Amazon One Stop Shop (OSS): What is it and how does it affect your e-commerce?
Selling on Amazon to customers in other EU countries changes which VAT you charge and where you declare it. A mistake with a warehouse or a threshold can end in surcharges and penalties from the tax authorities.
The One Stop Shop (OSS) is the EU scheme that, since 1 July 2021, lets you declare in your own country the VAT on sales to consumers in other Member States. If you sell on Amazon from a warehouse in your own country, it works for you; if you use Pan-European FBA, you need a VAT registration in every country where your stock is stored.
Key points
- The €10,000 threshold is a single figure for the whole EU and adds up all your distance sales to consumers in other countries; it is not counted country by country.
- Above the threshold you charge the VAT of the buyer’s country, and the One Stop Shop lets you declare all of it in a single quarterly return with your own tax authority.
- A sale that leaves an Amazon warehouse and is delivered to a customer in the same country is a domestic sale: it does not go through OSS and requires a VAT number in that country if it is not your own.
- With Amazon’s Pan-European FBA programme, moving your own stock between countries also means registering for VAT in each country where it is stored.
- With the same retail price on every marketplace, destination VAT changes what you take from each sale, so the margin has to be calculated country by country.
What is the One Stop Shop (OSS)?
The One Stop Shop, or OSS, is a special EU VAT scheme designed to simplify the taxation of e-commerce. It came out of the e-commerce VAT reform approved in Directive (EU) 2017/2455 and has applied since 1 July 2021. The European Commission runs an official One Stop Shop portal with the rules for each country.
The general rule is simple: once your distance sales to consumers in other EU countries exceed the common EU annual threshold, VAT is due in the country where the goods arrive. The threshold refers to sales to private individuals; sales to businesses with an intra-Community VAT number follow a different regime.
The advantage of OSS is that you do not have to register in every country. A business established in an EU country files a single return with its own tax authority, covering the VAT of every destination country, and that authority passes the money on to each Member State. In Spain, for example, registration is done with form 035 and, under the Union scheme, a quarterly return on form 369 (in Spanish) is filed during the month after the end of each quarter.
The condition that matters most to Amazon sellers is that the country the goods leave from and the buyer’s country are different. If your business is in Spain but you hold stock in Germany and sell to German customers from there, that sale is no longer a distance sale: it is a German domestic sale.
Which VAT do you charge in each case?
The VAT you charge depends on where the product is delivered, not on where the buyer lives or on the marketplace where the order was placed. The four cases below are examples for a seller established in Spain who sells to private individuals. Examples 1 and 2 assume you have already passed the threshold; in examples 3 and 4 there is no threshold because the stock is outside Spain.
| Case | Ships from | Delivered to | Goes through OSS? | VAT you charge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example 1: German buyer | Your warehouse in Spain | Germany | Yes | German VAT (19%), paid through the Spanish tax authority (OSS) |
| Example 2: Polish buyer who receives the order in France | Your warehouse in Spain | France | Yes | French VAT (20%), paid through the Spanish tax authority (OSS) |
| Example 3: stock in an Amazon FBA warehouse in Germany | Germany | Germany | No, it is a domestic sale | German VAT (19%), declared in Germany with a German VAT number |
| Example 4: stock with Amazon in Germany, French customer | Germany | France | Yes, it is a distance sale | French VAT (20%), declared through OSS from Spain |
The rates in the table are each country’s standard rates. Some products carry reduced rates, and the applicable rate is always the destination country’s rate for that product.
As long as you ship the goods from your own country, you do not need a VAT number in every European country you sell to. Registering in the destination country is only compulsory when you hold stock there, as in example 3 with Amazon FBA and its storage in other countries. In that case you must be registered for VAT in Germany and pay the German tax authority directly.
The three One Stop Shop schemes
The One Stop Shop has three schemes, and each covers a type of seller and transaction. For an Amazon seller established in the EU, the one that matters is the Union scheme.
| Scheme | Who uses it | Which transactions it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Union scheme | Businesses established in the EU (and non-EU sellers for sales of goods within the EU) | Intra-EU distance sales of goods to consumers and services to consumers in another Member State |
| Non-Union scheme | Businesses not established in the EU | Services supplied to consumers in any Member State |
| Import scheme (IOSS) | Sellers and intermediaries importing goods from outside the EU | Distance sales of imported goods in consignments worth no more than €150 |
The €150 limit of the import scheme matches the customs duty exemption for low-value consignments, which the EU has abolished. From 1 July 2026, as a temporary measure until 1 July 2028 unless extended, a flat customs duty of €3 per item category applies to parcels worth less than €150 sent to consumers in the EU.
