L'expansion allemande, pilotée par un cabinet bilingue.
Selling on Amazon.de, using a German 3PL, or shipping DTC to German consumers? We register your French company for German VAT and file every month, with the only firm that holds both qualifications, in English, German, and French.
The short version
French 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, or make specific German-located service supplies.
France has access to OSS via DGFiP 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.
French companies are processed by Finanzamt Offenburg (Baden-Württemberg, near the French border). Typical timeline: 4–8 weeks. No fiscal representative required (contrast: France requires one for non-EU sellers). Typical 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 three most common profiles. If one of these sounds like you, registration is almost certainly mandatory.
French Amazon sellers in Pan-EU FBA where Amazon routes inventory into German warehouses (Bad Hersfeld, Rheinberg, Leipzig). The moment your stock crosses into Germany, registration is mandatory. Amazon will request your DE USt-IdNr. or threaten listing suspension.
Shopify, WooCommerce, and DTC brands shipping cross-border from a French warehouse to German consumers. Once you cross €10,000 EU-wide annual B2C, OSS is mandatory, and if you graduate to a German 3PL for faster delivery, you also need local DE registration.
French SaaS and digital-service companies with German B2B contracts where the customer expects a real DE-prefixed USt-IdNr. on invoices, or where reverse-charge doesn't cleanly apply to your service mix.
Le Pourquoi · Why us
Most German tax firms don't speak French. Most French firms don't file German VAT returns. Vaytax is built on a Franco-German firm that does both, natively, since 1993.
Agile and competent, the team supports our growth.Antoine Aslanides CEO, Hynamics (EDF Group)
FRADECO client testimonial · Source
Germany is France's largest trading partner, and French SMEs, particularly in food, wine, cosmetics, fashion, and specialty retail, have natural expansion paths into the German consumer market. Three main triggers for German VAT registration:
This is the single most misunderstood point for French sellers. France requires non-EU companies to appoint a représentant fiscal (fiscal representative) for French VAT registration in many scenarios, a costly obligation. Germany does not. Neither for EU nor non-EU sellers, for standard VAT compliance.
| France (DGFiP) | Germany (Finanzamt) | |
|---|---|---|
| Fiscal rep for non-EU sellers? | Yes, mandatory for many non-EU regimes | No, tax advisor is sufficient |
| Fiscal rep for EU sellers (incl. FR companies)? | Not generally | No, direct registration via tax advisor |
| Typical fiscal-rep cost | €1,500–€3,500/year | €0 (none required) |
If a provider quotes French sellers a separate fiscal-rep fee for German VAT, it has no legal basis for standard VAT compliance. See our fiscal representation guide.
| French seller setup | OSS (via DGFiP)? | Local DE registration? |
|---|---|---|
| Ship from FR only, direct B2C to DE | Yes (if >€10k EU-wide) | No |
| Amazon FBA FR only | Yes | No |
| Amazon Pan-EU FBA (inventory in DE) | For FR-sourced sales | Yes (for DE-sourced sales) |
| French 3PL with German warehouse | Where applicable | Yes (for DE-sourced sales) |
| B2B sales to German businesses | No | Usually not required |
The hybrid case: Pan-EU FBA sellers need both French OSS (for sales originating from FR-located inventory to other EU countries including DE) AND local German registration (for sales originating from DE-located inventory). Vaytax handles the German side; your French expert-comptable handles OSS. We coordinate.
French companies registering for German VAT are traditionally assigned to Finanzamt Offenburg, located in Baden-Württemberg just across the Rhine from Strasbourg. The proximity to the French border and decades of cross-border trade make this the designated office for FR-DE VAT matters.
What Finanzamt Offenburg requires:
As EU member-state documents, French corporate records are accepted without Apostille or sworn translation, notably faster than US, UK (post-Brexit), or Chinese registrations.
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, in exchange for a refundable 1/11 deposit of prior-year VAT liability.
If you crossed the German storage or sales threshold months ago and only just realised the obligation: we file the missing UStVAs retroactively at €89 per past return, charged once at signup. Pick the first period you need us to file when you register; we catch 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. Bilingual support. Pairs cleanly with your French expert-comptable. 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, whether OSS covers you, and what it costs, in plain English. No account, no obligation.
German expansion. Properly filed.
German VAT registration, monthly filing, and the annual return, handled end to end by a Franco-German firm that is both tax advisor and Expert-Comptable. Bilingual support, one fixed price. Reviewed June 2026 by a licensed German tax advisor.
Start registration