Amazon FBA · Regulatory · 2026

§25e UStG: How Amazon's Marketplace Liability Triggers Retroactive VAT for Foreign Sellers

Published: May 19, 2026 · 9 min read

Vaytax tax advisor team

Vaytax Editorial Team

Licensed tax advisor · files with the Finanzamt

Vaytax is operated by FRADECO GmbH tax advisory firm, a Franco-German tax advisory firm specialising in cross-border German VAT compliance for international businesses. We handle Einspruchsverfahren on marketplace-triggered assessments and routine UStVA returns directly with the Finanzamt under our Steuerberater licence.

About the team →

Key Takeaways

Information verified by Vaytax as of May 2026. Sources: UStG §§22f and 25e, BMF guidance, Abgabenordnung.

What §25e does, in plain English

Until 2019, German VAT was a problem between the foreign seller and the German Finanzamt. The marketplace was a bystander. That changed when §25e UStG entered into force: the marketplace became a backup taxpayer. If a seller on Amazon owes German VAT and doesn't pay it, the Finanzamt can come for Amazon. That is what "joint and several liability" means in this context.

The marketplace's defence against being on the hook is §22f UStG: a reporting and verification obligation. The marketplace must collect each seller's German VAT registration data, verify it is real, and report seller transaction data to the Finanzamt when asked. If the marketplace does all of that diligently, it can in practice avoid §25e liability when a non-compliant seller is found. If the marketplace did not do it diligently, §25e is the consequence.

From the foreign seller's perspective, the practical reality is that Amazon (and every other marketplace in scope) treats §22f as a hard compliance gate. No valid VAT registration data, no listings. That is why a missing or expired German Steuernummer ends up flipping Amazon FBA listings to "Inactive" almost overnight when the compliance team runs its periodic sweep.

The §22f reporting chain: how Amazon knows what to tell the Finanzamt

Amazon's seller-onboarding flow already collects German VAT registration data for any seller whose listings can ship to German buyers. That data is verified against the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern (BZSt) records on a recurring basis. Three failure modes drop a seller into the §25e cohort:

When the Finanzamt opens a case against the seller, it can request transaction-level reports from Amazon under §22f. These reports show every shipment that the seller fulfilled out of a German node, including buyer addresses (so the German-taxable portion can be calculated), order value, VAT collected at point of sale, and the date stream. For sellers running Pan-EU FBA with Germany enabled, the volume of reported transactions can be substantial: every cross-border shipment that left a German node is in the report, including shipments to other EU buyers that are not German-taxable.

What triggers a marketplace to deactivate listings

Amazon, eBay and Otto each run their own compliance verification on §22f data. The common patterns:

The platform's interest is self-protection against §25e liability, not punishment. Reinstatement is almost always available once the seller produces valid registration documents. The cost of the freeze, however, is the cashflow gap during the dispute window plus any seasonality the seller misses while listings are down.

How joint-and-several liability actually plays out

In theory, the Finanzamt could come for Amazon's tax instead of the seller's. In practice, this almost never happens because Amazon's §22f hygiene is good enough to insulate it from liability in routine cases, and even when liability does attach to the marketplace, Amazon recovers from the seller. That recovery takes one of two paths:

Either way, the seller's primary liability under German VAT law is unchanged. The Finanzamt still has the seller's case open, the seller still has a Steuernummer (or needs one), and the underlying returns still need to be filed.

The retroactive-assessment cycle

Most foreign sellers learn about §25e the day they receive a Schätzbescheid for periods they didn't know they had a German VAT obligation for. The cycle works like this:

  1. Seller starts shipping to Germany via Pan-EU FBA. Inventory lands in a German node.
  2. Registration obligation triggers from the first stored unit (§3 UStG, no threshold).
  3. Seller does not register. Continues selling.
  4. Amazon's §22f sweep flags the seller. Listings are deactivated.
  5. Seller scrambles to register. The Steuernummer is issued, perhaps after weeks of back-and-forth.
  6. Meanwhile, Amazon reports the seller's historical transactions under §22f to the Finanzamt.
  7. The Finanzamt issues a Schätzbescheid for each unregistered year, often two to four years deep.
  8. The one-month Einspruch clock under §§ 347 ff. AO starts running on each Bescheid.