How does OSS affect you if you sell through Amazon?
Since 1 July 2021 the old per-country thresholds of €35,000 or €100,000 no longer apply. They were replaced by a single €10,000 net threshold for the EU as a whole. The threshold adds up distance sales to consumers in all the other EU countries, for the current year and the previous one.
Below that amount you can charge your own country’s VAT (in Spain, the 21% standard rate or the reduced rate that applies) on all your sales to other countries, although you can also choose to apply destination VAT straight away. As soon as a sale takes you over the threshold, that sale and every one after it are taxed in the destination country.
The threshold only exists if your business is established in a single EU country and you ship from that same country. If Amazon ships your products from warehouses in several countries, there is no threshold: from the first euro you charge the buyer’s country’s VAT on every distance sale.
To simplify the process, OSS lets you pay the VAT on all those sales through the One Stop Shop of your country of residence, without registering in each destination country.
Amazon’s Pan-European programme and domestic sales
Amazon’s Pan-European FBA programme was created to sell across Europe quickly and at low cost. Amazon stores your products in its fulfilment centres in several EU countries and ships each order from the one closest to the customer, which shortens delivery times.
The downside of the Pan-European programme is that many orders leave from a warehouse in the same country where they are delivered. That transaction counts as a domestic sale and cannot go through the One Stop Shop.
Domestic sales follow the usual process: you register for VAT in that country and pay its national VAT there on the corresponding return. The difference between the two types of sale is this:
| Type of sale | What defines it | Example | How VAT is declared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic sale | The product leaves from and is delivered in the same country | Leaves a warehouse in Germany and reaches a customer in Germany | On that country’s national return, with your own VAT number there |
| Distance sale | The country of storage and the country of destination are different | Leaves Spain and reaches a customer in Germany | Through OSS, with the destination country’s VAT |
To know exactly how the rules affect you, the starting point is where your warehouse is.
Warehouses in the same country as your business
If you sell within the EU but only use warehouses in your own country, you have no domestic sales in other countries. If you pass the threshold, or choose to apply destination VAT from the start, you have to charge the buyer’s country’s VAT; the One Stop Shop (OSS) is the voluntary way to declare it without registering in each country. This situation includes using Amazon FBA with warehouses in your own country only.
Amazon warehouses outside your country
If you use Amazon fulfilment centres outside your country, every sale delivered within the country where the product is stored is a domestic sale. For each of those countries you need a VAT number, must apply local VAT and must file its periodic returns there.
Moving your own stock from your country to a warehouse in another country also has tax consequences. It is treated as an intra-Community supply at origin and an intra-Community acquisition at destination, so you need to be on the register of intra-Community operators and report those movements in both countries. In Spain, that means being on the Registro de Operadores Intracomunitarios (ROI) and filing form 349; in the destination country, they are declared as an intra-Community acquisition.
Sales that leave that foreign warehouse for a third country can go through OSS. An order shipped from Germany to a customer in France is a distance sale and is declared through your home country’s One Stop Shop with French VAT.
What if the seller is outside the European Union?
When the seller is not established in the EU, Amazon becomes liable for the VAT on many sales to consumers. The rules treat the marketplace as a ‘deemed supplier’: Amazon charges the VAT of the relevant country and pays it to each tax authority.
A typical example is a US LLC selling to private individuals in the EU with stock in Amazon warehouses in Europe, or with imported consignments of up to €150. In those cases the transaction is split into two supplies: the LLC sells to Amazon, a VAT-exempt business-to-business supply that must be invoiced under the rules of the country where the goods are, and Amazon sells to the consumer. The registration obligations the LLC keeps for importing or storing its stock are worth reviewing with an adviser.
How does each country’s VAT affect your price on Amazon?
Destination VAT changes what you keep from each sale, even when the customer pays the same. Amazon shows consumers VAT-inclusive prices, so with the same retail price on several marketplaces, the net amount you receive varies with each country’s rate.
