VAT Refund
Hi All, am a seller that does not meet the requirements for VAT and put in my claim for a VAT refund 7 months ago now. Amazon just message me every 7 days to that they are looking into the issue. Given we are now 7 months past i need to escalate this. Any advice on how?
VAT Refund
Hi All, am a seller that does not meet the requirements for VAT and put in my claim for a VAT refund 7 months ago now. Amazon just message me every 7 days to that they are looking into the issue. Given we are now 7 months past i need to escalate this. Any advice on how?
16 replies
Seller_ZVAz3d5lZuGid
If you are not VAT registered, then why do you think you are due a refund ? You need to be VAT registered if your turnover is £90,000 or over. We all pay VAT on our seller fees.
Quote: "....put in my claim for a VAT refund 7 months ago now" - who are you expecting a refund from ? - Amazon or HMRC. maybe I am missing, or not fully understanding something in your query.
Seller_LrOi5Val3Iifg
as has been said you have to pay vat on your amazon fees. You can claim it back if you are vat registered but as you are not there is nothing due back to you.
Seller_vmZUsb6vGEsKk
You need to be VAT registered to claim a VAT refund. Surely you know this? Amazon does not issue VAT refunds, HMRC issues them to VAT registered businesses.
If you register for VAT you can make a claim for VAT paid prior to registration up to a certain point, but since these were for fees paid 7+ months ago it's already past the threshold to make a claim even if you did register now.
Seller_tRuvBEHDedp4q
Well to some extent everyone is right.
Pre August 2024 Amazon was invoicing from Luxemburg and incorrectly charging VAT on fees. A non VAT registered seller could put in a claim to Amazon to have this VAT element refunded.
However since August 2024 Amazon have been invoicing from its UK office. As such VAT is always added to fees which everyone pays initially. However, a VAT registered seller can claim the VAT back on their next VAT Return. Non registered VAT sellers cannot.
So you say you put in a claim 7 months ago? Was this for the VAT on fees pre-August 2024? This may be the reason for the delay as Amazon need to check - and whether they allow the backdating that far back is anyone's guess.
Seller_tRuvBEHDedp4q
You can only claim back the VAT paid out on stock (and still held/unsold) not on fees or anything else that is not physical.
So if you bought stock of 1000 items @ £1 you would have paid VAT of £200
If you sell 500 then registered for VAT so have 500 unsold, you can reclaim £100 on your first return.
Seller_76AUwmqvSyRIM
I wasn't one of the two but most likely is because you were, in the past, able to reclaim vat paid on fees that Amazon wrongly deducted from your proceeds. But I could be wrong.
Seller_29wplfvgss2Kc
There were cases in the past where they refunded VAT on fees, but that was a completely different situation. At the time, the department was based outside the UK and shouldn't have been charging VAT at all—but due to a mistake, non-VAT registered sellers were still being charged. If you sent in the right documents, they’d usually refund it, though it could take a couple of months.
Now the department’s under UK VAT rules, so everyone’s charged. The only difference is VAT-registered sellers can claim it back.
Not sure if it’s still possible to get a refund for the period before they moved—think it was around mid-2023. If it is, wouldn’t be surprised if it takes ages, support’s much slower now.
Seller_76AUwmqvSyRIM
You're not wrong but the claims were being made against Amazon who wrongly charged VAT. It was Amazon who was paying the money back because they wrongly charged it. The sellers were not claiming back VAT from HMRC.
This is where my knowledge and belief run out so that's all I have to say on the matter.
