The golden rule of FBA: Stock = VAT number
This is the most important rule every Amazon seller must know: **As soon as you store stock in another EU country, you must have a local VAT number there.**
With FBA, this happens faster than you think. If you enable 'Pan-European FBA' or 'Central European Program' (CEE), Amazon moves your products to warehouses in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
Consequence: You are immediately liable for VAT in all those countries. You must register there and file local VAT returns. The OSS scheme (One-Stop-Shop) does **not** cover this! OSS is only for sales from one country to consumers in other countries, not for stock movements.
Difference between FBA and FBM for VAT
• **FBM (Fulfillment by Merchant):** You ship yourself from your home country. You usually don't need foreign VAT numbers (unless you sell a lot, then you use OSS).
• **FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon):** Amazon stores your items abroad. You **do** need local VAT numbers in every country of storage.
Amazon checks this strictly. Do you not have a German VAT number but is there stock in Germany? Then your account will be blocked immediately.
Invoicing requirements from Amazon
Amazon requires sellers to upload invoices for business customers (Amazon Business). If you don't do this, you risk a 'Defect Rate' and your account can be suspended.
You have two options:
1. **Amazon VCS (VAT Calculation Service):** Amazon creates the invoices. Disadvantage: They are often incorrect in complex situations and you have no control over the layout.
2. **External Software (like Winkel Factuur):** You create invoices yourself that meet all rules and upload them automatically to Amazon. This gives you control and certainty.
How Winkel Factuur helps with FBA
Winkel Factuur specializes in Amazon FBA sellers. Our software:
• Retrieves all orders from Amazon Seller Central.
• Recognizes from which warehouse the product was shipped (important for VAT!).
• Calculates the correct VAT (local or OSS).
• Creates an invoice and uploads it automatically to Amazon within 24 hours.
• Takes Pan-EU and CEE stock movements into account.
Step-by-step plan for starting FBA sellers
- Step 1: Determine in which countries you want to place stock (only DE? Or entire Pan-EU?).
- Step 2: Apply for VAT numbers immediately in those countries (via a tax advisor or Amazon VAT Services).
- Step 3: Only enable FBA in a country AS SOON AS you have the VAT number.
- Step 4: Connect Winkel Factuur to your Amazon account for automatic invoicing.
- Step 5: Monitor your revenue and file returns neatly (local for stock countries, OSS for the rest).