Amazon VAT under VOEC for UK-based NETP Limited Company VAT Filing Requirements

My UK-incorporated limited company formed in 2021 had been dormant until Q4 of 2023. While incorporated in the UK this company falls into NETP classification according to Amazon. After making the first taxable supply in Q4 2023, we applied for VAT registration and it went through successfully. It is worth noting that we could only have received our VAT certificate on 2 April 2024 (also the certificate date) but the effective registration date was back-dated until 1 April 2023 (the delay is attributable to HMRC processing times). The VAT certificate classifies our company as UK company (with UK establishment) despite the numerous documents on registration file that should have been sufficient to classify the company as NETP. All in all, our UK company is NETP according to Amazon but not-NETP according to HMRC's VAT records. Since Amazon sees the company as NETP, they claimed historical VAT owed to them from Q4 2023 to 13 May 2024 under UK VOEC. Amazon started to collect VAT on B2C sales from 13 May 2024 moving forwards. We paid around 18.000 GBP in VAT to Amazon for historical VAT for the period between Q4 2023 to 13 May 2024. Now, I need to know how to account for historical VAT paid through Amazon to HMRC. In particular, I need to know: 1. What should I enter in Box 1? (should I include VAT collected by Amazon or should I simply enter 0 considering there are no sales outside Amazon - as an alternative scenario, I can enter all VAT collected by Amazon here) 2. Should I reclaim VAT paid through Amazon in Box 4 if I enter VAT collected by Amazon in Box 1 under alternative scenario? 3. Does the fact that the VAT registration was finalized as if the company was non-NETP by HMRC have any bearing on the filing requirement? To my knowledge, Article 5A of 1996 VAT Act regulates all supplies to Amazon as deemed supply taxable at 0% regardless of the actual VAT rate of the product. So my feeling is that I should never enter VAT collected by Amazon in Box 1 while not reclaiming the VAT paid through Amazon in Box 4. But I need confirmation by admins. I appreciate the support. Thanks.

Hi,

It is important to establish whether the business is a UK established business or a NETP as this has an obvious bearing on the VAT posotion as to whether your business or the marketplace is responsible for accounting for the VAT. You can see the guidance here:

Non-established taxable persons — basic information

VAT and overseas goods sold directly to customers in the UK

As you have stated if you are a NETP, then the marketplace are responsible for accounting for the VAT, but if you are a UK established business then you are reposnsible for VAT from the first sale made in the UK.

If there is any doubt about the status of the business please contact us on isbcvatestablishment@hmrc.gov.uk, giving as much detail as possible about where the business is incorporated, where the directors reside and whether there is a business establishment or fixed establisment in the UK:

The business establishment is the place where you have established your business and the main functions of the business’ central administration are carried out. This will usually be the head office, headquarters or ‘seat’ from which the business is run. This is where essential day to day decisions concerning the general management of the business are taken. A registered office alone is not sufficient to create a business establishment.

 A fixed establishment is an establishment other than the business establishment, which has the human and technical resources necessary for providing or receiving services permanently present. A business may have several fixed establishments, which may include a branch or agency. If you have a temporary presence of human and technical resources in the UK, this does not create a fixed establishment in the UK

If you are a NETP and the sale of the goods is faciliated by a marketplace and the goods are being stored in the UK then you will be making a deemed zero rated supply to the marketplace and box 1 will need to be zero and box 4 will need to be zero, unless you are incutting VAT in the UK on purchases/imports which you are entitled to recover as input tax. In this scenrio you can't reclaim any VAT paid over to the marketplace as this is not your input tax.

Whether you are a UK established business or a NETP does therefore have a bearing on how you complete the return.

Thank you.


