Amazon FBA and VAT: When EU Stock Means You Must Register

If Amazon stores your goods in a country, you will almost always need a VAT number in that country before you sell from that stock. This is the most common VAT problem we see with marketplace sellers, and the one marketplaces check most strictly.

Why storage triggers VAT registration

A sale of goods that are already in a country to a customer in the same country is a domestic sale. Domestic sales must be reported on a local VAT return, so you need a local VAT number. For sellers established outside that country there is usually no registration threshold: the obligation starts with the first sale.

The EU distance-selling threshold of €10,000 and the One-Stop-Shop (OSS) only cover goods shipped from one EU country to a consumer in another. They do not help when the goods sit in a warehouse in the customer's country.

Moving your own stock is also reportable

When Amazon moves your inventory from, say, Poland to Germany, that is treated as an intra-community transfer of your own goods. It is usually reported as a zero-rated dispatch in the country the goods leave and an acquisition in the country they arrive in. That means you typically need VAT numbers in both countries, plus EC Sales Lists and possibly Intrastat.

Pan-European FBA and the Central Europe programme

• Pan-European FBA lets Amazon spread your stock across fulfilment centres in several EU countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland and the Czech Republic. Each country where your goods may be stored needs a VAT number.
• The Central Europe programme, if you are enrolled, stores stock for the German marketplace in Poland and the Czech Republic, so you need VAT numbers in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.

What to do first

1. Download your inventory and shipment reports to see where your stock has actually been stored.
2. List the countries and the date stock first arrived in each one.
3. Register in each country. If you have already sold from stock without a number, correct the past periods. Voluntary correction usually means lower penalties.

We handle VAT registration in Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic and six other countries, and can review your Amazon reports in a free consultation.