Last reviewed June 2026. Reading time ~7 minutes.
There's no VAT-free threshold for you
Here's the part that catches people from the US, UK, or Asia off guard. A German business gets a small-business allowance and can trade under a turnover threshold before VAT applies. A foreign business storing stock in Germany gets none of that. The moment your inventory sits in a German warehouse — which is exactly what Fulfilled by Amazon does — you are registrable for German VAT from the first sale. No threshold, no grace period, no "we'll sort it once we hit a certain revenue."
That's the trap in one sentence: FBA doesn't just fulfil your orders, it plants your stock on German soil, and German soil comes with a tax obligation attached. Sellers who ship first and register later usually find out when Amazon asks for a valid VAT number, or when a bill for back-VAT and interest catches up with them.
Why OSS and the €10,000 rule won't save you
Search for EU VAT and you'll hear about the €10,000 threshold and the One-Stop-Shop (OSS), and you'll think you're covered under it. Read the fine print: OSS and that €10,000 line only apply to distance selling — goods that ship across a border from stock held in one country to a customer in another. It's genuinely useful if you fulfil everything from a single location.
It stops being relevant the second your stock is physically in Germany. Those sales are no longer cross-border distance sales — they're domestic German sales, and domestic sales need a local German VAT registration with local returns. Mixing up "distance selling" with "local stock" is the single most common VAT mistake foreign sellers make, and FBA quietly pushes you into the second category the moment your first pallet lands.
Pan-EU FBA multiplies it
Amazon's Pan-EU programme is a great deal on delivery speed and a quiet expansion of your tax footprint. To get inventory closer to buyers, Amazon moves your stock across its European warehouse network — and a VAT registration is due in every country it stores your goods. In practice that's commonly five or more: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, and sometimes Czechia.
The uncomfortable part is how easy it is to trigger. One setting in Seller Central can hand you five separate registrations, five sets of filings, and five ways to fall out of compliance. Worth deciding on purpose, not by accident.
Imports and the new €3 duty (from July 2026)
If you bring goods into the EU from outside it, import VAT applies when they cross the border, and the Import One-Stop-Shop (IOSS) handles the VAT on low-value consignments under €150. That part isn't new.
What is new: the EU has removed its old customs-duty exemption for low-value imports. From 1 July 2026, a flat customs duty of about €3 per item applies to e-commerce consignments valued at €150 or less coming from outside the EU. If your landed-cost math was built on the "duty-free under €150" assumption, it needs redoing — the number changed, and it changed this year.
Why Amazon itself enforces this
German law (§22f and §25e of the VAT Act) makes the marketplace jointly liable for its sellers' unpaid VAT. Amazon has no interest in carrying your tax risk, so it requires a valid German VAT registration certificate on file. No certificate, and Amazon can block your listings or suspend the account — not months later via a tax office, but directly, as a condition of selling.
That's why "I'll deal with VAT once sales pick up" tends to backfire. The platform enforces it before the tax authority ever gets involved.
What to actually do
- Register before you ship stock in. If you're going FBA in Germany, get the German VAT registration underway before the inventory arrives, not after.
- Map where your stock will actually sit. Single-country fulfilment plus OSS is one setup; Pan-EU is another with several registrations. Choose deliberately.
- Use an EU VAT agent or specialist for the registrations and filings — most US accountants don't handle German VAT, and the returns have local rules.
- Put the certificate on file in Seller Central so Amazon's compliance check clears and your listings stay live.
None of this is exotic once it's set up. The expensive mistakes come from not knowing the obligation exists until Amazon, or a German tax letter, points it out.
VAT is one of four
VAT is the one that costs you money quietly. Three others get your listing pulled just as fast:
- GPSR — a non-EU brand needs a named EU Responsible Person shown on the listing, or Amazon suppresses it. Full GPSR guide →
- EPR — packaging (LUCID) and, for anything electrical, WEEE (Stiftung EAR), both required before you sell. Full EPR guide →
- The Abmahnung trap — an unsourced "Testsieger" or "Nr. 1" claim in your copy can draw a cease-and-desist from a competitor's lawyer. Full guide →
We cover all four in the free Amazon Germany course, and map the full picture on the compliance page.
Want a second pair of eyes on your listing?
Send me one ASIN and I'll run a free compliance check — VAT exposure, GPSR, EPR, and whether the German copy is quietly costing you sales. You get a one-page read back, no pitch and no signup. If it's useful, good. If not, you've spent one email finding out.
Send a listing →Sources
- EU OSS / IOSS & distance-selling rules — European Commission, VAT One Stop Shop
- German VAT & marketplace liability (§22f / §25e) — Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (BZSt)
- Amazon's VAT requirements — search "VAT" in Seller Central Europe, and confirm your setup with a qualified EU VAT adviser
This guide is educational orientation, not tax advice. Marktreif is not a tax advisor. VAT obligations depend on your business structure, where your stock is held, and your programmes, and rules change — confirm specifics with a qualified tax professional before relying on them. Key facts verified against official and industry sources as of June 2026, including the €3 low-value import duty taking effect 1 July 2026.