Amazon settlement report explained for sellers

The settlement (payments) report shows how money moved between Amazon and you: payouts, fees, refunds. The Amazon VAT Transactions Report (AVTR) shows what you sold that is taxable. The two answer different questions. For VAT you use the AVTR; for "is my payout right?" you use the settlement report.

Last updated: October 26, 2026

In brief

Settlement report: money movements, ordered by the posting date of the event.
VAT report (AVTR): taxable transactions, ordered by completion date; a sale counts at shipping.
Input VAT on fees needs the fee invoice, not the settlement report.

How is it different from the VAT report?

Amazon describes the AVTR as a report with detailed data on all taxable transactions on the European marketplaces and in Amazon's logistics network, meant to support your European VAT reporting. Amazon lists reports on payment events as a separate kind of report. The difference shows most in the date:

Question	Settlement report	VAT report (AVTR)
What is it for?	Money movements between Amazon and you	Taxable transactions for VAT
Which date sorts the month?	Posting date of the event (GMT)	Sales: shipping date; refunds: completion of the refund
An order placed January 31, shipped February 1	sits at the posting date of each money event	sits in February

How to download the AVTR: Download the Amazon VAT report (AVTR) in Seller Central.

Which lines does the settlement report contain?

You see the lines in the file itself. Typical are lines for sales, fees, refunds and payouts. One thing confuses many sellers: a payout is the sum of many single items. It does not tell you how high your taxable sales were in that period, because fees and refunds are already deducted and the payout date is not the shipping date.

What counts for VAT, income tax and input VAT?

Tax	What counts	Which report helps
VAT return (accrual basis, "Sollversteuerung")	The tax arises at the end of the return period in which the supply was made (section 13 (1) no. 1 a UStG)	AVTR
VAT return (cash basis, "Ist-Versteuerung")	The tax arises in the period in which the payment is received (section 13 (1) no. 1 b UStG); more in Cash vs accrual VAT in Germany	AVTR for the sale, settlement report for the time of payment
Input VAT on Amazon fees	To deduct the VAT Amazon charges you, you need an invoice (section 15 (1) sentence 1 no. 1 UStG); if you owe the VAT on the fee yourself (reverse charge, section 13b UStG), you deduct it under section 15 (1) sentence 1 no. 4 UStG.	The fee invoice. Amazon keeps the single fee invoices in the tax documents.
Income surplus statement (EÜR)	Income counts in the year it is received, expenses in the year they are paid (section 11 EStG); regularly recurring income and expenses paid shortly before or after the turn of the year count in the year they economically belong to (section 11 (1) sentence 2, (2) sentence 2 EStG)	Settlement report and bank statement show the cash flow

Amazon fees are caused by your business and are therefore business expenses (section 4 (4) EStG). An amount that Amazon only holds back and pays out later is not a business expense. An overview of input VAT on fees is in Deduct Amazon fees in Germany: expense and input VAT.

How do I match report and bank statement without a spreadsheet?

You do not have to match every sale. For VAT, the sales come from the AVTR. The settlement report answers only one question: did the money arrive?

Find the payout for the period in the settlement report and note amount and date.
Find the credit on your bank statement with the same amount.
If both agree, the payout is matched. If the amount differs, look first at fees and refunds in the same period.

And the fees?

Amazon fees also appear in the AVTR: fee lines carry SALES_CHANNEL equal to AMAZON_FEE, and a month's fees show up in the next month's report. According to Amazon, the single fee invoices remain available in the tax documents. The settlement report shows which fees were deducted from your payout; it is not the invoice you need for the input VAT deduction.

How VAT GPT helps

For VAT, VAT GPT reads the Amazon VAT Transactions Report: you upload the CSV, VAT GPT sorts each sales row by tax scheme and country and books the fee rows (AMAZON_FEE) as expenses. You check and confirm; with VAT GPT Pro you send the VAT return and the OSS return onward. 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

Is the settlement report the same as the VAT report? No. One shows money movements, the other taxable transactions.

Which report do I need for the OSS return? The AVTR; rows with UNION-OSS belong in the OSS return. More in Amazon OSS for sellers: what applies to EU sales.

Why does my payout differ from my sales? Fees and refunds are deducted, and the payout happens at a different time than shipping.

Can I claim input VAT from the settlement report? No. To deduct the VAT Amazon charges you, you need an invoice (section 15 (1) sentence 1 no. 1 UStG); use the fee invoice for that. If you owe the VAT on the fee yourself (reverse charge, section 13b UStG), you deduct it under section 15 (1) sentence 1 no. 4 UStG.