Germany tax obligations

All selling partners who are required to be tax registered in Germany must obtain a Tax Certificate and upload a copy of their German Tax Certificate on Seller Central. All selling partners who are not required to be tax registered in Germany must submit a Tax Declaration.

According to the amendments in the German VAT Code ("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 by March 1, 2019 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 by October 1, 2019 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 application to 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, click here.
3. After you receive the Tax Certificate from the tax office, upload it to Seller Central, here.

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 New German Tax Obligations.

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