Does your setup need German VAT?
Generic guides explain rules. These pages answer setups: entity country, where the stock sits, which channel sells. Each one opens with the verdict, then shows the why and the what-next. Built from the questions real sellers send us.
US LLC selling on Amazon.de with FBA stock in Germany
Storage in a German warehouse triggers registration from the first unit. Amazon remits VAT on marketplace B2C sales, but the filings stay yours.
Registration requiredUK Ltd with FBA stock in Germany after Brexit
Third-country rules since Brexit: registration from the first stored unit, plus an EU EORI if you import. Hannover-Nord handles all UK companies.
Registration requiredHong Kong company launching on Amazon.de
Registration before the first shipment, Berlin International as your tax office, and a document set built around the HK Business Registration Certificate.
Registration requiredAmazon or TikTok already collects German VAT. Register anyway?
Deemed-supplier collection covers B2C marketplace orders only. German stock still means registration, filings and a USt-IdNr the platform itself demands.
No German registration neededEU company shipping B2C to Germany, no German stock
The honest answer: you usually do NOT need a German registration. OSS through your home country covers it, until stock crosses the border.
Registration requiredJoining Amazon Pan-EU FBA: which VAT registrations?
One registration per storage country, OSS for the cross-border B2C layer. Germany is usually first; Poland and Czechia follow fast.
Registration requiredNon-EU Shopify store fulfilled by a German 3PL
No marketplace, no deemed supplier: every German sale is yours to tax from the first order. Registration plus OSS for the rest of the EU.
It dependsDropshipping from China to German customers, no EU stock
The answer hangs on one contract line: who is the importer of record. Customer imports: usually no German VAT for you. You import (DDP): registration.
It dependsSwiss company shipping to German customers from Switzerland
Every parcel crosses a customs border. DDP shippers and anyone with German stock register; Konstanz is the dedicated tax office.
Registration requiredForeign-owned UK Ltd (or US LLC): whose rules apply?
The company's establishment decides everything; the owner's passport decides nothing. A Turkish-run UK Ltd is a UK company to the Finanzamt.
Your setup is missing
These ten cover the setups we see most. If yours differs (multi-entity structures, services instead of goods, consignment models, B2B chains with installation), two routes: the free check asks eight questions and tells you whether a German obligation exists, or you describe the setup in two sentences and a licensed German tax advisor answers in writing.
We add scenarios as real ones recur. If your case feels like it belongs here, sending it in writing is the fastest way to get it answered and, eventually, published for the next seller in your position.
Eight questions. Straight verdict.
The free check covers stock location, channels and entity country, and tells you whether German VAT registration applies to you.
Run the free check Licensed German tax advisor · English throughout · No calls required