Key Takeaways
- Storing any inventory in a German warehouse (a 3PL, Amazon FBA, or consignment stock) creates a German VAT registration obligation from the first unit. There is no turnover threshold, the figure is €0.
- Bringing goods into Germany from outside the EU triggers German import VAT (Einfuhrumsatzsteuer) at the border and requires an EORI number. Once you are registered, that import VAT is reclaimable as input VAT.
- The €10,000 EU-wide threshold is separate: it governs cross-border B2C sales. Once you cross it, Union OSS lets you report those sales on one quarterly return, with Germany as your Member State of Identification.
- A marketplace (Amazon, TikTok Shop) collects VAT on some sales as the deemed supplier; your own store (Shopify) does not. Either way you still need the German registration and must file.
Information verified by Vaytax as of June 2026. Sources: BZSt, UStG, EU VAT Directive 2006/112/EC.
This is the single most common question foreign sellers ask us: "I am putting my stock in a German warehouse, what does that do to my VAT?" The short answer is that storing goods in Germany creates a German VAT registration obligation immediately, from the very first unit, with no minimum sales figure. Everything else (import VAT, the €10,000 distance-selling line, OSS, your sales channel) sits on top of that one fact. This guide is the definitive walk-through, in the order the questions actually come up.
Does storing stock in a German warehouse require VAT registration?
Yes, immediately, from the first unit, with no turnover threshold. The moment your inventory is physically held in Germany, whether in a third-party logistics (3PL) warehouse, an Amazon fulfilment centre, or as consignment stock sitting at a customer's site, you have a taxable presence in Germany and must be registered for German VAT (Umsatzsteuer, VAT).
This catches a lot of sellers off guard, because they assume there must be a sales threshold to cross first. There is not. The relevant numbers:
- Warehouse / stock presence: €0. Storing even a single unit in Germany is enough to require registration.
- Kleinunternehmer small-business exemption (€22,000): not available to you. That exemption only applies to businesses established in Germany. A company registered in the UK, US, Italy, Spain, Poland, China, or anywhere else outside Germany cannot use it, no matter how small.
The trigger is the stock, not the sale. You owe registration because goods of yours are sitting in Germany, available to be sold from German soil. This is true before you make a single sale, and it is true whether the warehouse is yours, a logistics provider's, or a marketplace's fulfilment network.
Registration is also not retroactive-friendly. The obligation runs from your first taxable presence, not from the date you eventually get around to registering. Sellers who register late can face back-taxes, interest and penalties from the Finanzamt (the German tax office) for the period they should have been registered. The cheapest path is to register before the stock arrives.
What does "stock in Germany" actually include?
Any arrangement where your goods are physically located in Germany counts. The three most common setups all trigger the same obligation:
- A third-party logistics (3PL) warehouse. You ship a pallet to a German fulfilment partner who stores and dispatches on your behalf. The goods are in Germany, so you are registrable.
- Amazon FBA in Germany. The moment Amazon places your inventory in a German fulfilment centre (including automatically, through Pan-EU FBA or the Central Europe programme), you have German stock. See our Amazon FBA VAT guide for the marketplace specifics.
- Consignment stock. Goods you hold at a German customer's premises, to be drawn down as they are used or sold, are still your stock in Germany until title passes. (Germany applies the EU call-off stock simplification narrowly, so most consignment arrangements need a local registration.)
Goods merely transiting Germany without being stored are a different matter, but the instant they come to rest in a German warehouse available for sale, the registration obligation is live.
I am importing the goods into Germany. What about import VAT and EORI?
If your stock arrives in Germany from outside the EU, you cross a customs border, and two things happen. First, you need an EORI number (Economic Operators Registration and Identification) to clear the goods through customs at all. Second, German import VAT (Einfuhrumsatzsteuer) becomes due at the border, normally 19 percent of the customs value of the goods (their value plus duty and freight).
Import VAT is reclaimable once you are registered. The import VAT you pay at the German border is not a sunk cost. As a VAT-registered business, you deduct it as input VAT (Vorsteuer) on your German VAT return, the same line you would use for VAT on any other business expense. For most sellers this turns import VAT into a cash-flow timing question rather than a final cost: you pay it on import, then recover it on the return covering that period.
