken from the invoice and the customer's or supplier's VAT number;
- the running total for the year in each direction, so you see a threshold coming before you cross it.
Keep the goods lines apart from service lines on mixed invoices. A single invoice for machinery plus installation can put part of its value on Intrastat and part only on VIES and the VAT return.
06Deadlines and the late charge
Each month's declaration is due by the 10th of the following month: January's arrivals and dispatches by 10 February, and so on through the year. That is five days before the VIES statement for the same month, which is due by the 15th.
A late declaration carries a fixed charge of €15, and a continued failure to file can become a criminal offence. The charge is small next to the VAT penalties described in the Cyprus VAT penalties guide, but it applies to every late month, and a business that has quietly crossed a threshold can owe several months at once.
07Where Pileform fits
Intrastat is a separate return, and Pileform does not prepare or file it. What Pileform does prepare sits next to it: from the posted books, Pileform prepares the VAT return draft and generates the VIES declaration, for a person to check and submit. See VAT return automation for how the draft is built.
The documents are the common ground. Pileform reads received invoices line by line: the supplier's VAT number with its country prefix, the supplier's country, and each line's description, quantity and amount, with the source document kept beside each row. That gives a record of the month's EU purchases to build the arrivals side of an Intrastat declaration from, although the declaration itself is prepared and submitted elsewhere.
References. Cyprus Tax Department, Intrastat pages and the 2026 guide for traders; the Statistical Service of Cyprus (CYSTAT).
Not sure whether a client's EU trade puts them over an Intrastat threshold? Send a note to contact@pileform.com and we will show you how their invoices look once they are read into Pileform.
Quick answers
€380,000 a year for arrivals (goods coming into Cyprus from other EU countries) and €75,000 a year for dispatches (goods going out). Each direction is tested on its own, and the figures are reset every year.
Monthly, by the 10th of the month after the month it covers. January's declaration is due by 10 February.
No. Intrastat covers the physical movement of goods only. Services supplied to business customers in other EU countries go on the VIES statement and in Box 8B of the VAT return instead.
No. VIES is a tax return listing your supplies of goods and reverse-charge services to EU business customers, monthly by the 15th with no threshold. Intrastat is a statistical return on goods moving in both directions, monthly by the 10th, and only above the year's thresholds.
A late declaration carries a fixed charge of €15, and a continued failure to file can become a criminal offence.
No. Intrastat is a separate return that Pileform does not prepare or file. Pileform prepares the VAT return draft and generates the VIES declaration from the posted books, for you to check and submit.
Get the month's EU invoices read before any return is built.
Pileform reads received invoices line by line with the source document beside each row, and prepares the VAT return draft and VIES declaration for you to check and submit.