Selling on Amazon

[Mike Hughes]

I'm with Panagiotis on this one. I'm paying VAT correctly on the sale, but not accounting for the Amazon invoice on the VAT return. And also, how do I put the Amazon fees invoice into my accounts - it never gets 'paid'.

Sure it does. there two transactions:

1. Customer buys at purchase price. VAT at 15% is included.

2. Amazon invoices for marketing fees.

Amazon may only send you the balance between the two, but that just means the two transactions (i.e. payment of the amazon invoice) take place at the same time.

Mike

[Mark H]

Sellers should receive regular statements from Amazon (this one has been sanitised and most of the transactions removed):

Greetings from Amazon.co.uk!
We're writing to provide you with an electronic VAT invoice of 2/2009 seller fees paid in connection with your sales on Amazon.co.uk Marketplace, Auctions, and zShops.
Here's your electronic VAT invoice:
------------------------------
VAT INVOICE
Invoice Date: 28/2/2009
Invoice Number: ************
Supplier Name: Amazon Services Europe S.a.r.L.
Supplier Address: 5 rue Plaetis, LUXEMBOURG, L-2338, LU
Supplier VAT number: LU19647148
Seller Name: **********
Seller Address: **********
Seller VAT number: **********
Date Description Price
(VAT Exclusive) VAT% VAT Total
03/02/2009 Seller Fees £****** 0.0% £0.00 £******
05/02/2009 Seller Fees £****** 0.0% £0.00 £******
07/02/2009 Seller Fees £****** 0.0% £0.00 £******

Totals £****** £0.00 £******
--------------------------------------------------------

VAT on this supply is to be accounted for by the customer (Article 56 service COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2006/112/EC, Reverse charge applies in accordance with Article 196 of COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2006/112/EC).

Please note that this invoice is not a demand for payment. An advanced electronic signature has been attached to this electronic VAT invoice.
To view your account at any time, access ************
Amazon Services Europe S.a.r.L., 5 rue Plaetis, LUXEMBOURG, L-2338, LU
R.C.S. Luxembourg: B 93815; Share capital: EUR12,500; Business license number: 100416
Amazon.co.uk - Amazon Services Europe S.a.r.L.

The relevant bit is the text under the total.

[pnagames]

i am getting more and more confused by the minute

i passed to my accountant which i am sure he will reply in a few months saying either he does not have a clue or he is as confused as me

[acompton]

I have talked to a VAT consultant about this one and this is the advice I received:

If you are VAT registered and are not restricted in the VAT you can claim back, then European B2B transactions incur no VAT, which is why the fees invoice from Amazon has no VAT on it. Strictly speaking, you should declare the VAT of the fee portion of your Amazon sales as an input and the ‘notional’ VAT of the Amazon fee as an output and these should be declared appropriately in boxes 2 and 6 of your VAT return. However in practice, as these two amounts cancel each other out and no VAT is lost in the process, these can be ignored completely. This practice is acceptable to HMRC. So the result is: the fee portion of an Amazon sale incurs no VAT.