Selling on Amazon Germany 2026: Taxes, Registration & FBA Compliance

Selling on Amazon Germany in 2026 is no longer a hobby setup. Under the Platform Tax Transparency Act (PStTG), Amazon now reports your sales directly to the Federal Central Tax Office; the small-business VAT threshold changed in 2025; and since January 2025, B2B sellers must be able to receive e-invoices. If you start without understanding trade registration, VAT and Amazon's FBA storage logic, the first letter from the Finanzamt will hurt. Here is what Amazon sellers in Germany really need to know.

In short

• A trade registration is mandatory. Amazon selling is always a Gewerbe, never a freier Beruf. Register at the Gewerbeamt (€20 to €65), then file the tax questionnaire via ELSTER.
• Amazon reports you. From €2,000 in annual revenue or 30 transactions, Amazon forwards your data automatically to the Federal Central Tax Office.
• Kleinunternemer costs you input VAT. If you invest heavily in stock and ads, standard VAT usually pays off from day one.
• FBA Pan-EU means several VAT numbers. Every storage country requires its own registration, and the OSS scheme does not cover it.

Hobby or business? The line is thin

Three signals turn Amazon sales into a commercial activity: intent to repeat, intent to profit, and outward market presence. Selling your old phone is private; sourcing inventory and reselling at a margin is business. Amazon reports every seller with more than €2,000 in annual revenue or more than 30 transactions to the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern automatically. Staying invisible is no longer an option.

Once two or three of these apply to you, registration is unavoidable. If in doubt, the Finanzamt reviews retroactively, and the PStTG report hands it the data for free.

Step by step: trade office and tax office

First, register at the Gewerbeamt (trade office). The fee is €20 to €65, and the appointment usually takes 15 minutes. Like selling on Etsy, Amazon selling is never a freier Beruf, it is always a Gewerbe. Within four weeks, file the tax registration questionnaire (Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung) via ELSTER. This is where you choose between Kleinunternehmer status and standard VAT and request your VAT ID (USt-IdNr) for cross-border EU sales.

The VAT ID is not an optional extra for Amazon selling. Amazon checks it as soon as you sell cross-border or use FBA in more than one country. Request it directly in the questionnaire; it usually arrives within two to three weeks.

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Kleinunternehmer or full VAT?

Since 2025, the small-business VAT exemption runs at €25,000 prior-year revenue and €100,000 current-year revenue. Tempting, since you skip VAT on invoices. But you also forfeit input-VAT recovery on inventory, packaging, Amazon fees and shipping. A seller spending €40,000 a year on stock leaves around €6,400 in input VAT on the table. For most sellers who invest seriously in inventory and PPC ads, standard VAT pays off from day one.

One more point: the moment you use FBA in other EU countries, Kleinunternehmer status quickly becomes impractical, because you charge regular VAT in the storage countries anyway. If you are aiming for Pan-EU from the start, choose standard VAT.

VAT in your Amazon workflow

Standard German VAT is 19 %; books and groceries are 7 %. Amazon issues a monthly settlement report, the basis for your VAT advance return (UStVA). The Finanzamt sets your filing rhythm by VAT liability: above €9,000 in annual VAT you file monthly, otherwise quarterly. The old rule forcing founders to file monthly is suspended through the end of 2026.

If you sell to Amazon Business buyers, Germany's e-invoicing rules apply. You must already be able to receive structured invoices (XRechnung, ZUGFeRD) and, over the coming years, issue them too.

The settlement report is the central bookkeeping source for Amazon selling. It bundles sales, fees, refunds and ad spend into one file. Sorting it by hand month after month burns hours. This is exactly where automated bookkeeping earns its keep.

FBA Pan-EU: the multi-country VAT problem

With FBA Pan-Europe, Amazon shifts your inventory between warehouses in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands to shorten delivery times. Each shift is a VAT-relevant intra-community movement, so you need a VAT registration in every storage country. The One-Stop-Shop (OSS) only helps with cross-border B2C sales above the €10,000 threshold and does not cover warehouse movements. Activating Pan-EU without preparing your VAT setup risks penalties in several countries at once.

The lead time is often underestimated: a foreign VAT registration takes eight to twelve weeks depending on the country. The number must be in place before Amazon stores your goods there. So never activate Pan-EU on a whim; plan the registrations several months ahead. If you ship only from Germany and sell cross-border to consumers, a single German registration plus OSS is enough.

Trade tax, income tax, EÜR

Sole proprietors get a €24,500 trade-tax allowance, and only profit above that is taxed at the municipality's multiplier (200 % to 580 %). The 2026 income-tax allowance (Grundfreibetrag) is €12,348. As long as your revenue stays below €800,000 and your profit below €80,000, a simple EÜR (cash-basis P&L) is enough. UG/GmbH sellers file a full GuV plus corporate and trade tax.

What you deduct as an Amazon seller

These line items belong in your expense ledger:

• Cost of goods and packaging
• Amazon selling, FBA and PPC fees
• Shipping and returns
• Accounting software and marketplace analytics tools
• Pro-rated internet, phone and home office
• Travel to suppliers and trade shows

Under standard VAT especially, it pays to record every item with a receipt: you recover the input VAT it contains through your advance return.

Common mistakes Amazon sellers make

• Registering too late. Reacting only after the first Finanzamt letter often means paying VAT retroactively plus surcharges.
• Activating Pan-EU without VAT registrations. The goods are already stored abroad before the numbers exist, which triggers late-filing penalties.
• Staying Kleinunternehmer despite heavy sourcing. The forfeited input VAT quickly exceeds the bureaucracy you saved.
• Not booking settlement reports as you go. At quarter end the receipts are missing and the numbers do not add up.

FAQ

Do I need a trade registration to sell on Amazon? Yes, as soon as you sell with the intent to repeat and profit. Amazon selling is always a Gewerbe, never freelance. Pure private sales from your own household stay exempt.

At what revenue does Amazon report me to the tax office? Under the Platform Tax Transparency Act, from €2,000 in annual revenue or more than 30 transactions. Amazon then forwards the data automatically to the Federal Central Tax Office.

Do I need a VAT ID for Amazon? For intra-community sales and FBA in multiple countries, yes. You request it directly in the tax registration questionnaire via ELSTER.

Is Kleinunternehmer status worth it for Amazon FBA? Usually not. Once you invest meaningfully in stock, packaging and ads, standard VAT's input-VAT recovery is worth more than the VAT paperwork you save.

Do I need several VAT numbers for FBA Pan-EU? Yes. Every country where Amazon stores your goods requires its own registration. The OSS scheme does not replace them; it only covers cross-border B2C sales.

How Norman helps Amazon sellers

Norman pulls your Amazon settlement reports straight into the books, categorises every fee automatically and generates your VAT advance return in one click. E-invoicing for Amazon Business customers runs as XRechnung or ZUGFeRD directly from the invoicing module, with no second tool required. Your annual tax return, EÜR and income tax included, becomes a few clicks.

Conclusion

Selling on Amazon Germany in 2026 only works clean if you plan trade registration, VAT and FBA storage logic from day one. Map your scaling path, including Pan-EU, OSS and multi-country VAT IDs, before you order your first container. Automated bookkeeping spares you from sorting settlement reports by hand every quarter.