Verify Establishment for Value Added Tax (VAT) - HUGE Delay
Urgent help is needed ASAP - Amazon is wrongly considering us UK established for VAT when we have ZERO UK Activity.
For over 4 weeks now, we have been trying to prove to Amazon the obvious: that we are a European company selling ONLY to our VAT-registered EU countries on Amazon.de and we have received again the following:
Hello,
Thank you for your submission. We reviewed the information provided, but we need additional documentation to determine whether you are established in the UK for Value Added Tax (VAT) purposes.
Why did this happen?
We must collect and remit VAT from non-UK established selling partners for the sales of goods delivered to customers in the UK. Based on a review of your account, we determined that you may not be UK established for VAT purposes. We leveraged a combination of automated means and expert human review to identify this issue and make this decision. We took this action in accordance with the Amazon Business Solution Agreement:
https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/external/G201190440
and APUK Agreement:
https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/G201190400
What actions do I have to take?
To avoid further impact to your disbursements, go to the Account Health page in your Seller Central account and follow the instructions from the banner that is present at the top of the page to submit the following mentioned documentation:
https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/performance/dashboard?ref=DR_kyc_ahd-cus
If you operate a Limited Company :
-- Evidence that you are physically operating your business from your provided address.
-- Evidence that you are operating your business from your provided address.
-- Documents confirming the identity and place of residence of every director listed in the extract.
-- Documents confirming the place of residence of every director listed in the extract.
If you do not meet the UK establishment criteria: Verify that you are not established in the UK.
In this case, you will not need to provide documentation, but you will need to pay Amazon to account for the un-paid VAT.
We have sent ALL the documents three times for our European company, which was already approved by Amazon on July 2023!!
Why is this happening and why all our funds are still on hold? This is completely unprofessional and opens Amazon's serious legal liabilities, including disruption of business.
Can a human from Amazon support finally review?
Thank you!
Seller_k2X0L9mVRT0pW
you are on the UK forum here- where have you registered your home market as? UK?
Seller_QuxoryRYBbGoN
We have contacted the Amazon Health Account "Specialists" again. They keep telling us daily that our submitted information is being reviewed. This is ongoing for several weeks now.
We require someone from the Amazon Leadership Team to act upon our unlawful restriction on our funds.
BECAUSE
Based on the "EU VAT on e-Commerce (EU VOEC) Legislation – 2021" as it is stated on your webside page: https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gc/vat-education/voec-establishment
{...From July 1, 2021, Amazon is responsible for collecting VAT on the following sales of goods delivered to customers in the EU where ordered through any Amazon storefront:
Goods delivered from inventory stored outside the EU with a shipment value of up to EUR 150; and
Goods delivered from inventory stored in the EU, irrespective of value, where you, the selling partner (sole trader or company/partnership), are not established in the EU for VAT...}
In our case, our company is based in Europe, in the Republic of Cyprus, as approved by Amazon on July 2023.
Our company sells ONLY via Amazon.de to Germany and Austria.
Therefore, the above-stated Legislation does NOT apply to us.
Amazon is actively undermining our business interests and infringing upon our EU company's rights to conduct commerce within the European Union by failing to accurately interpret and apply the EU VAT on e-Commerce (EU VOEC) Legislation of 2021.
Sarah_Amzn
Hello @Seller_QuxoryRYBbGoN,
I'm Sarah with Amazon.
While I cannot directly assist or provide advice on VAT issues, I can follow up with the partner team handling your case.
I will circle back with you as soon as I receive an update from the team.
Kind regards,
Sarah.
Seller_QuxoryRYBbGoN
Today's more confusing updates from Amazon:
Notification 1:
"Thank you for your message regarding your dissatisfaction with Amazon Payments Europe (APE) service. Amazon Payments Europe takes complaints very seriously.
Amazon Payments Europe has reviewed your request and we would like to inform you that we have received all the necessary documents from you to verify your EU branch for VAT purposes.
We will contact you once we have completed the review or need more information. We cannot give you an exact date, but our team is working hard to complete the review as quickly as possible."
And with a few hours difference:
Notification 2:
Account Block
Your selling privileges in Germany have been deactivated and you may no longer sell on this marketplace based on instructions Amazon received from German Tax Authorities. You are no longer allowed to use our Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) service in connection with Amazon and all of your FBA items are seized and may not be sold or returned until your debts are fully paid. Your listings have been removed.
If you have funds in your Selling on Amazon payment account, they will be available once any amounts for A-to-Z claims or chargebacks on your orders have been deducted. This usually takes about 90 days, but funds may be held longer by Amazon Payments Europe S.C.A.
Why did this happen?
Amazon was approached by the German tax office Finanzamt Berlin International with regard to Value Added Tax (VAT) debts concerning your Marketplace sales in Germany. We are currently informed about open debts in the amount of 7.031,21 EUR. In the email you received, you could find the garnishment order which states the amount in question and includes payment details of the tax office at the bottom of the document (name of the bank, IBAN, BIC).
First, finally, your Amazon KYC team admits the obvious, that we are EU-established for VAT purposes, and coincidently, at the same time, they received a notification from the German TAX authorities that we owe VAT.
When we have not received anything from the German tax authorities about it, and trust me, when you owe VAT in Germany, you get INSTANT notifications from them. On top of that, we have provided them ALL our EU VAT returns to Amazon, including German ones, with ZERO VAT liability.
So, why did Amazon "receive" this supposed-to-be VAT liability of our EU-verified company when Amazon is not responsible for remitting VAT on our behalf??????
@Sakura_Amazon_ @Jessica_Amazon_ @Julia_Amazon @Seller_VJ4XoAkjDpjPH @Winston_AmazonCan you please investigate what is finally going on with this mistreatment of our Account by Amazon?
Thank you very much!
