The change has already occurred, but not everyone has noticed. We refer to the fact that as of August 1st, 2024, all sales, logistics, and other services originally offered by the Luxembourg-based company Amazon Services Europe sarl have been transferred to another Luxembourg-based company, Amazon Eu srl.
The transition would not have brought about major innovations if it were not accompanied by a significant change for European sellers. In fact, starting August 1st, 2024, all service revenues have been invoiced by the subsidiary in the country where the sellers’ activities are located. Therefore, the tax regime of that country will apply.
To regulate this change, Amazon had already sent a communication to the VAT-registered businesses purchasing services on the marketplace. For those of you who were unaware or had not read the communication regarding invoicing, let’s try to better understand its content.
The new invoicing policies introduced by Amazon
In the communication sent to VAT-registered customers, Amazon specified that “if your business is registered in
- Germany
- France
- Italy
- Spain
- United Kingdom
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Belgium
- Sweden
you will receive invoices from the subsidiary in the country where your headquarters is located.” Therefore, the tax regime of that country will apply and, as a result, VAT will be charged on the fees and commissions charged by Amazon to the seller.
With that being said, some of you are probably wondering if it isn’t a coincidence that Amazon’s decision comes right now. That is, in conjunction with some judicial matters that have affected the marketplace.
In particular, we refer to the investigation by the Milan Prosecutor’s Office into one of the group’s companies, investigated under the law on corporate administrative liability based on allegations of false declarations and failure to declare.
For the record we should recall that the investigation is not very recent: in fact, it was opened in 2021. However, it has come to light only in recent days due to a completely independent investigation file. Amazon has already announced in its statement that it complies “with all applicable laws and regulations in every country where we operate and require the companies working with us to do the same. Our organization has established high standards for both ourselves and our suppliers. There is a Code of Conduct that suppliers must adhere to in order to work with us.. We will continue to cooperate promptly with the competent authorities during the investigation.”
We’d like to take this opportunity to remind you that ZonWizard’s suite of accounting tools is being updated to incorporate the new local invoicing policies that will allow all our clients to have a platform with functionalities in line with Amazon’s provisions.
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