We have been involved in a VAT Establishment in the UK situation with Amazon since August relating to both the company and its Director. Amazon initially stated that HMRC had informed them we were not a UK Verified business. This was addressed with HMRC who confirmed their agreement in writing.

Amazon have then subsequently advised that they “have detected your business has not met UK business establishment requirements” and we were asked to supply further documentary proof to verify UK Establishment status

We are a UK Based Company trading in the UK

All Goods we supply are manufactured in the UK 

Our Registered Office is at a permanent UK based address

The Director is a UK Natural Citizen and 100% all year round resident in the UK

We are not registered for VAT and do not have a VAT number

We do not meet the annual turnover threshold to register for VAT and this has been recognised and acknowledged by HMRC

We have at Amazons request supplied the following documentation

Company Information supplied at the beginning of October as follows

A letter obtained direct from HMRC confirming that we are not VAT Registered and also confirming that HMRC have no interest in our organisation.

Certificate of Incorporation

Companies House Registration details

Invoices from UK Suppliers relating to the goods shipped direct to Amazon for FBA

Personal Information regarding the Director to confirm his UK registration & residency as follows the latest of these being sent on 15/10.2024

UK Passport

UK Driving Licence

Utility Bills

Council Tax Statement

Personal Active Bank Statements

Our Disbursements remain “on hold” We have not received any disbursements on the Account since 30.08.2024 yet have continued to submit stocks for FBA fulfilment. 

We produce seasonal Xmas Gift related Products and our exceptionally good relationship with our Suppliers is now being strained by the pressures of not receiving funds to pay for manufactured goods.  This is not a situation of our making. I have repeatedly contacted seller support, Account Health and even tried to email the Amazon VAT verification department on numerous occasions.  It is noted that this particular department does not apparently have telephone contact, 

Since the 15th October I have received one “holding message” stating the following “ We are currently reviewing the information that you have provided. We will contact you as soon as we have completed this review or if we need any further information. We cannot provide an exact deadline, but our team is working hard to complete verification as soon as possible”  and this came on the 21st October

The Christmas Season is now fully upon us and this action is seriously damaging our businesses trading and indeed damaging its actual future as well as affecting the income of families dependant on the business

We have complied 100% with all requests made for information and documentation to no apparent avail.

Are we left with the only available option being to initiate legal action?

All we want is a resolution to this before it closes our business down. 

I am a small business owner, and my company has been classified as a non-UK established company by Amazon. However, my company has been VAT registered since March 2021, and we have been regularly paying VAT since then.

Now, Amazon is asking us to pay a VAT liability of £79,392.29, which is a huge amount for us. We informed Amazon that we have been paying VAT since 2021 and requested to pay the liability in installments. In response, Amazon asked us to provide proof of the last three VAT payments, which we did. However, they did not accept the proof and are now asking us to pay the full amount in one go, which is impossible for us.

Despite sending multiple emails to Amazon, we keep receiving the same refusal response repeatedly, which is extremely frustrating.

Can anyone from Amazon please help? This is completely unfair. You are asking us, as an Amazon supplier, to pay a VAT liability dating back to 2021. Why was VAT not collected from us at that time? The long delay has caused the liability to grow significantly, and this is not our fault. Now, Amazon is not even accepting our request to pay the VAT liability in installments, which makes the situation even more difficult for us.

To make matters worse, my payments have been on hold for the last four months, which has severely impacted my business. Due to cash flow issues, I am unable to restock inventory, and my sales have significantly dropped as a result.

I urgently request a resolution to this matter, as the continued delays are threatening the survival of my business.

Hi,

There is a confusion with UK VAT address in Amazon Tax Settings.

We are EU based company and we have UK VAT.

With UK VAT we also got UK address (In VAT checker we see UK address).

Registered business address

[Moderator Edit: removed personal information]

But our registered business address is in the EU.

Which address should be specified in the Tax Settings?