Accountant or software for online sellers?

A tax accountant (Steuerberater) and tax software do not solve the same job. The accountant judges your individual case and may act for you in tax matters. Software works through your sales data and fills in the returns. Which one fits you depends on how plain or how unusual your case is. This page shows what each route does, so you can compare for yourself.

Last updated: October 27, 2026

In brief

Accountant: judges special cases, advises and represents you. Only authorised persons and organisations may give help in tax matters on a commercial basis (section 2 StBerG); tax accountants, lawyers and auditors, for example, without limit (section 3 StBerG).
Software: reads your Amazon or eBay reports, calculates the VAT and prepares the returns. It does not decide what applies to you.
Both together is common: software for the running figures, the accountant for questions only the two of you can settle.
Doing nothing has a cost too: late returns and late payments can bring surcharges.

What does an accountant do, what does software do?

	Accountant	Software
Judging your individual case	Yes, that is the job	No, it applies fixed rules
Advice on open questions	Yes	No
Calculating the figures from the reports	Yes, from the data you give them	Yes, straight from the upload
Effort for you	You supply reports and receipts, they work through them	You upload, check and confirm
When you have the figures	On their schedule	Right away, once the data is in

The table leaves out prices on purpose: they depend on the accountant, the scope and the software.

Three typical situations: what each route does

The examples describe what comes up. They do not say what applies to you; you decide that, with or without an accountant.

1. You sell only in Germany. Unless you are a small business (Kleinunternehmer), the main duty is the advance VAT return: due by the tenth day after the end of the return period (section 18 (1) UStG), one month later on application (section 46 UStDV). The return period is in principle the quarter; if the tax for the previous year was above 9,000 euros, it is the month (section 18 (2) UStG). The same section has special rules for new businesses and for low tax; small businesses file no advance return (section 19 (1) UStG). An accountant can tell you whether that fits you; software calculates the figures from your report. More: VAT return from the Amazon VAT report.

2. You sell to private customers in other EU countries. For distance sales the place of supply is in principle the country where the goods arrive at the customer (section 3c (1) UStG). There is an exception if you are established in only one EU country and your distance sales (together with certain electronic services to private customers in other EU countries) did not exceed 10,000 euros in total in the previous calendar year and do not exceed it in the current one (section 3c (4) UStG). Above that, the OSS return usually comes into play. Whether and how you use it is a question where advice can help; software calculates the figures per country and rate. More: OSS return for online sellers, Amazon OSS.

3. Your goods are stored in another EU country (Pan-EU). If you move your own goods at your disposal to another EU country, German law in principle treats the transfer as a supply for consideration, except for merely temporary use (section 3 (1a) UStG). How the destination country treats it, and whether you must register there, is set by that country's law. This is a case where it is worth asking the competent office or an accountant. More: Amazon Pan-EU FBA: VAT in several countries.

What software cannot decide

Software applies rules to your data. It does not know what your contract says or whether an exception fits you. Questions like these stay with people:

whether a special case applies to you,
how you classify unclear points in your reports in legal terms,
what you answer when the tax office asks a question.

That is why the same holds for VAT GPT as for any software: the content does not replace individual advice.

What does it cost to do nothing?

If you do not file a tax return, or file it late, the tax office may impose a late-filing surcharge (section 152 (1) AO). The advance return counts as well: it is a tax return in which you calculate the tax yourself (section 150 (1) sentence 3 AO, "Steueranmeldung"). Two figures from the law:

Amount: for annual returns, 0.25 percent of the assessed tax less the prepayments for each month begun of the delay, at least 25 euros per month (section 152 (5) sentence 2 AO), at most 25,000 euros (section 152 (10) AO). For monthly or quarterly advance returns this formula does not apply; there the surcharge depends on how long and how often you were late and on the amount of tax (section 152 (8) AO).
Mandatory rather than discretionary: an annual return not filed within 14 months after the end of the calendar year leads to a surcharge that must be imposed (section 152 (2) AO), with exceptions in paragraph 3.

If you do not pay a tax by its due date, a late-payment surcharge of 1 percent of the rounded-down arrears is added for each month begun (section 240 (1) AO). For a delay of up to three days it is not charged, unless you pay in cash or by cheque (section 240 (3) AO, section 224 (2) no. 1 AO).

Both together: what that looks like

Many sellers split the work: the running figures come from the software, and the accountant gets a clean basis at year-end and settles the open questions. VAT GPT can create a data export for this on request, which includes a DATEV booking-batch file for your accountant. The account mapping in it is a suggestion that you agree with them.

How VAT GPT helps

VAT GPT is the tax software for Amazon and eBay sellers in Germany: your OSS return first, then every other tax you owe, calculated and filed in one place.

You upload your Amazon and eBay reports under "Einnahmen & OSS".
VAT GPT sorts each sales row by tax scheme and country and calculates the advance return and OSS.
You check and confirm; with VAT GPT Pro you send the advance return and the OSS return onward.

What does VAT GPT cost?

There is Free, Go (30 days free with all Pro features) and Pro (€49 per month or €444 per year, including VAT). Try for free now

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an accountant as an online seller? That depends on your case. This page gives no recommendation; it only shows what each route does.

Does software replace an accountant? No. It calculates and fills in; judging your individual case stays with you and your accountant.

Can I use both? Yes. It is common: software for the running figures, advice for individual questions.

What happens if I miss a return? The tax office may impose a late-filing surcharge; for late payment a late-payment surcharge is added (see above).