What are the tax and packaging law compliance matters on Amazon's German site

@亚马逊德国站卖家: Reminder of tax and packaging law compliance matters!

August 5, 2022

If you want to sell in compliance on the German site, there are two important things that need your special attention recently.

01
Tax compliance

First, in terms of tax compliance, you need to comply with German VAT regulations, in addition to ensuring the validity of VAT. As required by the German Tax Office, you also need to ensure that your Seller Central address matches the tax office. Recently, many sellers at German sites have received a performance notice from Amazon “[URGENT] UPDATE YOUR COMPANY NAME OR TAX ADDRESS TO COMPLY WITH THE NEW GERMAN VAT REGULATIONS”, requiring sellers to keep the company name/address on the VAT certificate consistent with the information on Amazon Seller Central.

1.1 Background

🔍 Why do I need to keep my company name/tax address consistent?

The new German VAT law requires the sales partner's company name and tax address on the “Tax Settings” page in Seller Central to match the data in the German Federal Central Tax Office database. This means that the company name and address corresponding to the VAT number you uploaded must match the company name and address on Amazon Seller Central.

🔍 Where can I find my company name/tax address?

You should compare the name and address shown on the VAT registration confirmation (Bescheid über die Erteilung einer Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer) received from the German tax authority with the information you provided on Seller Central.

1.2 Where should I resolve the issue?

🔍 If you find incorrect information in your VAT confirmation:

You can contact the appropriate German tax authority or your tax agent to provide updated information. After revising the details, please attach the confirmation letter from the tax authority and provide relevant supporting documents at 并通过de-vat-number-appeals@amazon.com (English is recommended). If your changes are in progress and haven't yet taken effect, you can also report the status of your current changes to the Amazon team to avoid affecting the status of your account.

🔍 If you have found incorrect information in Amazon Seller Central:

You can update your details by following the instructions below. Please note that updating your company and contact information from the identity page may trigger the account verification process, which may require further documentation.
You can check out the help page for more details on keeping your account details up to date by clicking on this link

Remember

When sending an email, be sure to use your Amazon registered email address and indicate your seller ID, preferably with your VAT certificate.

1.3 How do I update my name or address in Amazon Seller Central?

Please make sure to modify only the incorrect information; this error message may just be a name or just an address.

🔍 For names that don't match:

① Click on this link to access the “Business and Contact Information” tab from your identity

② Click “Click to provide information” next to the name of the legal entity so that you can update the legal business name;

③ After making changes, click “Save” below and then “Submit for Verification” at the top;

④ 发送电子邮件至de-vat-number-appeals@amazon.com confirm your changes (English is recommended) and attach a screenshot of the completed revisions. Note that this is required to confirm that you have taken the appropriate action.

🔍 For address mismatches:

① Click this link to review your tax settings;

② Click the “Edit” button next to the associated VAT number;

③ In the pop-up window, select the correct address or enter a new one;

Note that if the correct tax address doesn't exist in your popup window, you must click this link, make changes in “Company and Contact Information,” and when you're done, go back to your tax settings and select your registered business address in the pop-up window.

④ Send an email to 向de-vat-number-appeals@amazon.com (English recommended) with a screenshot of the new address in the tax settings (see point 1). Note that this is required to confirm that you have taken the appropriate action.

tips

The Amazon team will verify your new details within 2-3 business days of receiving your email.

1.4 What if I confirm that my information matches?

If you confirm that your data matches, or if your tax certificate address was shortened due to the IRS character restrictions and did not match the Amazon Seller Central information, 请发送电子邮件至de-vat-number-appeals@amazon.com, explain your situation and attach evidence (including but not limited to the IRS's communication with you, screenshots of the tax certificate, etc.) for further investigation by the Amazon team.

1.5 I am a sole proprietor

If your VAT number is issued to an individual in a sole proprietorship, you will need to change the company name in the company information field to the name written on the VAT certificate, or add the name of the person holding the VAT number (for example: Zhang San of Amazon Ltd.) to the company name.

1.6 More information

Please refer to this help page for more information on German tax obligations by following this link

02
EPR compliance

In addition to complying with German tax requirements, you need to pay attention to the fulfillment of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) related obligations. If your product is subject to mandatory action by Amazon due to non-compliance with German packaging laws, please refer to the following to reinstate the product that took action.

2.1 Introduction to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

*For more information, please click this link to view the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) training page

As of July 1, 2022, if you sell products in the packaging category in Germany, including primary packaging (that is, product packaging) and secondary packaging (that is, delivery packaging), Amazon will be obligated to suspend your listing of non-compliant products in that EPR product category.

2.2 Recovery process for products subject to mandatory measures due to the Extended Producer Responsibility Act (EPR)

Once your product has been enforced, you will receive a standard notification informing you that there is a problem with the product. The email will direct you to the repaired product page to view all of its affected products. There is a “Request Approval” button on the page that will direct you to the Seller Qualification (SQ) login page, where you will be directed to the Extended Producer Responsibility Compliance portal and provide your registration number to restore the affected products.

Once your registration number has been uploaded and verified (estimated 5 business days), you will still need to relaunch the affected products yourself, and Amazon cannot automatically launch the products for you.

Click this link to view the updated relaunch guidance in the Extended Producer Responsibility help page.

Product recovery process reference

● Step 1/

Go to the Remediated Products page

① Select Inventory > Manage Amazon Inventory;

② Click “Displaying search results and products that are not currently on sale”;

③ This will take you to the repaired product page provided in the email notification, where you can click the “Request Approval” button for the corresponding product;

④ You will be directed to the sales application page to check the application status.

Note that you can also go directly to the sales application workflow from here: select Catalog > View Sales Requests.

● Step 2/

Please also click this link to go to the Extended Producer Responsibility Compliance Portal to upload your registration number and wait for verification.

Please note that once the registration number has been verified, it will appear in the Extended Producer Responsibility Compliance portal as follows:

● Step 3/

After the registration number has been verified, you are still required to independently relaunch the affected products to complete the product restoration process.

For instructions on relaunching, please refer to the Extended Producer Responsibility help page by clicking on this link.