Amazon VAT report CSV: from the AVTR to your VAT and OSS returns
You downloaded the Amazon VAT Transactions Report (AVTR) as a CSV and do not know where each row belongs? Sort every sales row by country and tax procedure: domestic, OSS, tax abroad or tax-exempt export. You carry the totals into the German advance VAT return and the OSS return.
Last updated: 27 October 2026
In short
- Download: Seller Central, Reports, Fulfilment by Amazon, section Tax; at most 93 consecutive days per report, as CSV.
- Key column: TAX_REPORTING_SCHEME shows whether a row belongs in the OSS return, the VAT return or another country's return.
- Fees: Rows with SALES_CHANNEL = AMAZON_FEE are Amazon's fee invoices, so expenses, not sales.
What is in the Amazon VAT Transactions Report?
According to Amazon, the AVTR contains the taxable transactions on the European marketplaces and in the fulfilment network: sales, refunds, returns, cross-border inbound shipments, transfers between fulfilment centres, liquidations, donations and Amazon service fees. Each report contains the goods transactions of the reporting month and the fee transactions of the previous month.
Amazon points out that you are responsible for the accuracy of the data you use for reporting and tax purposes. A single report cannot cover more than 93 days; for longer periods you create several reports one after another. According to Amazon, the report for a month is available on the third day of the following month.
Which columns matter?
The report has many columns. These matter for VAT; the names are as they appear in the header row of the file:
| Column | What you need it for |
|---|---|
| TRANSACTION_EVENT_ID | Amazon's number of the event. In its support hint, Amazon calls it the transaction event number (order number). |
| ACTIVITY_TRANSACTION_ID | Amazon's number of the individual posting within the event. Together with the event number it identifies the same transaction again. |
| TRANSACTION_TYPE | Type of row, for example SALE; INVOICE or CREDIT_NOTE for fee invoices. |
| SALES_CHANNEL | Sales channel; AMAZON_FEE marks fee rows. |
| TAXABLE_JURISDICTION | The country in which the row is taxable. Empty on fee rows. For deliveries to Switzerland (scheme CH_VOEC) it holds the departure country, not the destination. |
| ARRIVAL_COUNTRY | The destination country of the goods. |
| TAX_REPORTING_SCHEME | The tax procedure of the row, for example REGULAR or UNION-OSS. |
| TOTAL_ACTIVITY_VALUE_AMT_VAT_EXCL, TOTAL_ACTIVITY_VALUE_VAT_AMT, TOTAL_ACTIVITY_VALUE_AMT_VAT_INCL | Amount excluding VAT, VAT amount and amount including VAT. |
| PRICE_OF_ITEMS_VAT_RATE_PERCENT | The VAT rate as a decimal (0.19 stands for 19 per cent). |
| TRANSACTION_CURRENCY_CODE | Currency of the row. |
| TRANSACTION_COMPLETE_DATE | Completion date; Amazon assigns reporting months by it. |
| TRANSACTION_DEPART_DATE | On fee rows, the start of the period the fee covers. |
| VAT_INV_NUMBER and VAT_INV_EXCHANGE_RATE | Number of the Amazon fee invoice and the exchange rate Amazon gives on fee rows in a foreign currency. |
For returns and refunds 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. When you evaluate a refund, it matters which pair you read.
How does a row become a VAT return and an OSS return?
For each sales row one question applies: in which tax return does this turnover belong? The column TAX_REPORTING_SCHEME answers it, because Amazon has already taken departure and arrival country into account:
| TAX_REPORTING_SCHEME | Where the row belongs |
|---|---|
| UNION-OSS | In the OSS return: cross-border distance sale to private customers in the EU, at the VAT rate of the destination country (§ 3c UStG). |
| REGULAR, country Germany | In the German advance VAT return. |
| REGULAR, another country | In that country's VAT return under your registration there, not in the OSS return. |
| CH_VOEC, UK_VOEC-IMPORT | Amazon accounts for the tax in the destination country (Switzerland, United Kingdom). If the goods leave from Germany, the sale is a tax-exempt export supply for you (§ 4 no. 1 letter a, § 6 UStG): no German tax, but it is reported in the advance VAT return as a tax-exempt supply with input tax deduction (Kz 43); not in the OSS return. |
You file the German advance VAT return electronically by the tenth day after the end of the return period; the period is the calendar quarter, or the calendar month if the previous year's tax was more than 9,000 euro (§ 18 (1) and (2) UStG). The OSS return is due within one month after the end of the tax period, and the tax is due on the last day of the following month (§ 18j (4) UStG). The advance return in detail: Amazon VAT Transactions Report (AVTR): advance VAT return; the OSS side: Amazon OSS VAT: threshold, VAT ID number, reporting.