The example uses a product priced at €121 including VAT, a cost of €60 and an assumed commission of 15% on the VAT-inclusive price, that is, €18.15. Amazon calculates the referral fee on the total price paid by the buyer, including VAT and delivery, and the percentage depends on the category. The margin is the price excluding VAT minus the cost and the commission.
| Country of delivery | Standard VAT rate | Price excluding VAT | VAT paid | Margin per unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | 19% | €101.68 | €19.32 | €23.53 |
| France | 20% | €100.83 | €20.17 | €22.68 |
| Spain | 21% | €100.00 | €21.00 | €21.85 |
| Italy | 22% | €99.18 | €21.82 | €21.03 |
At the same price of €121, selling in Germany leaves €2.50 more margin per unit than selling in Italy. On a product with tight margins, that gap decides whether a price cut to compete is profitable in one country and ruinous in another. The relationship between the two prices is explained in detail in the difference between net price and gross price.
The practical consequence is to set each product’s minimum price per marketplace, starting from the net price excluding VAT rather than the retail price. If you compete on several Amazon marketplaces, an Amazon price optimiser or dynamic pricing software lets you apply a different floor in each one.
How to avoid penalties from the tax authorities when selling on Amazon
To sell on Amazon safely, the first step is good advice. A tax adviser with experience in international e-commerce can study your case and tell you which countries you need to register in.
The review comes down to a short list of checks, in this order:
- Add up your distance sales to consumers in other EU countries for the current year and the previous one, and compare them with the threshold.
- Check in Seller Central which countries Amazon stores your inventory in, especially if you have Pan-European FBA switched on.
- Apply for a VAT number in every country where you hold stock before sending goods there.
- Make sure you are on the register of intra-Community operators if you move stock or sell to businesses in other countries.
- If you pass the threshold or prefer to apply destination VAT from the first sale, decide whether to declare that VAT through the One Stop Shop (OSS), which is voluntary, or by registering in each destination country.
- Upload your VAT numbers to Seller Central so that Amazon’s invoices and reports show the correct VAT.
Any mistake in this process, such as selling from a foreign warehouse without a local VAT number, can lead to surcharges and penalties from that country’s tax authority and, if it leaves your returns at home incorrect (in Spain, form 349 and the ROI), from your own tax authority as well.
There is another way to drop much of this work: selling to Amazon instead of selling on Amazon. Under the Vendor model you invoice Amazon as a business and Amazon sells to the end consumer, so the distance sales to consumers are no longer yours and what you invoice is a business-to-business sale. The difference between Amazon Seller and Amazon Vendor goes well beyond VAT, because you give up control of the price, and it does not always pay off.
Tax is only one part of expanding across Europe. Language, returns, customer service and logistics also count, and they are covered in the requirements for taking your e-commerce international.
Frequently asked questions about OSS and VAT on Amazon
Is the €10,000 threshold per country?
No. It is a single threshold for the whole EU and adds up distance sales to consumers in all the other Member States. The system before July 2021 did have per-country thresholds, of €35,000 or €100,000.
Do I have to register for OSS if I do not reach €10,000?
It is not compulsory. Below the threshold you can charge your own country’s VAT on sales to other countries. If you pass the threshold or ship from warehouses in more than one country, you have to charge the destination country’s VAT. The One Stop Shop is the voluntary way to declare it without registering in each country.
Does the One Stop Shop cover sales to businesses?
No. OSS covers sales to end consumers. A sale to a business in another EU country with a valid VAT number in the VIES system is an exempt intra-Community supply, and the buying business accounts for the VAT in its own country.
Can I deduct input VAT on the OSS return?
No. The One Stop Shop return only includes output VAT. The VAT you pay in other countries is recovered through the refund procedure for non-established businesses, or on the national return of the country where you are registered.
Will the One Stop Shop change in the coming years?
Yes. The EU’s ‘VAT in the Digital Age’ (ViDA) package, adopted by the Council of the EU in March 2025, extends the One Stop Shops so that businesses do not have to register for VAT in every Member State where they operate, and digitalises, by 2030 at the latest, VAT reporting on business-to-business sales between countries. It is worth reviewing your position with an adviser whenever you change warehouse or market.
How do you protect your Amazon margin when VAT changes from country to country?
To stop destination VAT from eating your margin, you need competitor prices per marketplace and a margin floor per product. Boardfy is a SaaS platform for competitor price monitoring and dynamic pricing for e-commerce, with direct price updates on Amazon, eBay, Google Shopping and Mirakl marketplaces.
- Boardfy calculates your margin from the product cost, deducting the marketplace commission, payment processing fees and any other costs you choose to allocate.
- Boardfy respects the minimum price or margin you set and never goes below it.
- Boardfy changes the price directly on Amazon and identifies which competitor holds the Buy Box, a volatile figure that can change at any moment.
Boardfy does not decide your strategy: it applies the rules you define. You can try Boardfy free for 7 days, no card required.
