Amazon payouts and tax: what counts as income

What is taxed is not the payout that lands in your bank account but your profit and, for VAT, your revenue. The payout is neither: it is your revenue plus VAT, minus fees and refunds. If you take the payout as income, you are working with a figure that is the right one for no tax at all.

Last updated: 27 October 2026

In brief

Revenue: what customers pay you for goods, counted without VAT; the basis of VAT.
Profit: income minus business expenses; the basis of income tax (section 2(2) no. 1 EStG) and, with adjustments, of trade tax (section 7 GewStG).
Payout: what reaches you after fees, refunds and amounts held back. It also contains the VAT you pass on to the tax office.
Proof for the tax: the sales lines and the fee invoices, not the bank statement.

Payout, revenue and profit: three different figures

An example with invented numbers, one month, a seller under the regular VAT scheme at 19 percent (section 12(1) UStG):

Item	Amount in euros
Customers pay in total	1,190.00 (1,000.00 net and 190.00 VAT)
Refund to a customer	minus 119.00 (100.00 net and 19.00 VAT)
Amazon fees	minus 238.00 (200.00 net and 38.00 input VAT)
Payout	833.00

These figures result:

Figure	Calculation	Euros
Net revenue	1,000.00 minus 100.00	900.00
VAT payable	190.00 minus 19.00 minus 38.00 input VAT	133.00
Profit before other costs	900.00 minus 200.00 fees	700.00

The payout of 833.00 euros is made up like this: 900.00 revenue plus 171.00 VAT, minus 238.00 fees. After you pay 133.00 euros to the tax office, 700.00 euros remain, which is the profit. The VAT is only passing through. Your cost of goods and other costs are not included yet and reduce the profit further.

Which tax hangs on which figure?

VAT: It arises on your taxable supplies, not on the payout. The tax is 19 percent of the tax base for each taxable supply, and the reduced rate is 7 percent (section 12 UStG). If the tax base changes, for instance through a refund, you correct the tax (section 17(1) UStG).
Income tax: It hangs on profit. With the EÜR that is the surplus of business income over business expenses (section 4(3) EStG).
Trade tax: It builds on the trade earnings, which are the profit from the business determined under the Income Tax Act, with additions and deductions (section 7 GewStG). More in Trade tax for Amazon sellers.

As a small business (Kleinunternehmer) you do not charge VAT; for income tax, profit counts for you as well.

What about reserves, holdbacks and chargebacks?

If Amazon holds back part of your balance, for example as a security, the money is not yet in your account. Whether it has already flowed to you for tax purposes depends on the individual case: what matters is whether you have economic control over it (section 11(1) EStG). Talk to your tax adviser about larger held-back amounts at year end.

If a customer demands their money back, you pay it back. That reduces your income and, through section 17 UStG, your VAT. The amount appears in the payout as a deduction. Where the items belong in the EÜR is shown in Amazon seller EÜR: booking income and expenses.

How do you calculate correctly?

Take the sales lines from the VAT Transactions Report (reports at a glance).
Work out net revenue and VAT per country.
Take the fees from the fee invoices (deduct fees).
Use the settlement report only to reconcile: does the payout equal revenue plus tax minus fees? (settlement report explained)
Work out the profit as income minus expenses.

Common mistakes

Recording the payout as income. Fees and refunds are then missing from the calculation.
Seeing the VAT as your own profit. The amount payable goes to the tax office.
Deriving expenses only from the bank statement. You need the invoice for input VAT.
Ignoring held-back amounts without checking. Whether there has been an inflow is a question for the individual case.

How VAT GPT helps

You upload the Amazon CSV, VAT GPT sorts the sales rows by tax scheme and country (Germany or EU/OSS) and books the fee rows (AMAZON_FEE) as expenses. With VAT GPT Pro you send the VAT return, the EÜR, the trade tax return and the income tax return through ELSTER and the OSS return to the BZSt. 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 have to pay tax on the Amazon payout? Not on the payout, but on your profit and, for VAT, on your revenue.

Why is my payout lower than my revenue? Amazon deducts fees and refunds; the payout also contains the VAT.

Is the VAT in the payout my money? No, you pass it on to the tax office. You deduct the input VAT from it.

What about money Amazon holds back? Whether it has already flowed to you depends on whether you have economic control over it (section 11 EStG). That is an individual case.

Do I pay tax on the payout as a small business? No, here too profit counts, not the payout; you do not charge VAT.