This is one of the practical reasons registration is worth doing properly and early: without a German VAT registration, recovering that import VAT is slow and bureaucratic; with one, it flows through your normal returns.
If, instead, you move goods into Germany from another EU country (for example transferring your own stock from a warehouse in the Netherlands to one in Germany), that is not an import. It is treated as an intra-EU acquisition, and it still has to be reported on your German VAT return, but no customs import VAT is charged at a border.
Where does the €10,000 threshold come in, and what is OSS?
The €10,000 figure is a completely separate rule from the €0 warehouse-stock rule, and confusing the two is the most common mistake we see. It does not switch off your German registration obligation, it sits alongside it and governs a different kind of sale.
The €10,000 line is the EU-wide annual threshold for cross-border B2C distance sales: the combined total of everything you sell to private consumers in other EU countries (not Germany, and not your home country). It replaced the old country-by-country distance-selling thresholds in July 2021.
- Below €10,000 of cross-border B2C sales across the whole EU, you can charge German VAT on those sales and report them on your German return.
- Above €10,000, you must charge each customer's destination-country VAT rate, and you need a way to report VAT to all those countries.
That is where the Union One-Stop-Shop (OSS) comes in. Instead of registering separately in every EU country you ship to, OSS lets you file one quarterly return that covers all your cross-border B2C sales, and your Member State of Identification routes the VAT to each destination. For a foreign seller whose stock sits in a German warehouse, Germany is the dispatch country, so Germany is your Member State of Identification: you register for Union OSS through Germany. A non-EU seller can use the Union scheme on the strength of EU-stored stock, even without an EU establishment. The full mechanics are in our Union OSS for non-EU sellers guide.
So the two thresholds answer two different questions. "Do I need to register in Germany?" is answered by the stock (€0, yes, from the first unit). "How do I handle my sales to consumers in other EU countries?" is answered by the €10,000 line and OSS. Many sellers who store in Germany end up needing both a German registration and OSS. We do not switch OSS on before you cross the threshold and actually need it.
One thing OSS is not: it is not the import scheme. The Import One-Stop-Shop (IOSS) is a separate system for low-value consignments under €150 imported directly to consumers. Vaytax does not file IOSS; we mention it only so you do not confuse the two.
Does it differ by sales channel: marketplace vs own store?
The registration obligation is identical either way, German stock means a German VAT registration, full stop. What changes between channels is who actually remits the VAT on your sales.
| Channel | Who remits the VAT | Your obligation |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplace (Amazon, TikTok Shop) |
The marketplace, as deemed supplier, collects and remits the VAT on certain sales (notably goods sold by non-EU sellers). | Still need German registration; still file returns; report the figures, with marketplace-collected sales handled accordingly. |
| Own store (Shopify, your website) |
You do. There is no deemed supplier, so you charge, collect and remit the VAT yourself. | Need German registration; charge the correct VAT at checkout; file and pay. |
Under the EU's deemed-supplier rules, a marketplace that facilitates the sale is treated as having bought and re-sold the goods for VAT purposes in defined cases, so it accounts for the VAT to the tax authority. That relieves you of remitting VAT on those specific transactions, but it does not relieve you of the underlying German registration that your stored stock requires, and the marketplace will ask you for a valid German VAT number before letting you sell. On your own store, none of that deemed-supplier machinery applies: the full VAT responsibility is yours, from charging the right rate at checkout to paying it over to the Finanzamt.
The practical sequence: register, then file
Once you know you have German stock, the path is straightforward. It runs in this order:
- Register for German VAT. You complete the Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung (tax registration questionnaire), submit supporting documents (certificate of incorporation, articles of association, proof of activity), and wait for the Finanzamt to issue your Steuernummer (tax number) and, for EU trade, a USt-IdNr. (VAT identification number). This typically takes 4 to 8 weeks. Get an EORI number too if you will be importing.
- File the monthly USt-Voranmeldung. Once registered, you file a monthly preliminary VAT return, due by the 10th of the following month. This applies even in months with zero sales, a nil return is still required. New registrations are generally on monthly filing for the first couple of years.
