Amazon shipping settings: which EU countries do you ship to, and what does that have to do with OSS?

The country setting at Amazon does not decide your tax; it decides from which countries customers can order from you. For tax, what counts is where you actually deliver: if you ship goods to private customers in another EU country, the place of supply is where the transport ends (section 3c(1) UStG). If you are established only in Germany and your sales to all other EU countries together stay at no more than 10,000 euros, your German VAT stays in place; above that, the VAT rules of the destination country apply to these sales (section 3c(4) UStG). You then report them through the OSS scheme or register in each destination country (OSS or local VAT registration).

Last updated: 27 October 2026

In brief

The delivery counts for tax: the place of supply is where the transport to the customer ends (section 3c(1) UStG). A country setting only changes from which countries orders are possible.
Limit: 10,000 euros total of consideration for sales to other EU countries and certain electronic services, not exceeded in the previous year and not exceeded in the current year, if you are established in only one EU country (section 3c(4) UStG).
Over the limit: only the sale that takes you over the limit has to be invoiced with foreign VAT (BZSt).
Registration: you register for the OSS in the BZStOnline portal; participation applies to all EU countries together. If you cross the limit in the middle of a quarter you have until the tenth day of the following month to register (BZSt).
Sellers report (Amazon seller forum): as a merchant on the "Professional" plan you set countries through shipping templates; on the "Individual" plan only in steps. Check the menus in your own account, the posts are some years old.
Storage abroad is a different case: see Amazon Pan-EU and warehouses abroad.

What decides when OSS starts for you?

Not the setting but your sales to private customers in other EU countries. The law adds up two things: intra-Community distance sales of goods and certain other services (section 3a(5) sentence 2 UStG) to recipients in other member states. If the sum was no more than 10,000 euros in the previous calendar year and does not exceed 10,000 euros in the current year, section 3c(1) does not apply (section 3c(4) UStG). You can waive this towards the tax office; the waiver binds you for at least two calendar years.

An example with made-up numbers: by July you have delivered goods worth 6,000 euros to Austria and 3,500 euros to France. That is 9,500 euros, you are below the limit. In August you sell 1,200 euros to the Netherlands. According to the BZSt, only the sale that takes you over 10,000 euros has to be invoiced with foreign VAT. From that sale you can register for the OSS: for this case the BZSt names the tenth day of the following month as the deadline; a retroactive registration after that is not possible. All examples on the limit: The EU OSS threshold of 10,000 euros.

Which countries count?

Only other EU member states: section 3c(1) sentence 2 UStG speaks of goods transported or dispatched to the territory of another member state. Germany does not count. Deliveries to countries outside the EU, such as Switzerland, follow other rules; they are not the subject of this page.

Orders from other EU countries also come when you do not look for them. In the Amazon seller forum a seller writes that buyers from Austria and Switzerland often order through amazon.de because their countries have no store of their own. Every delivery to a private customer in Austria counts towards the 10,000-euro limit.

Where do you set the countries at Amazon?

Amazon's help pages in Seller Central cannot be read without JavaScript, so we do not quote them. What we can document are answers from sellers in the Amazon seller forum (several years old; the menus may have changed, check them in your account):

"Individual" plan: one seller writes that you go to the shipping settings via the gear icon at the top right in Seller Central and set "International: no". There are only the steps Germany, EU, Europe and World; single countries cannot be switched on or off. The restriction to Germany is also possible per item under "Edit".
"Professional" plan: there are shipping templates in which you can allow or exclude single countries. Another seller describes it: edit the shipping template, set the shipping costs for single countries under "international shipping"; countries without stored shipping costs cannot order from you.
Per marketplace: according to seller reports the template for amazon.de applies only to orders on amazon.de. If you also sell on other marketplaces you have to set it there too.
Switching off other marketplaces: the forum mostly names the vacation setting for the unwanted countries.
International listing creation: one seller quotes an Amazon text saying this function automatically creates offers on all European marketplace sites. If it is active, your offers also appear on other European marketplaces.

All of this applies to shipping by yourself. For Fulfilment by Amazon, Amazon's Pan-EU page says that by enabling countries for inventory placement you allow Amazon to store your stock there.

What does a setting change for tax?

It changes the future, not the past. What you have already delivered to private customers in other EU countries keeps counting, because previous year and current year both count for the limit (section 3c(4) UStG). Two ways are possible:

Germany only: if you ship only within Germany, there are no intra-Community distance sales and so no reason for the OSS. You give up customers in other EU countries.
EU countries as well: then you watch the 10,000-euro limit. Below it you charge German VAT, above it the VAT of the destination country, usually with an OSS return (on the procedure: OSS registration in Germany and Amazon and OSS).

Common mistakes

Believing the setting changes the tax. What counts is the deliveries that actually took place.
Adjusting only one marketplace. According to seller reports the template applies per marketplace.
Forgetting orders from Austria. They count towards the 10,000 euros.
Missing the registration deadline. After the tenth day of the following month a retroactive registration is not possible.
Mixing up storage abroad with shipping from Germany. These are two different cases.

How VAT GPT helps

VAT GPT is the tax software for Amazon and eBay sellers in Germany: your OSS return first, then VAT, EÜR, trade tax and income tax, calculated and filed in one place.

You upload your Amazon or eBay reports as CSV. VAT GPT reads them.
VAT GPT sorts the sales by tax scheme: sales under the scheme UNION-OSS go into the OSS return.
VAT GPT calculates the OSS return for all EU countries; you check it. With Pro you send it to the BZSt.

Which countries you enable at Amazon you set in Seller Central, not in VAT GPT. There is Free, Go (30 days free with all Pro features) and Pro. Try for free now

Frequently asked questions

Where do I set at Amazon which EU countries I ship to? Sellers in the Amazon forum name the gear icon at the top right in Seller Central, then shipping settings. On the Professional plan you set countries in shipping templates, on the Individual plan only steps. Check this in your account.

What does the setting have to do with OSS? It determines which countries you can deliver to. You use the OSS when your sales to private customers in other EU countries together exceed 10,000 euros (section 3c(4) UStG); otherwise you would have to register in each destination country.

Does OSS start as soon as I enable a country? No. The deliveries and the 10,000-euro limit count, not the enabling.

What if I have passed the limit? Then you register for the OSS with the BZSt. For a crossing within a quarter the BZSt names the tenth day of the following month.

Does a sale to Austria count? Yes, Austria is another EU member state.

Where do I find the OSS settings in Seller Central? We could not document a separate OSS setting for your return in the sources we could open (Amazon help pages on it cannot be read without JavaScript). What is certain: you apply for OSS participation at the BZSt in the BZStOnline portal. At Amazon you store your VAT identification number under Seller account information > Tax information > Place of establishment (Amazon help). How: Add your VAT ID in Amazon Seller Central and OSS registration in Germany.