Amazon issued an advisory to European sellers about Germany’s decision to temporary lower its value added tax (VAT).
According to Law 360, Germany’s government hopes the temporary reduction “will entice consumers to make purchases as businesses reopen from forced shutdowns in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.”
The Amazon announcement follows:
Information about price adjustments related to reduced value added tax in Germany from July 1, 2020
We would like to remind you that the German Government decided to temporarily reduce the value added tax (VAT) from July 1, 2020 until December 31, 2020. The German tax rates will change from
- 19% to 16% (regular VAT rate)
- 7% to 5% (reduced VAT rate)
It is the aim of the German Government that retailers pass on the reduction to customers through lower prices. VAT reduction will not be automatically applied for your prices on Amazon, since uploaded prices are gross prices (tax inclusive). To lower your prices, you can use various tools in Seller Central*:
- Use the Manage Inventory or Manage Pricing page to update prices manually
- In your catalogue using Inventory Files for bulk uploads
- If you are using an API, update prices through Feed Files or your integrator solution
*Please note that for Books, the Fixed Books Price (FBP) still applies.
For Frequently Asked Questions about Selling on Amazon related to the VAT reduction, visit our Help Page here.
You can find the announcement on Amazon Seller Central Europe.
Update 7/1/2020: See related post on Wortfilter.de: “Amazon charges incorrect sales tax,” by Mark Steier (July 1, 2020)
