Amazon VAT report (AVTR): the columns that matter, explained

Every row in the Amazon VAT Transactions Report (AVTR) is one event: a sale, a refund, a return or a fee. The file has a lot of columns, but only a few matter for VAT: the tax scheme, the countries, the amounts and the completion date. For VAT you rarely need the rest.

Last updated: October 26, 2026

In brief

A row is one event: sale, refund, return, stock transfer, inbound shipment or fee.
The column TAX_REPORTING_SCHEME tells you which return a sales row belongs in.
The completion date decides which report month an event falls in, not the order date.

Which columns do I need for tax?

According to Amazon the file has at least 69 columns, since Amazon's help refers to columns 63, 66, 68 and 69. The table shows the columns that matter for VAT. For each one it says where the meaning comes from: Amazon's help pages, or how VAT GPT reads the column.

Column	What it means	Where it leads
TAX_REPORTING_SCHEME	The tax scheme of the row, for example UNION-OSS or REGULAR (this is how VAT GPT classifies the values)	OSS return, German VAT return or another country's return
TAXABLE_JURISDICTION	The country where the row is taxable; empty for stock transfers between Amazon warehouses	Sets the country; empty means to VAT GPT: not a customer sale
DEPARTURE_COUNTRY and ARRIVAL_COUNTRY	Departure and arrival country of the current transaction (Amazon, columns 63 and 66)	Destination country for the OSS split
SALE_DEPART_COUNTRY and SALE_ARRIVAL_COUNTRY	Departure and arrival country of the original sale, useful for returns and refunds (Amazon, columns 68 and 69)	Ties a refund to the country of the sale
TOTAL_ACTIVITY_VALUE_AMT_VAT_EXCL, TOTAL_ACTIVITY_VALUE_VAT_AMT, TOTAL_ACTIVITY_VALUE_AMT_VAT_INCL	Amount without VAT, VAT amount and amount with VAT (this is how VAT GPT reads them)	The totals in the return
PRICE_OF_ITEMS_VAT_RATE_PERCENT	The VAT rate as a decimal: 0.19 stands for 19 percent (VAT GPT converts it this way on fee rows)	Rate per row
TRANSACTION_CURRENCY_CODE	Currency of the row	Conversion to euro
TRANSACTION_COMPLETE_DATE	The completion date by which Amazon assigns the report month	Reporting period
TRANSACTION_TYPE	The kind of event, for example SALE or REFUND	See the transaction type table below
SALES_CHANNEL	AMAZON_FEE marks fee rows	Fees are expenses, not sales
ACTIVITY_PERIOD	The month a fee relates to (for example 2026-JAN in a February report)	Period of the fee
TRANSACTION_EVENT_ID and ACTIVITY_TRANSACTION_ID	Amazon's numbers for the event and the single booking; together they identify the same transaction	Spot duplicate rows, raise a case with Amazon

What does TAX_REPORTING_SCHEME mean?

The Amazon help pages we checked do not list all possible values. VAT GPT knows these values and sorts them like this:

Value	Where VAT GPT puts the row
UNION-OSS	OSS return
REGULAR, country Germany	German VAT return
REGULAR, another country	local VAT of that country, never OSS
CH_VOEC, UK_VOEC-IMPORT	sale to a country outside the EU (Switzerland, United Kingdom): not in the OSS return
any other value	unresolved: not guessed, shown for review

More on the sorting: Amazon OSS for sellers: what applies to EU sales.

Which transaction types are there?

Amazon lists each goods transaction by its completion date. It sits in the column TRANSACTION_COMPLETE_DATE and depends on the type:

Type	Completion date (Amazon)	What the row means for tax
SALE	Shipping date	A sale. TAX_REPORTING_SCHEME says which return it belongs in.
REFUND	Date the refund is completed	A refund to the buyer. The SALE country columns show the country of the original sale.
RETURN	Date the return arrives at the fulfilment centre	The goods come back into the Amazon warehouse.
FC_TRANSFER	Date stock is checked in at the receiving centre	A move between Amazon warehouses, not a customer sale. If it crosses an EU border, it is an intra-Community transfer of your own goods (section 3 (1a) UStG).
INBOUND	Date stock is checked in at the fulfilment centre	Your stock arriving at Amazon, not a sale. If you ship it from Germany to an Amazon warehouse in another EU country, that is also an intra-Community transfer (section 3 (1a) UStG).
LIQUIDATION_SALE, LIQUIDATION_REFUND, DONATION, COMMINGLING_SELL, COMMINGLING_BUY	Shipping date or refund completion	Special cases. Ask your tax adviser how they affect you.

Whether a transfer across an EU border has tax consequences is covered in Amazon OSS for sellers: what applies to EU sales, in the section on FBA stock abroad.

Example: three rows and where they go

The numbers are made up and only an illustration, not information on rates.

TRANSACTION_TYPE	TAX_REPORTING_SCHEME	TAXABLE_JURISDICTION	Amount excl. VAT	Rate	Goes into
SALE	UNION-OSS	FR	50.00	0.20	OSS return, country France, tax 10.00
SALE	REGULAR	DE	100.00	0.19	German VAT return, tax 19.00
FC_TRANSFER	(empty)	(empty)			from a warehouse in Germany to another warehouse in Germany: neither VAT return nor OSS, not a customer sale; across an EU border a transfer of own goods (see above)

What trips people up?

Fee rows are in the same file. They carry SALES_CHANNEL equal to AMAZON_FEE. If you count them as revenue, your total is wrong. Amazon bills the previous month's fees in the following month's report.
There are two pairs of country columns. DEPARTURE_COUNTRY and ARRIVAL_COUNTRY describe the current transaction, SALE_DEPART_COUNTRY and SALE_ARRIVAL_COUNTRY the original sale. For a refund it matters which pair you read.
For seller-fulfilled orders Amazon does not know the origin. It fills the departure country from your default shipping address in the tax settings.

How VAT GPT helps

VAT GPT reads these columns for you: you upload the CSV, VAT GPT recognises the Amazon report from the header and reads, among others, TAX_REPORTING_SCHEME, TAXABLE_JURISDICTION, ARRIVAL_COUNTRY, the amounts, the currency and the completion date. If a required column is missing, the error message names it. VAT GPT books fee rows as expenses and shows an unknown tax scheme for review. You check and confirm; with VAT GPT Pro you send the returns on. 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

How many columns does the AVTR have? At least 69: Amazon's help mentions columns 63, 66, 68 and 69.

Which column shows whether I must report OSS? TAX_REPORTING_SCHEME: rows with UNION-OSS belong in the OSS return.

Where do I see Amazon's fees? In rows with SALES_CHANNEL equal to AMAZON_FEE; the column ACTIVITY_PERIOD names the month the fee relates to.

Why is an order from January 31 in the February report? Amazon assigns the report month by the completion date, which for a sale is the shipping date.