Open an Amazon CSV in Excel: columns, numbers and dates

You downloaded the Amazon report, double-clicked it, and the numbers or dates look wrong? Then Excel read the file with its default settings. Importing through "From Text/CSV" gives you more control: you see a preview, choose the delimiter and can load a column as text. And you leave the downloaded original unchanged.

Last updated: October 27, 2026

In brief

Double-click: Excel opens a .csv file automatically and reads each column with its current default data format settings (Microsoft Support).
More control: Data > From Text/CSV shows a preview, lets you pick the delimiter, and either loads the data or sends it to Power Query first.
Leading zeros: To keep them, convert the column to text during the import.
The report is wide: The Amazon VAT transaction report has at least 69 columns (Amazon names column 69). Excel can import up to 16,384 columns and 1,048,576 rows.
Keep the original: Save your work under a new name. The downloaded file stays unchanged as your record.

Why do the numbers look wrong after a double-click?

When Excel opens a .csv file, it uses the current default data format settings to decide how to read each column. Microsoft gives the example of a date column in the file that is month-day-year while Excel's default is year-month-day (Microsoft Support). Leading zeros are lost the same way when Excel reads a column as a number.

The fault is then not in the Amazon report but in how the file was read. If you load the file again through the import, you can check the result in the preview before it reaches the worksheet.

How do you import the file, step by step?

According to Microsoft Support (Excel for Microsoft 365, 2024, 2021, 2019 and 2016):

Open a blank workbook and click the cell where the data should go.
On the Data tab, in the Get & Transform Data group, click From Text/CSV.
Find the downloaded file, double-click it and click Import.
In the preview, choose the Delimiter from the list. You see the effect immediately in the data preview.
Choose Load to put the data in a new worksheet, or Load To to pick a table, a PivotTable or a specific place. Transform Data opens it in Power Query first.

The classic route is the Text Import Wizard. Microsoft says you can force it by changing the file extension from .csv to .txt before opening. Do that on a copy, never on the original file. In the wizard you can set the format of a column, for example convert a column with leading zeros to text.

The Microsoft page does not name a character encoding such as UTF-8. So check umlauts and special characters in the preview: if they look wrong there, do not load the data.

What is special about the Amazon report?

You request the Amazon VAT transaction report (AVTR) in Seller Central under Berichte > Versand durch Amazon > Steuern (the German interface; in the left menu section "Taxes"). You choose at most 93 consecutive days and click "Request .csv Download" or "Request .txt Download" (Amazon Seller Central). For Excel that means:

Many columns. Amazon's troubleshooting section names columns up to number 69, for example DEPARTURE_COUNTRY, ARRIVAL_COUNTRY, SALE_DEPART_COUNTRY and SALE_ARRIVAL_COUNTRY. What each column means is in Amazon VAT transaction report: columns explained.
Fees appear in the following month. Fee data for a month shows in the next month's report. The ACTIVITY_PERIOD column shows which month a fee belongs to, and filtering SALES_CHANNEL = AMAZON_FEE finds the fee rows (Amazon Seller Central).
Several periods. If you need more than 93 days, you create several reports for consecutive periods and combine them yourself.

The saved Amazon page says nothing about the report's decimal separator or date format. So look at one row with an amount and a date in the preview before you load the whole file.

Why keep the original file unchanged?

Opening a text file in Excel does not change the format of the file; the name keeps the .csv extension (Microsoft Support). If you save the workbook as CSV again under the same name, you overwrite the download, and Excel may show a warning that some features might be lost. Save your analysis as an Excel workbook under a new name instead.

German tax law requires you to keep books, records, accounting vouchers and other documents that matter for taxation in an orderly way (section 147(1) AO). The retention periods are ten years for books and records, eight years for accounting vouchers and six years for other documents, unless other tax laws allow shorter periods; they do not run out as long as the documents matter for taxes whose assessment period has not yet expired (section 147(3) AO). If you keep records electronically, it must be ensured that the data match the accounting vouchers visually and the other documents in content when made readable, and that during the period they are available at any time, can be made readable without delay and can be evaluated by machine (section 147(2) AO). Whether a report counts as an accounting voucher or another document in your case depends on the facts. An unchanged copy of the download is the simplest way to meet both. The basics are in Keeping records: retention periods and rules.

Which mistakes come up often?

Overwriting the file. You save the edited file under the download's name. Back up the original somewhere else first.
Letting Excel read a column as a number. Leading zeros disappear. Load the column as text.
Numbers stored as text. If a column does not calculate after the import, Microsoft says you can convert it afterwards ("Convert numbers stored as text"). The same goes for dates stored as text.
Assigning fees to the wrong month. The ACTIVITY_PERIOD column tells you which month a fee belongs to.
Looking at only part of the data. More than 93 days needs several reports.

How VAT GPT helps

VAT GPT is the tax software for Amazon and eBay sellers in Germany: your OSS return first, then every other tax you owe, calculated and filed in one place.

You upload your Amazon report as a CSV file.
VAT GPT breaks the VAT down for Germany and the EU (OSS).

What does VAT GPT cost?

There is Free (basic functions, 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 do I open an Amazon CSV in Excel? Through Data > From Text/CSV: pick the file, click Import, check the delimiter in the preview, then Load or Transform Data (Microsoft Support).

Why does Excel drop leading zeros? On a double-click it reads the column as a number, using the default settings. In the Text Import Wizard you convert the column to text so the zeros stay (Microsoft Support).

How many rows and columns can Excel import? Up to 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns (Microsoft Support).

How long can the period of an Amazon report be? At most 93 consecutive days per report (Amazon Seller Central).

May I change the downloaded file? Better not. Keep the original unchanged and work on a copy (section 147 AO requires orderly retention of documents that matter for taxation).