Austrian brand selling on Amazon.de, using a German 3PL, or scaling DTC into the German consumer market? Same language doesn't mean same tax registration, your ATU number is not valid for German VAT. We register your Austrian company at Finanzamt München and file every month.
The short version
Austrian companies need a German VAT registration when they: store inventory in Germany (Amazon FBA DE, Pan-EU FBA, German 3PL), exceed the €10,000 EU-wide B2C threshold without OSS, have a German fixed establishment, or make specific German-located service supplies.
Austria has access to OSS via FinanzOnline for cross-border B2C, but OSS does not cover sales from German-stored inventory. Pan-EU FBA sellers need both OSS and local DE registration.
Austrian companies are processed by Finanzamt München. Timeline: 4–8 weeks. No fiscal representative required. Year-one cost via Vaytax: €1,299/year all-in, German VAT registration included.
Not sure if this applies to your business? Take the 60-second VAT check →
The most common profiles. If one of these sounds like you, registration is almost certainly mandatory.
Austrian SMEs scaling from a national market of 9 million into Germany's 84 million consumers. The shared language makes German the natural first international market for most Austrian e-commerce, SaaS, and service businesses.
Austrian Amazon sellers either selling on Amazon.de directly or in Pan-EU FBA where Amazon routes inventory into German warehouses. The moment your stock crosses into Germany, German VAT registration is mandatory.
Austrian SaaS and digital-service providers selling to German B2C customers (OSS or local) and to German enterprise clients who expect a real DE-prefixed USt-IdNr. on invoices for cleaner intra-EU reverse-charge processing.
Shared language is the trap. Austrian businesses can speak directly to German customers, ship cross-border under EU rules, and read all the German tax forms without a translator. So the German VAT obligation often goes unnoticed until something concrete triggers it, usually Amazon FBA inventory or a 3PL contract. Three points to be clear about:
| Austrian seller setup | OSS (via FinanzOnline)? | Local DE registration? |
|---|---|---|
| Ship from AT only, direct B2C to DE | Yes (if >€10k EU-wide) | No |
| Amazon FBA AT only | Yes | No |
| Amazon Pan-EU FBA (inventory in DE) | For AT-sourced sales | Yes (for DE-sourced sales) |
| German 3PL or warehouse | Where applicable | Yes |
| B2B services with German place of supply | No | Often required |
Reverse-charge nuance: Most cross-border B2B services between Austrian and German businesses are governed by §13b UStG reverse charge, the German customer accounts for VAT, no German registration required for the Austrian supplier. Exceptions exist (real-estate-related services, certain digital services, etc.), so confirm before assuming reverse charge applies.
Austrian companies registering for German VAT are routed to Finanzamt München under the VAT jurisdiction regulation (Umsatzsteuerzuständigkeitsverordnung, UStZustV), issued under §21 AO, which assigns each foreign company a central tax office by country of establishment and names Munich for Austria. Munich is the natural assignment given Bavaria's role as Germany's primary trade gateway with Austria.
What Finanzamt München requires:
As EU member-state documents, Austrian corporate records are accepted without Apostille or sworn translation.
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 (permanent filing extension) gives you an extra month per deadline.
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.
Flat fee, pairs cleanly with your Austrian tax advisor for the AT side. The price you see covers your routine recurring filings; 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).
Not sure what you need?
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 Austrian companies expanding into the German consumer and B2B markets. Reviewed June 2026 by a licensed German tax advisor.
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