For those sellers that haven’t yet received the email informing them that their Amazon Disbursements are at risk of deactivation and there is a potential VAT liability due to indicators of unmet UK business establishment requirements, below we reproduce a sample email. If your disbursements haven’t arrived, it’s likely that you’ve missed the email and need to start hunting for documents to prove you are indeed a UK seller (or if you are established outside the UK follow the alternative advice).
Hello,
Your disbursements have been deactivated in all stores you operate worldwide (excluding Amazon.in) from 25 January 2024 as we have indicators that you might not be UK established for VAT purposes. As a result, we need you to provide additional documentary evidence proving that your company is established in the UK in accordance with this legislation, within 60 days of this notification.
UK VAT on eCommerce legislation (live since 1 Jan 2021) requires Amazon to collect and remit VAT on all B2C sales performed by non-established selling partners to customer in the UK. As a result, we have to ask you to provide additional documentary evidence (listed here: https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gc/vat-education/voec-uk-establishment) proving that your company is established in the UK in accordance with this legislation, within 60 days after receiving this notification.
If you fail to provide the documentary evidence within 60 days of this notification, Amazon will conclude that you are not established in UK and will start collecting and remitting VAT on your B2C sales. In such a case, additionally, you will be required to pay the VAT amount to Amazon to account for the historical un-paid VAT on all B2C sales that fall under UK VAT on eCommerce legislation since 1 Jan 2021. further to this, you can continue selling on Amazon, but you will not be able to disburse any funds from your accounts, until any UK VAT owed is paid to Amazon
Why did this happen?
From 1 January 2021, Amazon is liable to collect and remit VAT on B2C sales from non-UK established Selling Partners to B2C customers in UK under the UK VAT on e-Commerce legislation. We have taken this measure because as per investigation taken on your account, we found indicators that that your business is established outside the UK for VAT purposes. Hence, we need to get the documentary evidence to ensure we apply the correct treatment to your B2C sales.
I am established in the UK. How do I get my disbursements released?
If you believe you meet UK business establishment requirements, submit the required documents to [email protected] provided in “Determination of Establishment for UK VAT” page: https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gc/vat-education/voec-uk-establishment.
Note that you have to send the documents required using your Amazon seller central Registered email id. It will take us up to 3 days to review the documents provided by you. At any point, if we conclude based on the provided documentary evidence that your company is established in the UK, we will release your disbursements within 24 hours of completing the verification. This will become available to you as per your normal payment cycle.
I do not meet UK establishment requirements. How can I get my disbursements released?
Send an email to [email protected] from your seller central registered mail id and inform us (i)that you are not established and (ii) the country from which you operate. There is no requirement to provide any documentation where this is confirmed as being non-UK.
In such a case, additionally, you will be required to pay the VAT amount to Amazon to account for the historical un-paid VAT on all B2C sales that fall under UK VAT on eCommerce legislation since 1 Jan 2021. We will inform you the next steps within one week after receiving your email
Note: Do not send any documents to this id [email protected] if you are established in the UK. Documentary evidence to prove that you are established in the UK should only be sent as per instructions in the section above
What happens if I don’t take the required actions?
If you fail to provide the documentary evidence within 60 days of this notification, we will conclude that you are not established in UK and will start collecting and remitting VAT on your B2C sales. In such a case, additionally, you will be required to pay the VAT amount to Amazon to account for the historical un-paid VAT on all B2C sales that fall under UK VAT on eCommerce legislation since 1 January 2021. You may continue selling on Amazon, but you will not be able to disburse any funds from your accounts, until any UK VAT owed is paid to Amazon.
Why are you withholding funds on my account?
Your funds will be on hold in accordance with our policies:
• BSA: https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/G201190440
• APE/APUK Agreement: https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/G201190400
Thank you for selling on Amazon.
Sincerely, Amazon Payments UK Limited
Amazon email
8 Responses
And if you follow the link under Determination of Establishment for UK VAT you get a page that asks for 4 sets of documents.
