US LLC, Amazon FBA, stock in a German warehouse. Do we need German VAT?
Your company is registered in the US, you sell on amazon.de, and Amazon places your inventory in a German fulfilment centre. This is the single most common setup we register.
Yes. Registration is required from the first unit stored.
Holding inventory in a German warehouse makes you a taxable person in Germany with no turnover threshold. The obligation starts when the first unit arrives, not when you hit a revenue level. Amazon will also demand a valid German USt-IdNr and blocks or suspends listings without it (§ 25e UStG makes the marketplace liable for your unpaid VAT, so it enforces aggressively).
What surprises most US sellers: since July 2021 Amazon itself remits the German VAT on your B2C marketplace sales as the deemed supplier (§ 3 (3a) UStG). You still register and file, because your inventory movements, the tax-exempt deemed supplies to Amazon, any B2B sales and any off-Amazon sales all have to be declared by you.
Why storage beats turnover
German VAT law ties the obligation to where the goods are when sold, not to where your company sits. Goods dispatched from a German fulfilment centre are supplied in Germany (§ 3 UStG place-of-supply rules), so a US LLC with FBA stock in Germany is treated like any German supplier from the first sale. The €10,000 EU distance-selling threshold does not apply to you; it only covers EU-established sellers shipping across borders from their home country.
US companies are handled by a single dedicated tax office: Finanzamt Bonn-Innenstadt processes every US-established VAT registration under the UStZustV routing regulation. Typical wait for a Steuernummer in 2026: about 4 to 8 weeks from a complete application.
Amazon remits some of it. You file all of it.
On B2C sales made through amazon.de, Amazon is the deemed supplier: legally you sell to Amazon (tax-exempt under § 4 Nr. 4c UStG) and Amazon sells to the customer and remits the 19% or 7%. On everything else, the VAT is yours to charge and pay: B2B sales with a German VAT invoice, sales through your own Shopify or website from the same German stock, and any sales channels outside the marketplace rules.
Your monthly Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung still reports all of it: the exempt deemed supplies, your own taxable sales, intra-Community movements when Amazon shifts your stock between EU warehouses, and the input VAT you reclaim on German costs such as import VAT, storage fees and returns handling.
From zero to filing in four steps
- Gather the US documents. Certificate of formation or incorporation, EIN confirmation, passport of the managing member, and a Vollmacht (power of attorney) signed by hand. Our per-country checklist covers the exact set.
- Register before the stock lands. The Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung goes to Finanzamt Bonn-Innenstadt. Filing it before inventory arrives keeps you clean; filing late means catching up on back returns (we handle those too, at €79 per past month).
- Give Amazon the numbers. Once the Steuernummer and USt-IdNr arrive, they go into Seller Central. That clears the § 25e compliance flag and keeps your listings live.
- File monthly from then on. With Vaytax that is €1,199 per year all-in: German VAT registration, all monthly filings and the annual return, billed yearly starting at signup. If you already hold a German Steuernummer, filings are €79 per month (or €853 per year) once you already hold a German Steuernummer.
Registering a US company is our daily bread.
Answer the registration questions once, sign the power of attorney, and a licensed German tax advisor files everything with Finanzamt Bonn-Innenstadt. You never write to the Finanzamt yourself.
Start the registration Licensed German tax advisor · English throughout · No calls requiredAsked about this setup
Because the deemed-supplier rule only covers B2C sales made through the marketplace. Your stock movements, B2B invoices, off-marketplace sales and input-VAT refunds are outside it, and Amazon itself requires a valid German USt-IdNr under § 25e UStG to keep you selling. Registration and monthly filings remain your obligation.
No. Germany looks at where the company is established (the US) and where the goods are (Germany). Every US state routes to the same office, Finanzamt Bonn-Innenstadt, with the same document set.
No. Germany does not require fiscal representation for standard VAT compliance. You register directly and can appoint a licensed German tax advisor to handle filings and Finanzamt post. No bank guarantee or bond is involved.
Then you register now and file the missed months retroactively. Voluntary catch-up before the Finanzamt writes to you is dramatically cheaper: late-filing surcharges can reach 10% per return and estimates (Schätzbescheide) run high. We file back returns at €79 per month alongside the registration.
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