- File the annual Umsatzsteuererklärung. Once a year you file an annual VAT declaration that reconciles the year's monthly returns.
- Add OSS and the EC Sales List if relevant. If your cross-border B2C sales pass €10,000, add a Union OSS quarterly return. If you make cross-border B2B supplies, you will also file a Zusammenfassende Meldung (EC Sales List).
If you have already missed filings or received a letter from the Finanzamt, do not ignore the deadline on it. A Schätzbescheid (estimated assessment) or Mahnung (reminder) carries a one-month appeal window that matters. You can send the letter to us for a fixed-price response.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does storing stock in a German warehouse require me to register for VAT?
Yes, from the first unit and with no turnover threshold. Storing any inventory in Germany (a 3PL warehouse, Amazon FBA, or consignment stock at a customer) creates a German VAT registration obligation immediately, regardless of how much you sell. The €22,000 Kleinunternehmer small-business exemption only applies to businesses established in Germany, so a foreign company cannot use it. You must register before, or as soon as, your goods arrive.
Do I owe import VAT when I bring goods into Germany, and can I get it back?
If you import goods into Germany from outside the EU, German import VAT (Einfuhrumsatzsteuer) is due at the border, normally 19 percent of the customs value, and you need an EORI number to clear customs. Once you hold a German VAT registration, that import VAT is reclaimable as input VAT (Vorsteuer) on your VAT return, so for most sellers it becomes a cash-flow item rather than a final cost. Goods moved from another EU country into Germany are an intra-EU acquisition rather than an import, but they also need to be reported on your German return.
What is the €10,000 threshold and how does OSS fit in?
The €10,000 figure is the EU-wide annual threshold for cross-border B2C distance sales, the combined total of your sales to consumers in all other EU countries. It is separate from, and does not replace, the €0 warehouse-stock rule. Once your cross-border B2C sales pass €10,000, you must charge each customer's destination-country VAT rate, and the Union One-Stop-Shop (OSS) lets you report all of it on one quarterly return instead of registering in every country. A non-EU seller whose stock sits in a German warehouse uses Germany as its Member State of Identification for OSS. See our OSS vs local registration guide.
Does it matter whether I sell on a marketplace or my own store?
The registration obligation is the same either way: German stock means German VAT registration. What differs is who remits the VAT. On a marketplace such as Amazon or TikTok Shop, the platform is treated as the deemed supplier for certain sales (notably goods sold by non-EU sellers) and collects and remits that VAT itself. On your own store (for example Shopify) there is no deemed supplier, so you charge, collect and remit the VAT yourself. Either way you still need the German registration, must file returns, and report the relevant figures.
What do I actually have to file once I am registered in Germany?
After registration you file a monthly USt-Voranmeldung (preliminary VAT return), due by the 10th of the following month, even in months with no sales (a nil return is still required). Once a year you also file the annual Umsatzsteuererklärung (annual VAT declaration). If you make cross-border B2B supplies you may also file a Zusammenfassende Meldung (EC Sales List). Most foreign sellers work through a licensed German tax advisor who prepares and files these for them.
How long does German VAT registration take and what does it cost with Vaytax?
Registration typically takes 4 to 8 weeks, the wait for the Finanzamt to process your Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung and issue your Steuernummer. With Vaytax it is €1,199 per year all-in if you do not yet have a German VAT number, covering the registration plus your first year of monthly returns and the annual return, all filed by a licensed German tax advisor. If you already have a German VAT number it is €79 per month. OSS, if you need it, is a €250 one-time setup plus €150 per quarter.
Related guides:
Putting stock in a German warehouse?
Vaytax registers you for German VAT and files your monthly and annual returns, all handled by a licensed German tax advisor, in English. It is a self-service dashboard plus a tax advisor on every filing, not a hands-off service. €1,199/year all-in with registration included, or €79/month if you already have a German VAT number. OSS add-on when you cross the €10,000 threshold: €250 setup + €150/quarter.
Start registration Amazon FBA sellers How OSS via Germany works