Making VAT payments

Payment procedure

After your VAT filings have been generated by your tax agent, you will be able to see your VAT payment due and the payment deadline for each respective country on the VAT Services on Amazon portal. Ensure that:

1. For all VAT payments to the authorities, you must provide the correct reference number during transfer, which has been provided by your tax agent in the payment instructions on the VAT Services on Amazon portal.
2. Your VAT payment reaches the tax authorities before the deadline.

Payment deadlines

The payment for your VAT returns should reach the respective tax authority by the filing submission deadline at the latest. The table below sets out the VAT return deadlines for each country. Note that these deadlines might change each month and you must always use the payment deadline and payment instructions prepared by your tax agent, available on the VAT Services on Amazon portal, in order to make your VAT payments.

VAT payment to the UK, Italy, Germany, Poland, France, Spain and the Czech Republic

Transfer the VAT payment to the bank account numbers provided for the tax authorities of the respective country. To view your bank account details, go to View payment instructions.

VAT payment in France

For France, VAT payments through VAT services on Amazon should be made via Direct Debit. Once your tax agent has set up your Direct Debit for the first time, your VAT payments will be automatically debited from your account every month by the French tax authorities.

Once you start filing with VAT services on Amazon, follow the below instructions to check if you have been set up for Direct Debit in France:

1. In the top ribbon on Seller Central, go to Reports and select File your VAT.
2. Proceed to the View Filings & payment details page.
3. In case you do not see France in the list of countries with your VAT filings, it may be caused by one of the following reasons:
   
   1. You did not select France as one of the countries that you want to file VAT returns for when you subscribed to VAT Services on Amazon.
   2. Your French VAT number has not been issued yet. In such a case, your tax agent will contact you with Direct Debit details after your VAT number is issued.
   3. Your French VAT number has been issued. However, it may take some time to set up your account for filing.
4. If you can see France in the list of countries, click View payment instructions on the top of the page and find France in the list of countries’ payment instructions.
5. In case the DIRECT DEBIT option is available in the VAT Payment Reference column, it means that your tax agent completed the first part of the Direct Debit setup. As a second part of the setup, once your tax agent receives your French VAT number from the tax authorities, they will generate your bank mandate – titled “MANDAT DE PRELEVEMENT SEPA INTERENTREPRISES” and will share it with you directly within five working days. You must sign it, forward it to your bank and ensure that your bank validates the information before the French VAT liability due date to complete your Direct Debit set up. Once done, French VAT payments will be debited directly from your bank account before the payment deadline.
6. If you cannot see the DIRECT DEBIT option in the VAT Payment Reference column, and you would like to set it up, contact our Selling Partner Support team here. Note that in order to be able to set up the Direct Debit option, the bank account that you will provide in your bank letter has to be SEPA B2B enabled. You can confirm it on this IBAN checker.

If your tax agent is Avalara, contact our Selling Partner Support team here to get the payment reference to pay your French VAT liabilities through bank transfer, but first ensure that you were not charged via Direct Debit before making any VAT payments through bank transfer.

VAT payment in Spain

For Spain, VAT payments must be made from a local Spanish bank account. By default, you will be able to use your tax agent’s Spanish bank account to make VAT payments to the Spanish Tax Authorities.

No action is needed from you to set up the account. Follow the payment instructions shown on the VAT Services on Amazon portal to transfer payments to the Spanish tax agent’s account, who will then make payment to the Spanish Tax Authorities.

What if I am in a repayment position for the period?

If your input VAT is greater than your output VAT in any given VAT return for one of your VAT Services on Amazon filing countries, then you are in a repayment position. If you are in a repayment position, the VAT liability amount in Seller Central will be shown as a negative number (for example, € -100). Some countries allow you to use the repayment amount as a credit against your future payment VAT payment amounts, while other countries will automatically provide you with a refund of the repayment amount.

Penalties for Late VAT Payments

The following table contains details of the general range of penalties levied by the tax authorities for late VAT payments. The application of penalties in case of infractions can be a complex and subjective legal matter, and higher penalties can apply under certain circumstances.