Key takeaways
What this is about A seller using Amazon FBA stores its goods in Amazon’s fulfillment centers in the EU. The storage alone gives rise to VAT obligations in the EU countries concerned. Who owes the VAT on the sale to the final customer depends on the sales channel and on where the seller is established: on sales through the seller’s own shop, the seller handles the VAT treatment itself; on sales through the Amazon marketplace, Amazon becomes the deemed supplier for sellers not established in the EU. Independently of this, Amazon moves the goods between the warehouses of different countries, and these movements give rise to separate registration and reporting obligations in every scenario. This is a considerable and frequently underestimated compliance risk.
Who is affected All sellers that sell through Amazon FBA in the EU and use more than one country for storage, whether established in the EU or, like Swiss sellers, operating from a third country. For Swiss sellers, there is the additional point that a fiscal representative may be required depending on the country of storage.
What to do What determines the registration obligations is the countries in which Amazon stores the goods, not the countries into which the goods are sold. It must also be established who owes the VAT on the sale, which depends on the sales channel and on the place of establishment. The registration in the country of storage should be in place before a storage program is activated and not only afterwards. And the intra-Community movements of the seller’s own goods must be recorded separately, since they do not appear as turnover in the sales reports.
THE ONE STOP SHOP AND ITS LIMITS
The One Stop Shop is a reporting procedure for so-called distance sales. A distance sale is a sale to a private individual in another EU country where the goods are transported across a border to the customer. Since July 2021, such sales can be reported in a single quarterly return filed in the country of registration, in each case at the VAT rate of the country of destination. The relevant threshold is a turnover of EUR 10'000 per year, which applies to all distance sales within the EU taken together and not per country; below this threshold, the rate of the country from which the goods are dispatched to the respective customer continues to apply.
The OSS covers cross-border sales to private individuals only. Further transactions that regularly arise in the FBA model remain outside its scope. These include the sale from a local warehouse to customers in the same country, which is to be treated as a domestic supply, the sale to business customers, and the transfer of the seller’s own goods from one country to another.
Three Basic Scenarios
Whether and how the OSS applies depends on the channel through which the sale is made and on where the seller is established. Three basic scenarios are to be distinguished.
In the first scenario, the seller sells through its own shop and uses Amazon’s fulfillment centers merely for storage and dispatch (Multi-Channel Fulfilment). Amazon does not act as a sales platform here. The seller is the supplier of all transactions and handles them itself: cross-border sales to private individuals through the OSS, domestic sales through the local registration, sales to business customers under the general rules.
In the second scenario, a seller established in the EU sells through the Amazon marketplace. The attribution corresponds to the first scenario; the seller owes the VAT on its sales itself.
In the third scenario, a seller not established in the EU, for example a Swiss company without an EU establishment, sells through the Amazon marketplace. Here the so-called deemed supplier rule applies.
The Deemed Supplier Rule on Marketplace Sales
For sales through an electronic interface, which includes an online marketplace, VAT law provides for a deeming provision on attribution. It applies where two conditions are met: the platform facilitates the sale, and the seller behind it is not established in the EU. Facilitation means more than mere payment processing or listing; the platform must set the terms of the sale, authorize the payment, or be involved in the ordering and the delivery. On sales through the Amazon marketplace by a Swiss seller without an EU establishment, both conditions are regularly met.
The legal consequence is that the single sale is split into two supplies for VAT purposes. The seller «supplies» Amazon, and Amazon «supplies» the final customer. The supply from the seller to Amazon is exempt from VAT, with the right to deduct input VAT preserved. The VAT on the sale to the final customer is owed by Amazon, which accounts for it through its own reporting procedures. To that extent, the seller does not charge VAT and does not report the sales to final customers through an OSS of its own.
It does not follow from this, however, that no obligations remain for the seller. The deeming provision shifts the liability for the sale to the final customer; it does not remove the seller’s registration obligation. The exempt supply to Amazon must be documented and reported, the goods are located in one or more countries of storage, and import VAT and input VAT must be claimed. Above all, the transfer of the goods between the warehouses remains the responsibility of the seller, and does so unchanged.
THE TRANSFER OF OWN GOODS BETWEEN WAREHOUSES
The transfer of own goods arises in the same way in all three scenarios, irrespective of who accounts for the sale to the final customer. A transfer, in VAT terms, is the movement of a seller’s own goods from one country to another without a sale taking place. Where Amazon moves goods from a warehouse in Germany to a warehouse in Poland, such a transfer occurs. For VAT purposes it is treated as a supply by the seller to itself: in the country of departure as an exempt intra-Community supply, in the country of arrival as an intra-Community acquisition. Amazon carries out these movements at its own discretion and without informing the seller of them individually; they become apparent only from the transaction data.
