VAT Amazon

When should you use an Amazon EU VAT number?

If you’re reading this, chances are Amazon has requested a VAT number for you to use its storage services in an EU country. To fully benefit from the Pan-EU FBA program and store products across multiple European countries, VAT registration in each country is a must.

In this article, I’ll explain when and why you need a VAT number in other EU countries, and how to use it to declare VAT on your Amazon sales. Additionally, if you’re a French company, you can either apply for VAT registration yourself or work with a tax representative to obtain your VAT numbers.

Published: 10/10/2024
Time to read: 7 min

Obtaining a VAT number for Amazon

Register for VAT to use Amazon’s inventory in the EU

If you’re an Amazon seller based in France, you may already be using your Seller account to sell products in Germany and Spain. To expand into these markets, you’ve likely activated these countries in your Amazon Seller Back Office and provided proof of registration through the OSS (One-Stop Shop). At this point, you won’t have any additional tax obligations in Germany or Spain.

However, your obligations change once you decide to use Amazon’s inventory services under the Pan-EU program. Upon enrolling, Amazon will require you to obtain an intra-community VAT number for each country where you plan to store your products. For example, if you’re established in France, in addition to your French VAT number, you will also need:

This is a mandatory intra-community VAT requirement: any company storing goods in an EU country must have an intra-community VAT number in that country. When you use Amazon’s inventory services, you’re subject to this obligation, as you remain the owner of your products while Amazon stores and ships them to your customers.

VAT registration process for Amazon inventory countries

To store your products in countries like Germany and Spain, you’ll need to apply for VAT registration in each country and provide Amazon with the VAT numbers you obtain. While it’s possible to use a tax agent in France for this process, it’s not required for EU-based companies. As a French e-retailer, you can handle the process yourself:

The VAT registration application is submitted online through the tax administration website of the respective country.
Although each country’s process may vary, you will typically need to provide: a copy of the legal representative’s ID, your company’s statutes (a translation may be required), a K-BIS extract, a VAT certificate from France, and your company’s bank details (RIB).
You can expect to receive your VAT number within 4 to 6 weeks.
Once received, you must provide your VAT number to Amazon.

Submitting your VAT number to Amazon

After receiving your VAT numbers, you can enter them one by one in your Amazon Seller Back Office. To do this, go to the “Registration” page on Amazon Seller Central and click “Add a VAT number.” Remember, you must provide a VAT number for each country where you store products using Amazon inventory.

Tax obligations for Pan-European Amazon FBA

Now that you have VAT numbers in three countries—France (FR), Germany (DE), and Spain (ES)—you are responsible for meeting tax obligations in each of these countries. This means that depending on where your orders are fulfilled, Amazon will use your FR, DE, or ES VAT number, and you’ll need to file regular VAT returns in each respective country.

But how does this impact your declarations via the OSS (One-Stop Shop)? Which transactions should be reported in France, Germany, and Spain? In other words, when should you use your Amazon VAT number within the EU, and when should you rely on your FR VAT number?

In this article, we’ll clarify how and when to apply each VAT number across your EU operations.

Using your FR VAT number in the Pan-EU framework

Your FR VAT number continues to be used for the following types of orders:

Local sales within France: orders shipped and delivered within France.
Intra-Community B2B deliveries shipped from France: orders delivered to businesses in other EU countries (e.g., France to Italy).
Exports from France (e.g., France to Switzerland).
B2C distance sales declared via the OSS (One-Stop Shop) in France.

Using your FR VAT number in the Pan-EU program

When you sell through Amazon’s Pan-EU program, a key change is the removal of the €10,000 threshold for B2C distance sales. Once you start fulfilling orders from multiple warehouses in the EU, you must apply the VAT rate of the customer’s country and declare it through the OSS from the first euro.

Additionally, you’ll continue to use your FR VAT number and declare via the OSS all B2C distance sales made within the EU, even those shipped from your Amazon inventory in Germany and Spain. This applies to:

The VAT treatment is the same in all these cases:

Declaring Your Amazon Sales on CA3 and EMEBI/ERTVA

While the OSS declaration helps you pay VAT on your B2C distance sales, you must also declare your turnover monthly or quarterly through your CA3 declaration:

For other orders related to your stock in France, the following tax treatments and declarations apply:

Local sales in France: Apply French VAT and declare on CA3 line A1 (collected VAT to be paid).
Intra-Community B2B deliveries: Invoice without VAT and declare on CA3 line F2 (non-taxable operations in France). You must also submit a VAT summary statement (ERTVA) and, if applicable, declare the shipment of your products in the EMEBI survey.
Exports: Invoice without VAT and declare on CA3 line E1. An export declaration (DAU export) must also be submitted to French customs.

Using Your FR VAT Number in the Pan-EU Program

Your DE and ES VAT numbers are used for all orders shipped from Amazon stocks in Germany and Spain, except for B2C distance sales that you declare via the OSS (as mentioned above).

The same territorial rules apply to orders shipped from Amazon stocks in other countries as they do for those shipped from France:

Reporting VAT on Amazon sales in storage countries

The VAT treatment for orders fulfilled from Amazon stock in other countries (such as Germany or Spain) follows the same logic as for orders shipped from France:

Note: for Local B2B Sales In certain countries like Spain and Italy, VAT is not applied to local sales to companies (ES or IT). For local B2B sales in Spain, invoices are issued excluding VAT, and your customers are responsible for self-assessing the VAT (under the self-assessment mechanism). However, you must still report this as a non-taxable transaction on your Spanish VAT return.

Intra-Community B2B deliveries: Invoices are issued excluding VAT, and the transaction is considered non-taxable. You must declare these deliveries on the VAT return in the country of departure (DE or ES). Additionally, you’ll need to submit an EC Sales List (similar to the ERTVA) and, if required, file an Intrastat shipment report (similar to the EMEBI).
Exports: Invoices are issued excluding VAT and should be declared on the VAT return in the country of departure (DE or ES). An export declaration (DAU export) must also be submitted to German or Spanish customs.

Remember, to manage your VAT obligations in the countries where your Amazon stock is located, you can either appoint a tax agent or handle the process yourself if you’re based in an EU country like France.

Which VAT number should I use for stock transfers?

With Amazon FBA, your products are distributed across various warehouses based on order volumes. As a result, stock transfers occur between your Amazon inventories in France, Germany, and Spain.

For each stock transfer, you must declare the shipment of your products from the country of departure (stock exit) and their receipt in the country of destination (stock entry).

For example, when transferring stock between France and Germany:

For stock transfers between Germany and Spain, declare the shipment in Germany using your DE VAT number and the receipt in Spain using your ES VAT number in the same way.

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