Amazon and VAT: when the invoice arrives without tax

Amazon and VAT: the invoice that arrives without tax and then takes its toll

A self-employed worker in Spain under the equivalent surcharge scheme (recargo de equivalencia), registered as a professional seller on Amazon and using Fulfilment by Amazon, discovers that the two invoices the giant sends him —the sales commission and the logistics fee— arrive without VAT. He has an intra-EU VAT number registered and both come with the number LU19647148. The question he raises is direct: does that 21% have to be declared and paid? The short answer is yes, although with nuances that have changed over the years.

The mechanism is called the reverse charge, set out in Article 84 of Law 37/1992 (Spain's VAT law). When a foreign provider invoices services to a Spanish company with an intra-EU VAT number, it does not charge VAT: it is the customer who self-assesses it. An invoice arriving without tax does not miccionan it is not owed. It means the ball is in your court.

Why Amazon invoiced without VAT and why it stopped doing so

For years Amazon Services Europe invoiced from Luxembourg under the number LU19647148. With the intra-EU VAT number active, the seller received a clean invoice. As of 1 May 2015, according to several messages, Amazon registered a branch in Spain with a new tax ID and began charging Spanish VAT, abandoning the reverse charge for orders placed from that date.

The confusion persists because not everyone selling on the marketplace is Amazon. There are external sellers who invoice from their own companies —a British one, a German one— and who sometimes issue the invoice with their country's VAT, or with the Spanish rate, unaware that the buyer is an intra-EU operator. Getting those invoices corrected turns into an obstacle course.

The case of logistics services and seller fees

The key lies in distinguishing goods from services. For intra-EU acquisitions of goods, the buyer self-assesses VAT in their quarterly return. For services, the mechanism is the same: the reverse charge. The invoice arrives without VAT, but that 21% is declared and paid on the corresponding form.

The added problem for a self-employed worker under the equivalent surcharge scheme is that they cannot deduct the VAT paid. In other words, that 21% on commissions and logistics becomes a real cost that eats into the margin. One seller sums it up bluntly: if the VAT on Amazon's invoices has to be paid, the business's profitability narrows until it becomes unviable.

The inquiry that clears up doubts with a penalty

Another participant's experience is the most useful warning in this case. After two years of not paying the VAT on Google's invoices out of uncertainty, an inquiry arrived from the Spanish tax agency. Time to pay. And not just the tax: also the fine for failing to declare the intra-EU transactions on form 349.

The pattern repeats itself: accountants who say "ignore it", advisers who cannot agree, and an authority that ends up knocking on the self-employed worker's door, not the adviser's. The recommendation emerging from the case is clear: if the activity falls outside the everyday, it is worth hiring a tax specialist who knows what the fuss is about.

What to do with Amazon's invoices without VAT

The first step is to check the issuer's tax ID. If it is LU19647148 (Amazon Services Europe, Luxembourg), the invoice without VAT is due to the reverse charge and it must be self-assessed. If it is a Spanish tax ID, Amazon is already charging VAT and there is nothing to self-assess. If it is an external seller, you must ask them to issue a corrective invoice.

The second step is to declare those transactions on form 349, regardless of whether the VAT is paid or not. Omitting it is what turns a doubt into a penalty. A cautious prediction: as long as Amazon keeps operating from Spain, the mess shrinks, but the marketplace will keep generating invoices from external sellers who do not always know how to issue an intra-EU invoice.