Germany tax obligations

From July 1, 2021 all selling partners who are required to be tax registered in Germany must upload a German VAT identification number “Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer ” on Seller Central.

The German Tax Amendment Law 2020 was enacted on December 28, 2020. It amends the existing German Joint and Several Liability legislation with effect from July 1st, 2021. Based on this, the obligation to provide a German §22f Tax certificate will be replaced by the obligation to provide a German VAT identification number or EU VAT identification number including the company name and address with which the selling partner registered the VAT identification number as evidence.

German VAT identification provided by selling partners also need to match name and address stored by the German Federal Tax Authority.

Selling partners who do not store inventory in Germany can alternatively meet their German tax obligations by opting into the Union One-Stop Shop (OSS). OSS requires Selling Partners to report all EU Business-to-Consumer cross border sales under OSS. Selling Partners will need to provide evidence by July 1, 2021 that they report all EU Business-to-Consumer cross border sales to Germany through OSS and mark the VAT number in Seller Central used for OSS. An overview of all EU Member state OSS portals and contact details for each country can be found here.

Upload your German VAT identification number here.

In case you fail to provide evidence that you enrolled into OSS or do not upload a valid German VAT identification number before July 1, 2021 you will no longer be able to sell on Amazon.de or to customers in Germany.

Find out more about when you are required to be tax registered in Germany after July 1, 2021 and OSS here.

Until July 1, 2021 selling on a German Marketplace or fulfilling orders from or to Germany may require you to upload a valid German §22f tax certificate. Note that after July 1, 2021 the obligation to provide a German §22f Tax certificate will be replaced by the obligation to provide a German VAT identification number or alternatively by opting into OSS.

If you already received your Tax Certificate, you can upload your tax certificate directly in Seller Central.

Submit your certificate

According to the amendments in the German VAT Act ("UStG"), online marketplace operators can be held liable for unpaid VAT generated by selling partners trading on the marketplace and fulfilling orders from or to Germany. In order to avoid such liability, marketplace operators must obtain a Tax Certificate from their selling partners according to the new Sec. 22f UStG which will confirm that selling partners are tax registered in Germany.

Selling partners legally-established outside of the European Union not providing a Tax certificate or Declaration are no longer able to sell on Amazon.de or to German customers. Selling partners legally established inside the European Union (including Germany), Iceland, Lichtenstein or Norway who do not provide a Tax Certificate or Declaration are no longer be able to sell on Amazon.de or to customers in Germany.

How to get a Tax Certificate and how to provide it to Amazon?

1. You need to be tax registered in Germany with a valid Tax ID (Steuernummer) in order to be able to apply for a Tax Certificate in Germany. The following non-exhaustive list of transactions are subject to German VAT and trigger a tax registration obligation in Germany:
   
   1. You store inventory and fulfil from Germany.
   2. You ship goods to German customers from another EU country where your inventory is stored and your total sales to German customers exceeds €100,000 per year across all sales channels.
   3. You ship goods to German customers from a non-EU country and you (or the carrier on your behalf) are the importer of record.
2. To apply for a Tax Certificate, you should submit an applicationto the German tax office responsible for you. You can find details for which German tax office is responsible for you by clicking here. For contact information of the different tax offices, clickhere.
3. After you receive the Tax Certificate from the tax office, upload it to Seller Centralhere.

What to do if you don't have VAT obligations in Germany?

You need to provide Amazon this declaration if you are fulfilling orders to Germany but are not obligated to be tax registered in Germany.

Find out more about the German Tax Obligations.

Need help with VAT Registration? Learn more about VAT Services on Amazon.