The defence is substantive: Amazon's report includes cross-border shipments and B2B reverse-charge transactions that are not part of the German-taxable base. Reconstructing the correct taxable portion from transaction-level reports is the bulk of the work in a §25e case, and it is normally cheaper to do once with a qualified Steuerberater than to fight period-by-period after the assessments become final.

For the procedural rules around the Einspruch and the appeal-window mechanics, see our guide on the Schätzbescheid for foreign sellers. For penalty and interest calculations that sit inside or alongside the Bescheid, see our penalties and late-filing guide.

Marketplaces in scope

§§ 22f and 25e apply to any electronic marketplace that facilitates German-taxable supplies. The active list in 2026 includes:

Sellers active on multiple marketplaces should expect §22f sweeps to be roughly synchronised. If Amazon de-lists, eBay and Otto will usually pick up the same compliance issue within weeks.

What to do if a marketplace has already flagged your account

The order of operations is usually:

  1. Register for German VAT immediately, if you have not already. Most marketplaces need proof of registration to reinstate listings. The current Steuernummer assignment for foreign sellers depends on country of origin; see our registration page for the correct Finanzamt routing.
  2. Pull your transaction-level marketplace data for the affected period. For Amazon, this is the Amazon Sales Tax Report plus the Inventory Event Detail report. For eBay, the Sales History download. The reports identify the German-taxable subset.
  3. Reconstruct and file the missing returns via a licensed Steuerberater. The return must reflect the correct German-taxable portion, not the total Amazon report.
  4. Defend against any Schätzbescheid that has already issued, with a formal Einspruch within the one-month §§ 347 ff. AO window. If payment suspension is required, file an Antrag auf Aussetzung der Vollziehung under §361 AO alongside the Einspruch.
  5. Get the platform back on. With registration in place and Bescheinigung in §22f-acceptable format, the marketplace's compliance team usually reinstates within days.

If you've received a Schätzbescheid already, our Finanzamt letter intake returns a fixed-price quote within 1-2 business days. No payment required to ask.

Frequently asked questions

Does §25e apply to non-EU sellers?

Yes. The country where the seller is established does not matter. What matters is whether the sale is German-taxable. A US, UK, Chinese or Swiss seller storing inventory in a German Amazon FBA centre is in scope, the same as any EU-based seller.

Can Amazon back-date my listing deactivation?

Yes. Amazon will sometimes deactivate a seller retroactively to the date it considers the seller to have been VAT-non-compliant. The platform's compliance team treats §25e liability as a date-of-knowledge issue, and Amazon protects itself by treating the seller as non-compliant from the earliest documentable point.

If Amazon paid the VAT under §25e, do I still owe it?

Yes. Joint-and-several liability under §25e does not extinguish the seller's primary liability. If Amazon pays under §25e, Amazon will recover from the seller, either by debiting the seller's payouts or pursuing the seller directly. The seller remains the legally responsible taxpayer for the original transactions.

How far back can the Finanzamt assess my VAT?

The standard German limitation period for tax assessments is four years under §169 AO, extended to five years for negligent under-reporting and ten years for tax evasion. Most marketplace-driven retroactive assessments target periods from 2022 onward, but four-year reach-backs to 2021 or earlier are routine for sellers who were active and unregistered.

What's the difference between §22f and §25e?

§22f UStG is the reporting rule: marketplaces must collect and verify seller VAT registration data, and report seller transaction data to the German tax authorities on request. §25e UStG is the liability backstop: if a marketplace fails to do that and a seller's German VAT goes unpaid, the marketplace itself is jointly liable. Same regime, two sections, working together.

Which marketplaces are in scope?

Any electronic marketplace that facilitates supplies of goods or services taxable in Germany: Amazon (FBA, FBM, and Pan-EU), eBay, Otto, Kaufland, Etsy, Zalando partner programme, TikTok Shop, and B2B platforms with German taxable sales. Each operates a slightly different compliance posture but all are subject to §22f reporting and §25e liability.

What should I do if Amazon has already flagged my account?

Register for German VAT immediately (the platform usually needs proof of registration to reinstate the listings), reconstruct the missing returns using your transaction-level marketplace data, file the corrected returns, and prepare to defend the German-taxable portion of Amazon's report. If the Finanzamt has already issued a Schätzbescheid, the one-month Einspruch clock is running under §§ 347 ff. AO.

Stay compliant, stay informed

Get notified when we publish new guides on German VAT compliance, deadlines, and regulatory changes.