Amazon Business European Tax - who pays the VAT?
Hi all, hope someone can help me, I’m trying to work through this with our accountant but don’t feel like I’m getting a satisfactory answer.
So, I’m registered for Amazon Business and VAT registered throughout Europe.
A number of sales are zero rated by Amazon (mainly B2B but also some none business B2C sales which I don’t quite understand, but anyway), both FBA and FBM orders.
So, for a zero rated sale to Italy, let’s say 100 EUR who is paying the VAT to the Italian authorities? Is the customer asked to pay the 20 EUR VAT by Amazon or am I expected to pay the 20 EUR VAT and then the customer reclaims on his side? Or am I reporting as a gross sale to the Italian authorities and paying 16.7 EUR to them (I don’t think it’s this one, but that’s what is currently happening…).
One more thing, the new E-invoicing system in Italy (sending digitally signed XML invoices from a government issued email account), my assumption is that this is only needed for Italy based businesses, but does having an Italian VAT registration / holding stock in Italy (FBA) trigger the need for this? Or does Amazon as the retail agent take on all responsibility for this?
thanks, hope someone can help me resolve this
0 replies
Seller_fMsCVAHNu4txH
Presumably, you mean you’re registered for VAT in UK AND Italy?
If you make a sale from the UK, to Italy, and you are VAT registered in the UK, and the buyer is VAT registered in Italy…
The VAT can be zero-rated as a cross-border EU transaction… because the buyer would just be claiming back the VAT you’d charge anyway.
But… If the sale is made from ‘within’ to ‘within’ the same country then it can’t be zero rated, even though the buyer could still claim it back in exactly the same way.
Amazon do exactly this when they charge all their fees. They zero rate them if you’re VAT registered (because they’re based in Luxembourg and already have your VAT number).
Except for advertising, which is now a UK-Based arm, so they have to charge the VAT and have you claim it back.
Seller_wvFBNtOoi8YDj
Thanks guys, I’ve been going through the transactions in detail and it gets more complicated…
For some orders Amazon are selling exclusive of VAT at my full list price (e.g. I list at 120 EUR including VAT and the sale has gone through as 120 EUR exclusive of VAT) and for other orders they’re selling exclusive of VAT at a net price (so they’re selling the same SKU at 100 EUR net, exclusive of VAT).
If I’m liable for VAT on these transactions then the sales amazon is making at a net price are going to cripple me…
Anyway, I’ve got a call with our accountant tomorrow morning, let’s see how we can sort this out…
Seller_WAmNJ8vg0T1cE
Hi Kraggle,
I noticed Amazon not charging VAT on B2B in European marketplaces ( I am VAT registered in each of these). I am curious what your accountant said? The accountants handling our returns, have been making us pay the VAT after Amazon already gave the customer a vat exclusive price. Which killed margines.
Seller_cwGopdFM3MCYT
hi, Im having the same issue with my accountants , can you tell me who your account is , I will switch ? , thank you
