Australian brand on Amazon FBA in Europe, using a German 3PL, or running DTC from Sydney into German consumers? Australia is a third country for EU VAT, but the rules are workable, and no fiscal representative is required. We handle registration and the monthly filings that follow, in English.
The short version
Australia is a third country for German VAT, same status as the UK (post-Brexit), the US, or China. There is no distance-selling threshold for third-country sellers: any taxable supply in Germany triggers mandatory registration, from the first euro.
Australian companies are processed by Finanzamt Berlin International, the office Germany assigns to countries its VAT jurisdiction regulation does not name individually, and register directly through a licensed tax advisor. No fiscal representative is required, and Australia's Hague Convention membership makes Apostille on corporate documents straightforward (via DFAT).
Typical timeline: 6–12 weeks from submission to Tax ID. Year-one cost via Vaytax: €1,299/year all-in, German VAT registration included (plus actual Apostille and translation fees, passed through at cost).
Not sure if this applies to your business? Take the 60-second VAT check →
The three most common profiles. If one of these sounds like you, registration is almost certainly mandatory.
Australian sellers using Amazon's European marketplaces (.de, .co.uk, .fr, .it, .es). Even if you don't ship from Australia, Amazon stores your inventory in German warehouses (Bad Hersfeld, Rheinberg, Leipzig). The moment your stock crosses into Germany, registration is mandatory.
Australian brands using a European 3PL (German, Dutch, or UK warehouse) to ship to EU consumers. Whatever the warehouse location, German-stored inventory or German B2C activity triggers German registration.
Australian SaaS providers with German B2C customers. Without an EU establishment, you cannot use Union OSS, but Non-Union OSS via one EU member state is available for cross-border digital services. For German enterprise B2B contracts, a real DE-prefixed USt-IdNr. removes invoicing friction.
For German VAT purposes, Australia is treated identically to the US, UK (post-Brexit), Canada, or China: a third-country business under §13b and §21 UStG. Concrete consequences:
| Topic | Australian-company treatment |
|---|---|
| Registration threshold | None, any taxable supply triggers registration |
| Goods movement | Imports/exports, customs declarations + EORI required |
| Union OSS access | No (requires EU establishment) |
| Non-Union OSS for digital services | Yes (register in one EU member state) |
| ZM / Intrastat | Generally not applicable (third-country trade is customs, not intra-EU reporting) |
| Fiscal representative | Not required, tax advisor is sufficient |
Germany has no registration threshold for foreign sellers. The obligation begins the moment you make a taxable supply in Germany. The most common triggers:
Even if your Australian operation never touches German soil, Amazon does. If you're enrolled in Pan-EU FBA on European marketplaces, Amazon allocates inventory across multiple countries including Germany. From the moment your stock crosses into a German fulfilment centre, you have a taxable presence in Germany. Amazon will request your German USt-IdNr. and will eventually de-enrol you from Pan-EU if you can't provide one.
Using any German 3PL (Zalando Fulfilment, Otto, independent providers), or consignment stock held in Germany, creates the same obligation. Inventory location triggers registration regardless of company nationality.
Australian SaaS and digital service providers selling to German B2C customers must use Non-Union OSS or register in Germany. Non-Union OSS requires picking one EU member state of identification, Germany is a common choice for Australian SaaS, but other member states work too. For enterprise B2B contracts, German buyers often expect a real DE-prefixed USt-IdNr. on your invoices, which requires local registration regardless of OSS.
Where Australian companies typically do NOT need to register: pure B2B services to German businesses where the reverse charge (§13b UStG) applies throughout, with no German stock or establishment. The German customer accounts for the VAT via their own return. Some service categories are exceptions, confirm before assuming.
This is the single biggest cost trap for Australian sellers researching German VAT online. Some providers imply that because Australia is a third country, you need a fiscal representative in Germany. This is not true.
Germany does not require fiscal representation for any third-country business, Australian, US, UK, Canadian, Chinese, or Swiss, for standard VAT registration and monthly filing. A licensed tax advisor acting as your tax agent is sufficient under §3 StBerG. Quoted "fiscal rep" fees of €1,000–€3,000/year for German VAT have no legal basis. For a full breakdown, see our fiscal representation guide.
