Recently, a number of sellers on Amazon's UK station reported that their local accounts were audited, payments were suspended, and even funds were frozen. This phenomenon has attracted a lot of discussion and attention on Amazon forums.
Amazon's requirement for these sellers is to provide relevant documents within 60 days to prove that their local company is set up in the UK. If evidence is not provided within the required timeframe, Amazon will determine that the seller is not established in the UK, begin collecting and remitting VAT, and the account funds will be frozen.
This problem has caused great inconvenience and financial pressure to Amazon sellers. Some sellers say that the documents required by Amazon include a copy of a passport and an EU VAT registration certificate. Such a requirement may not seem reasonable for sellers who only sell on Amazon UK. To make matters worse, some sellers have also been told that they need to pay all taxes back since 2021, which poses a huge threat to their finances.
In response to this situation, Amazon sellers need to take proactive measures. First of all, sellers should collect and submit the required documents and certifications in a timely manner to resume normal operation of the account as soon as possible. At the same time, sellers also need to strengthen their understanding of Amazon's European marketplace compliance policies to ensure tax and other regulatory compliance.
For sellers who are not VAT registered in the UK, they also need to be prepared for possible tax audits if their annual turnover is less than £85,000. This means that sellers not only need to focus on sales and operations, but also need to strengthen the management of account compliance.
Amazon's European policies are cumbersome and change frequently, which is undoubtedly a huge challenge for sellers. Cross-border Guard is not only an anti-association browser, but its comprehensive security management system can protect sellers' store data in an all-round way, so as to support sellers to move forward steadily in the fierce e-commerce competition. Overall, Amazon sellers face many challenges, but with proactive response and reasonable planning, risks can be minimized and stable and growing sales performance can be maintained.