Both transactions presuppose that the seller is registered for VAT in both countries, files returns there, and declares the transfer in the EC Sales List of at least the country of departure. It is therefore not the number of countries supplied that determines the registration obligations, but the number of countries in which Amazon stores the goods. Each additional country of storage means a separate registration, a separate ongoing filing obligation, and a separate EC Sales List.
THE PAN-EU AND CEE STORAGE PROGRAMS
Amazon’s logistics programs deliberately distribute the goods across several countries. Under the Pan-EU program, Amazon distributes the stock across a core network of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Poland; depending on capacity, further countries may be added. Under the CEE (Central Europe) program, storage is limited to Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. In both cases, registration obligations arise in every country in which goods are stored.
The timing of the registration requires attention. The registration in the country of arrival must already exist when the goods are transferred there. Otherwise the intra-Community supply exempt in the country of departure cannot be treated as such, since the exemption presupposes a valid VAT number of the acquirer at the time of the transfer. The registration should therefore be completed before a storage program is activated. This applies to Pan-EU and CEE alike.
THE DATA BASIS FROM SELLER CENTRAL
Amazon makes a report of the VAT-relevant transactions available in Seller Central, the Amazon VAT Transactions Report. It distinguishes the transactions by type, in particular between sales, returns, refunds, inbound goods, and the movements between the fulfillment centers.
For the registration and reporting obligations, the movements between the fulfillment centers are of particular importance, since they reflect the intra-Community transfers that feed into the EC Sales Lists. Because they do not constitute a sale, they are absent from reports that look at turnover alone and are correspondingly easy to overlook.
OUTLOOK: DEVELOPMENTS AT EU LEVEL
The VAT rules at EU level are currently developing rapidly. Under the ViDA reform package, it is envisaged that from July 1, 2028, the transfer of own goods can be handled through a single registration and a monthly return within the OSS. The procedure is designed as an option and does not replace the local registrations in every respect, for instance not for the local deduction of input VAT. As regards the deemed supplier rule, little changes for the scenarios described here; an extension to sales by sellers established in the EU that was considered at one stage has not been pursued further. How the member states will implement the requirements in detail is in part still open; further developments are to be monitored.
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS
- «The OSS covers VAT in full.» The OSS covers cross-border sales to private individuals only. Domestic sales from a local warehouse, transactions with business customers, and the transfer of own goods remain outside it.
- «What matters is the number of countries supplied.» What matters is the number of countries in which Amazon stores the goods. A single country supplied may go together with several countries of storage.
- «Amazon handles the VAT treatment.» Amazon moves the goods and provides the data. The registrations, returns, and EC Sales Lists remain with the seller.
- «The transfers are included in the sales figures.» Transfers are not sales. They appear separately in the transaction report and are absent from any analysis that considers turnover alone.
- «On marketplace sales through Amazon, the seller has nothing to attend to.» For sellers not established in the EU, Amazon does owe the tax on the sale to the final customer. The registration in the country of storage, the exempt supply to Amazon, and the transfers between the warehouses, however, remain with the seller.
PARTICULAR POINTS FOR SWISS SELLERS
Additional requirements apply to Swiss sellers. Before the goods reach a fulfillment center in the EU, they must be released into free circulation in the EU. If the seller then sells through the Amazon marketplace, the deemed supplier rule set out above applies; if it sells through its own shop, it handles the VAT treatment itself. In both cases it must be registered in the countries of storage, and as a company from a third country a fiscal representative is additionally required depending on the country of storage, which increases the effort per registration. The simplifications envisaged at EU level are expressly addressed to companies not established in the EU as well.
CONCLUSION
The One Stop Shop simplifies the reporting of cross-border sales, but it does not cover the VAT obligations of an FBA seller in full. Who accounts for the sale to the final customer depends on the sales channel and on the place of establishment; on marketplace sales by a seller that is not established in the EU, Amazon assumes this tax while the seller remains registered. Irrespective of the scenario, the distribution of the goods across several countries gives rise to registration and reporting obligations that the OSS does not cover. Of particular importance is the correct recording of the intra-Community transfers, since these are not visible in the usual sales reports. Before a storage program is activated, a review of the scenario and of the registrations required is therefore advisable. We are glad to support you with the setup and the ongoing compliance.
Last updated: July 14, 2026