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Dear HMRC Admin, I really appreciate your quick response. Can you also help me with the following: 1. I read Article 9.2. of "Non-established taxable persons — basic information" and I can swear that the following text is a NEW EDITION which WAS NOT in the original text: A registered, serviced or virtual office alone is not enough to create a business establishment. IF IT WAS in the original edition, we or Amazon would have no issues classifying our company as NETP before this crises happened. 2. I have no doubt that my UK company is NETP anymore after the amendment on the above text. But somehow HMRC issued our VAT certificate as if we have a UK establishment. The "Business Type" column of the VAT certificate reads as follows: UK Company (with UK establishment). The agency who did our VAT registration told us that HMRC DOES NOT HAVE any VAT registration form for NETP UK companies. So the registration form for UK companies presumes that UK company must have a UK establishment. At least this is what I am told. PLEASE ALSO NOTE THAT while the registration document has UK Company (with UK establishment) annotation it also states my non-UK Turkish address as the principal place of business column. Based on this background: ----> Can you please tell me: How come a VAT registration form says UK Company (with UK establishment) while listing Turkish (non-UK) principal place of business address? How do you reconcile these contradictory entries? --->Can you please tell me: Did we do anything wrong during the registration? If you say that we SHOULD HAVE USED another form for our NETP UK company and WE MISREPRESENT OURSELVES and led the HMRC issue a VAT CERTIFICATE with UK Company (with UK establishment) annotation, I am going to sue the agency for misrepresentation. Because I gave them all facts and docs stating the NETP nature of the company which I believe they correctly remitted to HMRC because our principal place of business in the registration certificate has our non-UK Turkish address. ----> Can you please tell me: Should we correct the VAT Certificate with HMRC for the following annotation which it should not have as the company is NETP: UK Company (with UK establishment) /// perhaps there is no need because the same certificate also lists our Turkish address as principal place of business. 3. I understand that I need to keep Box1 and Box4 clear of any VAT collected and remitted by Amazon because my company only makes 0% VAT supply (deemed supply) to Amazon. This aligns with my initial thought on the subject so thank you for clarification. However, I am puzzled with the following sentence of yours: "In this scenrio you can't reclaim any VAT paid over to the marketplace as this is not your input tax." ---> Can you please clarify what do you mean I can't reclaim any VAT paid over to the marketplace? I suppose you meant I cannot use any VAT collected and remitted by Amazon and you DID NOT MEAN that I am unable to claim any VAT paid to Amazon under Box4 by MYSELF for the services I receive as the business such as advertising, commissions and other services to which Amazon issues me VAT invoices. Kindly advise. ---> The fact that all of our sales are generated through Amazon simply result in Box1 being Zero. So we will always be in a position reclaiming VAT we paid on the VAT invoices for the services Amazon or other service providers provide. Can you kindly confirm that HMRC will pay this VAT back to us? P.S. We paid historical VAT for around 18.000 GBP to Amazon on time which is processed into our payment account. Just so you know they still hold all funds globally for a total of 300.000 USD (inc. funds + expiration dated inventory). The whole process could have been managed in a more humane way. Thank you.

Hi,

You can see updates to the Public Notice 700/1 in relation to NETP''s here:

show all updates

There is not a specific registration form for registering for VAT as an NETP and the registration would have asked you about your status and whether you are an overseas business without any UK establishements as part of the registration process. We would suggest that you email the department we previously provided details of, about your status and also contact our VAT team so that we can look in to your records and confirm what was put on the registration application and make any ammendments if needed.

VAT: general enquiries

If there is no UK establishment, then we will need to get your status changed and amend the current status UK company, with UK establishment. 

When we stated 'In this scenrio you cannot reclaim any VAT paid over to the marketplace as this is not your input tax' we meant that you cannot reclaim VAT collected and remitted by Amazon.

Being VAT registered in the UK of course allows you to recover VAT incurred in the furtherance of your business including commissions, advertising etc provided by the marketplace.
Please put these figues in box 4 when you make your claim on the VAT return.

You can see the conditions for reclaiming VAT as input here:

Introduction to input tax

Thank you.