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Determining whether your business needs a German VAT number (Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer) depends on several factors: where your business is based, what you sell, how you sell it, and whether you store goods in Germany.
If you sell physical products to German consumers and your total EU-wide cross-border B2C sales exceed the EUR 10,000 threshold, you must either register for VAT in each destination country or use the EU One-Stop-Shop (OSS) scheme. However, if you store inventory in Germany, for example through Amazon FBA or a third-party logistics warehouse, you need a local German VAT registration regardless of revenue.
Businesses selling digital services, apps, or SaaS to German consumers can typically use the OSS scheme for B2C sales. B2B sales are generally handled via the reverse-charge mechanism and don't require local registration. The key question is whether your sales are B2C, B2B, or a mix of both.
Companies based outside the EU, in the UK (post-Brexit), the US, China, or elsewhere, face different rules. Non-EU sellers storing goods in Germany generally need to register for German VAT (a tax agent is enough, no fiscal representative is required for standard filing). The Union OSS scheme has two routes in: an EU establishment, or EU-stored stock, so a non-EU seller dispatching from a German warehouse uses Germany as its member state of identification and can file Union OSS through Germany for its EU-wide B2C sales, alongside that German registration.
The EU One-Stop-Shop simplifies VAT for cross-border B2C sales within the EU. It lets you file a single quarterly return in your home EU country to cover all EU member states. It works well for digital services and distance sales of goods, but it does not cover scenarios where you have a fixed establishment or warehouse in Germany.