Hi,
I would appreciate any advice from sellers who have handled a similar situation.
1 Who we are
Business established in the UAE (UAE law → no UAE VAT registration required).
VAT-registered in Germany, France, Poland, Czech Republic & the UK as a non-resident trader.
No fixed establishment, staff or assets in EU FCs; inventory stored via FBA.
2 Why we believe no VAT should be charged
Amazon FAQ “Change in selling-services provider” (ID GN6Q7DU46WW26LUU) says: if a company is not established in UK, DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, PL, BE, or SE, all fees must be invoiced by Amazon EU S.à r.l. (Luxembourg) with no change in VAT – that means 0 % with reverse charge.
3 What’s actually happening
Invoices are issued from local Amazon branches (Amazon Germany GmbH, Amazon France SAS, etc.), not from AEU Luxembourg.
Referral/commission fees → 5 % “UAE” VAT (Amazon says “no AE TRN”).
FBA fees → local VAT (19 % DE, 23 % PL, 21 % CZ, etc.).
Support’s -> “Local VAT applies because inventory stored locally; only SOA fees will be refunded once you add UAE TRN.”
German tax office has rejected those VAT amounts as improperly charged (§ 14c). External VAT advisor repeated the same.
4 Impact
Double cash-drain: we must repay VAT to tax offices as well as to the Amazon
Late-payment interest risk, advisory fees, delayed launches, reduced ad spend.
5 Tried so far
Detailed case with Amazon attached sample invoices + tax-office rejection; quoted FAQ and EU articles.
Last response about 3-4 weeks ago: requested escalation to VAT Compliance—still waiting to resolve
Any Help to solve this issue will be greatly appreciated.
