Blog
Accounting for Amazon sales: what to give your accountant
Daniel Pawłowski · Amazonway · · approx. 7 min read
An accountant taking on their first Amazon seller usually starts from the bank statement. That is the mistake that surfaces at the first audit: an Amazon payout is a balance, not revenue. Behind it sit sales in several currencies, refunds, Amazon's fees and, with FBA, stock movements between countries that carry their own tax consequences. This piece sets out what data your accountant needs every month and what to ask them before you sign.
Every month your accountant needs four things from Seller Central: the Amazon VAT Transactions Report (sales, refunds and stock transfers, with departure and arrival country), the settlement report (what makes up each payout), Amazon's invoices for its fees and the invoices issued to customers. Revenue is booked at the full sale amount and Amazon's fees separately as a cost, never netted off.
Legal position as of 30 September 2026. This piece sorts out the data and the obligations. It does not replace an accountant or tax adviser, and your position depends on your company's country, your markets and your logistics model.
Why the bank statement is not enough
Amazon does not transfer the selling price. It transfers what is left after referral fees, FBA fees, advertising, refunds and any reserve. Book the bank receipt as revenue and you understate revenue, miss costs and lose the basis for VAT, which is due on each sale rather than on the payout.
A worked example: a customer in Germany buys a product for 50 EUR, Amazon deducts 7.50 EUR commission and 4 EUR in FBA fees, and you receive 38.50 EUR. Revenue is 50 EUR, the cost is 11.50 EUR on the strength of Amazon's invoice, and VAT depends on where the parcel shipped from.
Four data sources in Seller Central
| Document | What it contains | What the accountant uses it for |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon VAT Transactions Report | sales, refunds and stock transfers, with departure country, arrival country, VAT rate and amount | VAT returns at home and in warehouse countries, OSS, reporting stock transfers |
| Settlement report | every line that makes up a payout: sales, fees, refunds, adjustments | reconciling the payout with revenue and costs |
| Amazon's fee invoices | commissions, FBA fees, advertising and the subscription | costs and the VAT treatment of Amazon's services |
| Sales invoices | invoices issued to customers, manually or through Amazon's VAT calculation service | records of sales documented by invoice |
The VAT Transactions Report is monthly and covers both FBA orders and those you ship yourself. You find it in Seller Central under the Fulfilment by Amazon reports, in the tax category. The settlement report covers the period between payouts rather than a calendar month, so it has to be split by month.
A caution on fee invoices: in recent years Amazon has changed which entity issues them and how VAT is applied for sellers in some countries. The accountant should read each invoice rather than book it on a template from two years ago.
Shipping yourself and FBA are two different settlements
- Shipping from your home country. Domestic sales are ordinary domestic sales. Sales to consumers in other EU countries above the combined 10,000 EUR annual threshold carry the customer country's VAT and can be declared at home in the quarterly OSS return.
- FBA with warehouses abroad. Each transfer of your stock to another EU country is an intra-Community transfer of own goods: a supply at home and an acquisition in the warehouse country. Sales from that warehouse to customers in the same country go on the local VAT return, and sales to other countries can still go through OSS. You need a VAT number in every storage country.
We set out the full mechanics, with sources in the VAT Directive and from the European Commission, in our chapter on VAT, OSS and EPR. For the accountant the conclusion is simple: with FBA abroad they work on several returns at once, and the VAT Transactions Report is the only place stock transfers show up.
If your company is in Poland
Three Polish specifics are worth knowing. VAT uses the average National Bank of Poland rate from the last working day before the tax point (VAT Act, Art. 31a), while OSS uses the European Central Bank rate from the last day of the period. Receiving invoices through the national e-invoicing system KSeF has been mandatory since 1 February 2026, and issuing them since 1 April 2026 for most businesses (Polish Ministry of Finance). Invoices to consumers and invoices from businesses with no establishment in Poland are outside KSeF, so the obligation bites mainly on sales to Polish companies, for example through Amazon Business.
Five questions for your accountant before you sign
- Do you import Amazon's VAT Transactions Report, or re-key the data by hand? By hand does not scale without errors.
- How do you book Amazon payouts? Good answer: gross revenue from the report, fees separately from invoices, the payout as a settlement. Bad answer: “the bank receipt is revenue”.
- Do you handle OSS and returns in other EU countries, or does someone else? With FBA abroad, someone has to hold it all together.
- How do you report FBA stock transfers? If the question surprises them, that is the wrong answer.
- How do you handle e-invoicing obligations for B2B sales?
How Amazonway helps
We are not an accounting firm or a tax adviser and we do not keep books. Our side is the account: we make sure the VAT numbers and tax settings in Seller Central match your registrations and that the reports reach your accountant complete every month. We run VAT and EPR registrations in other countries with partners, as described on our EPR and VAT registration page.
Talk to us about getting your account data in order →
FAQ: accounting for Amazon sales
Is the Amazon payout my revenue?
No. The payout is the balance after fees, refunds and any reserve. Revenue is the full sale amount from Amazon's reports, and Amazon's fees are a separate cost documented by its invoices.
Which Amazon report do I need for VAT?
The Amazon VAT Transactions Report. It is monthly and covers FBA and self-shipped sales, refunds and stock transfers, with departure country, arrival country and the VAT amount.
Does OSS cover my FBA sales?
Partly. OSS covers sales shipped from an FBA warehouse to consumers in another EU country. Sales to customers in the warehouse country and the transfer of stock into it require a local VAT number and local returns.
Do I need an accountant in every country where I use FBA?
You need a VAT number and returns in every storage country, so someone has to file them. That can be a local firm or your home accountant working with local agents. What matters is that one person sees the whole picture.
Sources
- European Commission, declaring and paying in OSS
- Polish Ministry of Finance, scope of mandatory KSeF
- Polish VAT Act, Art. 31a