Reminder: Register for German VAT by the 1st of October or be barred from selling

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26 Sep 2019

From the 1st of October, sellers in the UK and EU that sell to German consumers must provide marketplaces they trade on with a German VAT certificate “Bescheinigung nach §22f UStG” which confirms the tax registration of the seller.

Will you need to register for German VAT?

You will need to register for German VAT if you

You are a seller established in Germany.
You are selling goods that are warehoused in Germany.
You ship goods to private individuals in Germany from a foreign EU country where the goods are stored or delivered in advance. This applies for a total German turnover of 100,000 euros per year across all sales channels.

You need to register your tax certificate by the 1st of October 2019

Sellers who fail to register by the relevant dates on both Amazon and eBay will be blocked from selling to Germany in the future. It’s important to realise that this doesn’t just include selling on their German marketplaces, it will impact your ability to sell on other country sites if your listings are available to be purchased by German consumers.
Does this apply to all sellers, even those not VAT registered in Germany?

The German Tax Authority suggest that if you don’t have VAT obligations in Germany then you shouldn’t need to the new Tax Certificate.

eBay German VAT help page

eBay’s language on their German VAT help page suggests that only sellers liable to pay German VAT need obtain and upload their tax certificate. If you are below the €100k selling limit, don’t hold stock in Germany and aren’t based in Germany than you may not need to register to continue to sell on eBay.

If you do need to register your tax certificate with eBay you can upload it here.

Amazon German VAT help page

Amazon’s language on their help page says that all Amazon selling partners fulfilling orders to or from Germany themselves or using Amazon FBA must obtain and upload their tax certificates. This suggests that Amazon are taking a harder stance and that if you want to sell to Germans on Amazon that you will have to obtain a Tax Certificate even if you don’t have to pay German VAT.