Verify Establishment for VAT - Help needed
Hello fellow sellers,
I need your help. I recently received an email from Amazon regarding VAT establishment. I am based in the UK, and for privacy reasons, my registered company address is a mail forwarding service, different from my physical/operational address, which is my home. I submitted multiple documents showing my name and business name at my home address as proof. However, Amazon has requested additional information. I'm surprised and confused about what more I need to provide, given that my registered company address is only for mail forwarding and not for actual operations. This situation has significantly impacted my mental health and my family's well-being. I've been going back and forth with seller support, submitting all the required documents, but they keep asking for "proof of physical business address" to verify my establishment for VAT purposes. Please see their response below:
Hello,
Thank you for your submission. We reviewed the information provided, we need additional documentation to determine whether you are established in the UK for Value Added Tax (VAT) purposes.
Why did this happen?
We must collect and remit VAT from non-UK established selling partners for the sales of goods delivered to customers in the UK. Based on a review of your account, we determined that you may not be UK established for VAT purposes. We leveraged a combination of automated means and expert human review to identify this issue and make this decision. We took this action in accordance with the Amazon Business Solution Agreement:
https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/external/G201190440
and APUK Agreement:
https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/G201190400
What actions do I need to take?
To avoid further impact to your disbursements, go to the Account Health page in your Seller Central account and follow the instructions from the banner that is present at the top of the page to submit the following mentioned documentation:
https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/performance/dashboard?ref=ah_em_ap
What documents do I need to provide?
- Proof of physical business address.
*** The utility bills and council tax bill which you have provided not in business address. If you are unable to provided any of the following, please explain the reason. ***
We accept one of the following documents (we do not accept mobile phone bills):
• A recent business rates addressed to the company
• A recent utility bill dated within 180 days addressed to the company or the director of the company. If bill was in name of director the address need to be same as the business address.
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you’ve said your registered address is only set up for mail forwarding so that isn’t classed as an established business for Vat proof of a UK business. Amazon are correct here and you will have to register for VAT and pay off the back dues.
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Many of us went through this at the beginning of the year, and it took multiple submissions of the same documents, over and over, before finally being verified - it really was a nightmare.
Personally I think your problem is because you have a separate address for your mail forwarding, and Amazon's bots cannot cope with that ! You really just need to keep going and explain that you ARE based in UK and your business established here. I understand your reasons for privacy, but if you do actually manage your business from your home, then I would try and just provide that address, not your mail forwarding one.
Goodness knows if that will work. I am almost tempted to say remove your mail forwarding address, but I am not familiar with how that works, as related to Amazon. Good luck.
