Question
Hi,
Does anyone know how to register for VAT in Spain, Germany, France and Italy? Ideally for UK businesses trading physical products in Europe through Amazon. Is there a central database or is it country by country and is there anywhere I can do this in English?
Answer
Many thanks for your question – hope you get a useful answer.
In the meantime, our VAT Fundamentals webinar may be useful:
http://opentoexport.com/webinars/vat-fundamentals/
Answer
hi there,
the good news is that there is a resource online, free and managed at EU level that covers VAT requirements in each of the EU member states. I am however not so sure it covers specifically the case of selling via an online plaftorm, so it may be a matter of picking up from the guide what is relevant or contacting the authorities in charge: a contact point is always mentioned inside the guide.
Go to https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/business/vat/eu-country-specific-information-vat_en
Then look at the detailed guides on certain VAT topics. The 3rd column on the page is “Vademecum on VAT obligations, general obligations on national VAT rules in EU countries” and you will find a guide for the 4 countries you mentioned.
For instance the French one is on this link and the specifications about registering for VAT is on page 4-7 (page 7 contains the info about who to contact).
You can also contact your local Enterprise Europe Network who may be able to help further with your project. a list of the UK offices is available here or use our UK website enquiry page to be signposted to your local office: https://www.enterprise-europe.co.uk/contact/
I hope this is useful.
kind regards
Mathilde Murphy
Enterprise Europe Network in the East of England.