First 3 with examples of documents that would be accepted. However section 4 ‘Proofs of business operational address’ has no list of accepted documents and asking Amazon what is accepted gets ignored and the response says supply the requested documents. Like how can we supply something when they do not specify what it is they after? Are we supposed to mind read ?
I noticed this and thought the same as you. Entire process is a mess.
I have the below message – This is coming from AMAZON.COM where we do 90% of our business.
We are UK registered and UK VAT registered for 15 years.
Hello,
A reserve has been placed on the funds in your account because you have another Amazon account with balance due related to unpaid VAT to Amazon.
With your permission, funds from this account can be used to cover the VAT liability on your other Amazon account. If you would like to use this payment method, please send authorization to [email protected].
You can pay your VAT liability by wire transfer. To pay by wire transfer, please follow the instructions at the bottom of this message depending if your liability is in GBP or EUR and send us an email at [email protected] including the following information:
— Proof of payment. This could be an image, a document, a credit card statement, or similar payment confirmation.
— Email address.
— Payment amount.
— Reference code. This is not tracking number.
— Date and time of the payment.
The above details will help us locate your payment.
Once you have paid the VAT liability, this reserve will be removed.
If you believe you do not own the other Amazon account, send an e-mail to [email protected] and provide supporting documentation to show that you no longer own it. If we cannot substantiate the claim, this reserve will not be removed.
=========================================
To pay your UK liability (GBP) by wire transfer, follow the instructions below.
=========================================
Enter the reference code into the Originator to Beneficiary Information (OBI) field of your wire transfer.
Reference code: NSB UK (Insert the merchant token of your other Amazon account*)
Account name: Amazon Payments UK Limited
Bank: Deutsche Bank London
IBAN: GB39DEUT40508118129100
SWIFT: DEUTGB2LXXX
=========================================
To pay your EU liability (EUR) by wire transfer, follow the instructions below.
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To speed up the processing of your payment, indicate the reference code that relates to the payer and the beneficiary of the transfer operation.
Reference code: NSB EU (Insert the merchant token of your other Amazon account*)
Account name: Amazon Payments Europe S.C.A.
Bank: Deutsche Bank München
IBAN: DE97700700100202739900
SWIFT: DEUTDEMMXXX
*Note: You can find the merchant token of your other Amazon account by following these steps:
1. Sign in to your other Amazon account from Seller Central.
2. Go to “Settings” and select “Your merchant token” under the “Business information” section.
This is an unmonitored email. For further inquiries, please reach out to the addresses mentioned in this notification.
Sincerely,
Seller Performance Team
Amazon.com
Legitimate long-established and VAT registered companies based in the UK who trade on AMAZON.COM had their funds frozen in the US from the beginning of January with that message.
No one has any idea of what this other account they are supposed to owe VAT is, or the amount they are supposed to owe. To make the issue even more Catch-22 they ask you to send evidence that you no longer own the account, without actually telling you which account it is in the first place!
This is clearly a huge glitch, and in the meantime UK companies are owed thousands of export dollars from their Amazon.com US / Canadian accounts.
Responses to the email provided in the messages get no reply, and the situation worsens by the day.
Here is one thread, there are many more:
https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/seller-forums/discussions/t/f7268bc3-e8dd-48da-9606-9f9c1394e56a?postId=aed37d68-a752-4d5e-8136-0fd1cdb5e8ba
and another
https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/seller-forums/discussions/t/100dd65c-6252-4ec9-9f46-523039e378f5?postId=1195fa63-af2b-4a88-9155-eeda78b860e2
Has anyone had any success? I received an email telling my account was verified and could disburse, but I can’t and still have the warning on it
Same as you. All funds in reserve still and still have warning message but was verified days ago.This issue is impacting many many sellers. Surely we can get press attention on this
We had the exact same email about outstanding VAT. No details of which account.
Funds blocked since Jan 1st 2024. We are a UK VAT registered company and pay our VAT to HMRC when due.
Amazon is a disgrace. No response to numerous emails. Seller Suport is clueless. I am selling up and stock and once if I get the 100k they are holding. I am off this high risk platform. C**ts