How VAT GPT helps
By hand, you filter the sales rows in a long file with many columns and add them up by country and tax rate. VAT GPT does that for you:
- Upload the CSV: You upload the VAT Transactions Report, several files at once if you like. VAT GPT recognises an Amazon report from the header row and reports a missing required column by name.
- Check: VAT GPT sorts each sales row by TAX_REPORTING_SCHEME and country and shows you the totals for Germany and the EU countries (OSS). Rows with an unknown procedure stay visible for your review. VAT GPT books fee rows as expenses.
- Send: With VAT GPT Pro, the advance VAT return goes via ELSTER to the tax office and the OSS return directly to the BZSt.
There is Free (basic features, free of charge), Go (30 days free with all Pro features) and Pro (€49 per month or €444 per year, each including VAT). Try for Free Now
Which pitfalls are there?
- Rows without a country. Rows with an empty TAXABLE_JURISDICTION are not customer sales, for example transfers between Amazon warehouses (FC_TRANSFER). A transfer within Germany is not a supply. If Amazon moves your goods from Germany to a warehouse in another EU country, that is an intra-Community transfer (§ 3 (1a), § 6a (2) UStG): in Germany a tax-exempt intra-Community supply for the advance VAT return and the EC Sales List, in the destination country an intra-Community acquisition.
- Fees counted as sales. The fee rows (AMAZON_FEE) are in the same file. If you count them, your turnover is wrong. Amazon settles them in the following month's report; according to Amazon, the column ACTIVITY_PERIOD shows the month a fee relates to. You deduct the input tax from the fee invoice at the earliest in the advance-return period in which you hold the invoice (§ 15 (1) sentence 1 no. 1 UStG).
- Wrong month. Amazon lists a goods transaction by its completion date. An order placed on 31 January and shipped on 1 February is in the February report.
- Empty tax columns. If the VAT columns are empty, Amazon says the VAT Calculation Service (VCS) may not be active; it does not fill in data for the past.
- Wrong departure country when you ship yourself. For shipments you fulfil yourself, Amazon cannot see the origin and uses your default ship-from address from the tax settings. Changes apply only to future transactions.
- Foreign currency. Sales in other currencies are converted to euro: for the advance VAT return at the monthly average rate published by the Federal Ministry of Finance (a daily rate only if the tax office permits it), for the OSS return at the ECB rate of the last day of the quarter (§ 16 (6) UStG).
- The same file twice. Overlapping periods double your sales. VAT GPT protects you: it recognises a file with the same name or the same content as a duplicate.
- TXT instead of CSV. Amazon offers CSV and TXT. For VAT GPT, download the CSV.
Frequently asked questions
How do I evaluate the Amazon VAT Transactions Report for VAT? Download the report as CSV, split the sales rows by TAX_REPORTING_SCHEME and country, and carry the totals into the advance VAT return and the OSS return. VAT GPT does this split when you upload the CSV.
Which columns matter for VAT? TAX_REPORTING_SCHEME, TAXABLE_JURISDICTION, ARRIVAL_COUNTRY, the three amount columns with and without VAT, the currency and TRANSACTION_COMPLETE_DATE.
What do TRANSACTION_EVENT_ID and ACTIVITY_TRANSACTION_ID mean? Amazon calls the first the transaction event number (order number) and the second the activity transaction number. You quote both when you ask Amazon about a row.
Why are rows or amounts missing? Common reasons are a different reporting month (completion date), an inactive VAT Calculation Service, or a transaction type the AVTR does not cover.
How long can the period of one report be? At most 93 consecutive days.
How does VAT GPT treat Amazon fees? As expenses, not as sales.
What happens if I upload the same file twice? VAT GPT recognises a file with the same name or the same content as a duplicate.
Further reading
- Amazon VAT Transactions Report (AVTR): advance VAT return
- Amazon OSS VAT: threshold, VAT ID number, reporting
- eBay report CSV (orders report): from the report to your VAT and OSS returns
- Distance sales and § 3c UStG
- Amazon seller tax in Germany: an overview for online sellers
- Amazon seller accounting software in Germany: what to look for
Not tax advice: the content does not replace individual advice.
Sources
- § 3 UStG (in German)
- § 3c UStG (in German)
- § 4 UStG (in German)
- § 6 UStG (in German)
- § 6a UStG (in German)
- § 15 UStG (in German)
- § 16 UStG (in German)
- § 18 UStG (in German)
- § 18j UStG (in German)
- Amazon Seller Central: Amazon VAT Transactions Report (AVTR) (in German)
- Amazon Seller Central: timing and dates of the Amazon VAT Transactions Report (in German)