All you need to know about Amazon and VAT

Is your company planning to sell its products on Amazon? When a company decides to engage in e-commerce (on Amazon or any other online platform), it’s important to find out about the rules in force for declaring and paying VAT:

What is value-added tax? What are the requirements for declaring and paying VAT on Amazon ? Can our firm represent you if you sell your goods on Amazon?

Find out all you need to know about Amazon and VAT in this article!

Basic VAT concepts

What is VAT? If you’re wondering, here are a few things you should know before you start selling your products on Amazon!

VAT is an acronym that stands for Value Added Tax. When a VAT-registered trader in Europe sells goods, a tax is added to the price of the product sold to his customers.

When this company sells goods in several European countries, it must register for VAT in each of these countries to comply with current legislation. This is done by means of an intra-Community VAT number.

The way VAT works is simple:

• A company can reclaim the VAT it has paid on its purchases.
• It can also bill it on its sales.
• When the company pays VAT to the tax authorities, it is the end consumer who pays the value-added tax (which is then included in the purchase price of the product).
• Please note that VAT registration is required to recover and invoice VAT.
• The declaration enables the tax authorities to know the amount of VAT that vendors have to pay or receive for a given period (monthly or quarterly).
• Although rates vary from country to country, the standard minimum rate is 15%: 20% in France, 19% in Germany, 23% in Poland and 21% in the Netherlands.
• VAT applies equally to products sold to customers in physical stores and online (as on Amazon).

VAT on Amazon

Does your company sell products on Amazon? Here’s what you need to know about VAT rules on Amazon.

Amazon charges value-added tax on orders shipped to European Union countries. The VAT charged by Amazon is in accordance with local legislation, each country having defined its own value-added tax rate.

On Amazon France, the price displayed by default includes French VAT. However, when the order is validated on Amazon, the final price of the product may vary according to the rate applicable to the destination country.

If you’re not yet selling your goods on Amazon, but are planning to do so in the next few months, take the time to understand the rules in force on the ecommerce platform to stay in compliance with the legislation applicable in Europe. Indeed, sellers are required to comply with tax obligations, including when selling goods online.

Fiscalead’s role

If your company is planning to sell its goods on Amazon, we recommend that you enlist the help of an accounting firm specializing in e-commerce taxation.

Fiscalead has over 15 years’ experience at your service. Thanks to our e-commerce expertise, you’re guaranteed to be in compliance with Amazon.

As a certified tax agent, we represent your business before the European tax authorities for the preparation, control and filing of your VAT returns.

Before selling your products and items on Amazon, get in touch with a tax representative to review the VAT rules. Your Fiscalead advisor will take the time to answer all your questions about :

• Your company’s obligations when selling on Amazon
• Value-added tax on invoices, declarations and payments.

Contact us to find out more about our services, Amazon and VAT.