Account suspended unfairly because of VAT verification
My account has been suspended for nearly 3 weeks while Amazon verify my establishment for VAT. At this stage they are telling me that my account requires further verification and that I should send them the following documents to vatsubmit@amazon.com:
"The last 3 VAT filings submitted to UK HMRC as downloaded from HMRC Online. These 3 VAT filings also must include the submission receipt reference."
I already have sent them my last 3 VAT returns which I downloaded from HMRC government gateway, plus the 3 VAT receipts which my accountant (Avask) sent me and which include the receipt reference ID. However the Amazon robot has replied requesting the same documents again, so it seems these are not being accepted.
I do not know what to do, as I am sending them exactly what they asked for and they just ask for it again. I am 100% VAT compliant, been paying it for years, am established in the UK, etc etc. There should be no problem here at all.
Currently all my inventory - 60,000 units - has been put in stranded, and after 90 days it will be disposed of, since I have no way of receiving that much inventory myself and I cannot send it to a 3rd party warehouse as the costs of doing this would be prohibitive. So that would mean bankruptcy and the last 8 years of hard work completely wasted.
It seems that there is a glitch here which is preventing verification. I believe this because of the amount of nonsensical and conflicting information I have received from the VAT team over the past month, which I will not bore you with here. If I am to lose my whole business because of an Amazon glitch that would be absolutely devastating.
I have managed to reach the "Amazon Escalations team" by sending a complaint email to Jeff Bezos, but so far they seem to have been of no help. I see from this forum that sometimes an admin is able to offer assistance, so I do hope that someone can read this and help me solve this problem.
@Simon_Amazon @Sarah_Amzn @Sakura_Amazon_ @Ezra_Amazon
Account suspended unfairly because of VAT verification
My account has been suspended for nearly 3 weeks while Amazon verify my establishment for VAT. At this stage they are telling me that my account requires further verification and that I should send them the following documents to vatsubmit@amazon.com:
"The last 3 VAT filings submitted to UK HMRC as downloaded from HMRC Online. These 3 VAT filings also must include the submission receipt reference."
I already have sent them my last 3 VAT returns which I downloaded from HMRC government gateway, plus the 3 VAT receipts which my accountant (Avask) sent me and which include the receipt reference ID. However the Amazon robot has replied requesting the same documents again, so it seems these are not being accepted.
I do not know what to do, as I am sending them exactly what they asked for and they just ask for it again. I am 100% VAT compliant, been paying it for years, am established in the UK, etc etc. There should be no problem here at all.
Currently all my inventory - 60,000 units - has been put in stranded, and after 90 days it will be disposed of, since I have no way of receiving that much inventory myself and I cannot send it to a 3rd party warehouse as the costs of doing this would be prohibitive. So that would mean bankruptcy and the last 8 years of hard work completely wasted.
It seems that there is a glitch here which is preventing verification. I believe this because of the amount of nonsensical and conflicting information I have received from the VAT team over the past month, which I will not bore you with here. If I am to lose my whole business because of an Amazon glitch that would be absolutely devastating.
I have managed to reach the "Amazon Escalations team" by sending a complaint email to Jeff Bezos, but so far they seem to have been of no help. I see from this forum that sometimes an admin is able to offer assistance, so I do hope that someone can read this and help me solve this problem.
@Simon_Amazon @Sarah_Amzn @Sakura_Amazon_ @Ezra_Amazon
7 replies
Seller_Cm1Mc01R4Gh5n
Amazon has hurt many sellers by sending automated e-mails many times recently.
I hope you reach a solution soon.
Seller_Jlp9ysDUxGU7l
post. I'm in the same boat too, I managed to get my listing's unstranded somehow but my disbursements keep failing to the point I missed my deadline to pay my VAT and had to speak with HMRC. I have sent multiple emails and opened cases and called over and over with no success. Now I've just given up
Seller_zWTzgB6cP9WEH
Hello @Sakura_Amazon_ , please can you help me with this?
Seller_d8YGbIjNqwFxn
I suspect the reason why you have been flagged is because your company address uses a virtual office. There is nothing wrong with this but Amazon have flagged other companies in the past who use a virtual office. Virtual offices are commonly used by overseas sellers hiding the fact they are overseas sellers (which I don't believe you are doing)
If you are having no luck with the verification team then you need to escalate it. The complaint email to Jeff Bezos may have gone to the US escalation team, you need to escalate to the UK escalation team as follows
managingdirector@amazon.co.uk
Also do a search for mediation. Mediation you have to commit to pay for but it is not a great deal (compared with losing 60,000 units of stock). Often issues are resolved before any payment is required. Mediation is hit and miss, some people get a positive response others don't. However it does work for a lot of people in getting suspended accounts reinstated.
