Amazon has informed us that our disbursements could be temporarily withheld worldwide due to questions about our VAT establishment in the UK and that if we cannot verify being established in the UK they will demand the ‘unpaid’ VAT from us.

Our business is a UK Limited company, VAT registered for over 6 years, and legally compliant with all VAT requirements. However, we use a registered office address, and Amazon is requesting proof of a physical operating address. They won’t accept any documentation other than a rental agreement or utility bill, which I can't provide since our registered business address is not our operational location. I believe I'm not alone in using a registered office for business registration to avoid listing my home address on public records like Companies House.

I sell on multiple platforms, not just Amazon, so I must also consider our legal obligations for VAT registration related to our direct-to-consumer and business-to-business sales.

I am puzzled because I assumed that HMRC would govern our VAT registration requirements due to our specific circumstances. We fulfill UK orders using both Amazon FBA and a UK-based third-party logistics warehouse, with all UK orders dispatched domestically.

After extensive discussions with an account specialist, it seems Amazon will only accept specific documents like a rental agreement or utility bill for verification. Unfortunately, I cannot provide these for my registered office and am unable to switch the address to my UK home address at this stage of verification.

The registered business address is a real address and does have secretarial address services like mail scanning and forwarding but I just don’t physically work from it so don’t have a rental agreement or utility bill.

I have documents like tax letters and bank statements at my UK home address and business address in the UK yet no utility bill or rental document for our registered business address (which Amazon require). Have you heard of Amazon making any exceptions for situations like ours, where we can demonstrate operational presence in the UK from our 3PL warehouse and home address (work from home)?

Any guidance or suggestions would be greatly appreciated🙏

I started selling in the UK market in September 2023, and initially, they told me I would be exempt from VAT up to £85,000. However, due to the new law in 2024, I'm now being told I need to pay VAT because I'm not meeting the establishment requirement in the UK. My question is: do I need to pay VAT for sales made before 2024?

Hi

We are LTD and VAT registered from Day-1 since 2021. Paid all VAT to HMRC but now Amazon demanding to all VAT from 2021 to Amazon as Non UK establishment.

It is quite difficult for us to pay VAT dually while we are small level business. No Supportive response from Amazon and HMRC. We provided all proof of VAT submission to Amazon but nothing. Need advice how to tackle this issue becuase our business in survival.

Thanks