Australian companies registering for German VAT are routed to Finanzamt Berlin International under the VAT jurisdiction regulation (Umsatzsteuerzuständigkeitsverordnung, UStZustV), issued under §21 AO, which assigns each foreign company a central tax office by country of establishment. That regulation lists specific countries by name; Australia is not one of them, so Australian companies fall under its catch-all rule for unlisted countries, and Berlin International is the office that handles it. What Berlin International needs:
The Apostille and translation steps add 2–4 weeks to the timeline at the start. Vaytax sequences these so your application lands at Berlin International with a complete file the first time.
The German tax office collects VAT via SEPA Direct Debit, which requires a SEPA-zone bank account. Australian banks don't natively provide this. Practical workarounds in order of preference:
Vaytax helps you set this up during onboarding: the SEPA mandate goes to whichever EUR account you nominate, and Wise/Revolut both work cleanly.
Once you have your Tax ID, the monthly rhythm is simple:
Filing frequency follows your VAT figures, not how new the registration is. For businesses starting activity between 2021 and 2026, a temporary rule (§ 18 Abs. 2 Satz 6 UStG) sets the first year from the VAT you expect to owe that year: over €9,000 files monthly, otherwise quarterly, and at €2,000 or less the Finanzamt can waive preliminary returns entirely. Later years use the same thresholds on the prior year's actual VAT. That temporary rule is scheduled to lapse after 2026, so unless it is extended, businesses starting from 2027 go back to mandatory monthly filing for their first two calendar years. Most foreign sellers holding German stock clear €9,000 and file monthly either way. Dauerfristverlängerung gives you an extra month per deadline in exchange for a refundable 1/11 deposit of prior-year VAT liability.
The annual return (Umsatzsteuer-Jahreserklärung) is filed by 31 July of the following year, or up to 28/29 February of the year after, if filed through a tax advisor under extension rules.
No. The Australia-Germany Double Taxation Agreement covers income tax, corporate profits, royalties, and dividends, not VAT. VAT is consumption-based, not income-based, and falls outside DTA scope. Your Australian corporate tax position is unaffected by German VAT registration, and vice versa.
If you crossed the German storage or sales threshold months ago and only just realised the obligation: we file the missing UStVAs retroactively at the same €89 per filing, charged once at signup. Pick the first period you need us to file when you register; we catch you up and continue going forward in one onboarding. The Finanzamt may still issue Verspätungszuschlag (late-filing surcharges) directly to your company for retroactive periods; those are independent of our fees, and we file as quickly as possible to keep them small.
Already selling on amazon.de? See your German VAT from your own report: drop your Amazon VAT Transactions Report (or easybill export) and we read it on your device, nothing uploaded, to show the figure reconciled to your file. It is a draft, subject to our review.
No per-sale surcharge. No fiscal-rep fee. The price you see covers your routine recurring filings; Apostille and translation are passed through at cost, and one-off work like backfiling or disputes is always quoted up front.
New to German VAT · Path A
German VAT registration included. Charged in full at signup. Renews yearly.
What's included
Already registered · Path B
Already hold a German VAT number? Skip the registration fee and move straight into monthly filing. €990/year if you pay annually (about €82/month, roughly 7% off).
Or €990 billed yearly. No registration fee.
Free instant English read, no signup. Then a fixed price from €200 net, nothing to pay until you accept. Estimated assessment (Schätzbescheid), payment reminder (Mahnung), formal hearing notice (Anhörung).
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Answer a few quick questions about how and where you sell. We will tell you whether Germany requires you to register, and what it costs, in plain English. No account, no obligation.
German VAT registration, monthly filing, and the annual return, handled end to end by a licensed German tax advisor. Built for Australian Pan-EU FBA sellers, DTC brands using EU 3PLs, and SaaS companies with German B2C customers. Reviewed June 2026 by a licensed German tax advisor.
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