Amazon VAT Services ended: what German sellers do now

According to its announcement of 16 August 2024, Amazon ended its "VAT Services by Amazon" programme on 31 October 2024. Still with you: the German VAT return, the OSS return for sales to consumers in other EU countries, and the VAT ID in your seller account. This text says what ended, what is not affected and what to check now.

Last updated: 27 October 2026

In brief

End: According to Amazon's announcement of 16 August 2024, the programme ran out on 31 October 2024.
Other service: The VAT Calculation Service (VCS) is not mentioned in the announcement.
With you: The VAT return, the OSS return and the VAT ID in your seller account.

What did Amazon end, and when?

Amazon writes in its seller forum that it decided to discontinue the programme "VAT Services by Amazon" "on 31 October 2024" (the German wording is "zum 31. Oktober 2024 einzustellen"). The announcement appeared on 16 August 2024. It adds, in translation: "We want to support you with your VAT obligations and are working on an improved programme for 2025."

Whether that successor programme exists, and what it looks like, is not explained on any Amazon help page we could open (see below: Amazon's tax page).

What changed for people who used the programme?

The announcement lists these steps for users of the programme:

Handover: The tax service provider was to get in touch in August 2024 to agree terms and move you "to its platform".
Deregistration: Until the end of September 2024 the provider kept processing the advance returns; after that you were, per Amazon, "automatically deregistered from VAT Services by Amazon".
Afterwards: "Your current tax service provider takes care of all future VAT advance returns and bills you directly", starting with the return for October 2024.
Documents: New returns filed after 31 October 2024 are, per Amazon, "automatically available on the platform of your tax service provider". Amazon gives 31 August 2025 as the deadline to download documents in Seller Central.

If you never used the programme, this section does not concern you.

Has the VAT Calculation Service ended too?

The announcement does not mention it. The VAT Calculation Service (VCS) is a separate service with its own help page. Amazon describes it like this (in translation): with the service for Amazon Business customers you can "show prices without VAT" and "provide invoices automatically". There are also reports that, according to Amazon, help with VAT returns. Registrations or advance returns by service providers, as in the ended programme, are not mentioned there. The registration is described in Amazon VAT Calculation Service (VCS): how to register.

What stays with you now?

Four things that did not depend on the programme:

OSS return. A distance sale is, by law, a supply of goods that are transported or dispatched by you or for your account "from the territory of one Member State to the territory of another Member State" to a buyer such as a private customer (section 3c(1) UStG). The rate of the destination country applies if your distance sales to other EU countries, together with certain electronic services to private customers there, excluding VAT exceeded 10,000 euros in the previous calendar year or exceed it in the current calendar year, if you waived the threshold, or if you are established in more than one EU country (section 3c(4) UStG). You can report these sales through the OSS (section 18j(1) UStG); without the OSS you register for them in each destination country. The BZSt writes that with participation the traders no longer have to register for VAT in every Member State in which they make supplies covered by the special scheme. The OSS return (section 18j UStG) is due "within one month after the end of each tax period". How it works is in Amazon OSS: when it applies, which report, how to file and OSS registration in Germany: step by step.
Stock in another EU country. The law treats moving your own goods from Germany to another EU country, for example into an Amazon warehouse there, as a supply for consideration; excepted are a merely temporary use and the cases of section 6b UStG (section 3(1a) UStG). The transfer is not a distance sale and is not among the supplies of the OSS scheme (section 18j(1) UStG); according to the BZSt, the OSS covers only supplies that fall under the special scheme. What applies to stock abroad is in Amazon Pan-EU FBA and VAT: stock in other EU countries.
German VAT return. You prepare it yourself or with your software, see Advance VAT return from Amazon: AVTR, boxes, deadline.
VAT ID in the seller account. The path in Seller Central is in Add your VAT ID in Amazon Seller Central: path, errors.

How filings in another EU country work is set by that country's law. This text says nothing about it beyond the EU scheme OSS.

What Amazon's tax page shows today

On the "Tax information" page for sellers the name is still there. We opened it on 27 October 2026: in the section on VAT registration in the United Kingdom it lists "VAT Services by Amazon" under "Option 2: Let Amazon do it" (the German page says "Überlassen Sie es Amazon"). What that offer is today is not explained on any page we could open. Before booking anything, read the current description in Seller Central.

Common mistakes

Assuming the OSS replaces every registration abroad. The BZSt speaks only of supplies that fall under the special scheme.
Assuming Amazon carries your VAT duties. For questions about VAT on marketplace items, Amazon points buyers to you: "please contact the seller directly".
Mixing up the Calculation Service and VAT Services. They are two services with two help pages.
Forgetting the German return because a provider used to run it in the programme.

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 and eBay CSV reports, and VAT GPT breaks the VAT down for Germany and the EU (OSS).
VAT GPT calculates the OSS return for all EU countries.
From the figures, VAT GPT prepares the VAT return (monthly or quarterly).

With VAT GPT Pro you send the VAT return through ELSTER and the OSS return to the BZSt. There is Free, Go (30 days free with all Pro features) and Pro. Try for Free Now

Frequently asked questions

When did the programme end? On 31 October 2024, according to Amazon's announcement in the seller forum of 16 August 2024.

Who files the advance returns if I used the programme? According to the announcement, your previous tax service provider; it "bills you directly".

Do I have to register abroad again? The OSS removes the registration only for supplies that fall under the special scheme. Whether you must be registered in a country beyond that is set by that country's law.

Has the VAT Calculation Service ended too? The announcement does not mention it.

Is there a new programme from Amazon? In 2024 Amazon wrote that it was working on an improved programme for 2025. No page we opened says whether it exists.