Germany is strictly investigating sellers who declared zero tax in 2020 and may force them to cancel their tax numbers

According to reports, German accounting firms have recently received frequent letters from the tax bureau, informing them of the random tax number checks and requiring sellers to send links to the dealer information of the above customers that can be directly connected to the current store. Some accounting firms have also received emails from the German tax bureau, requiring sellers who declared zero in 2020 to provide explanations before April 9. Only after responding clearly can they continue to operate, otherwise their tax numbers will be forcibly cancelled.

In fact, in recent years, with the rapid development of e-commerce, countries around the world have begun to raise the standards for tax audits. Especially under the influence of the global epidemic last year, the financial conditions of various governments have faced great difficulties, and they have paid more attention to taxation.

Previously, the Italian tax authorities had drawn up a three-year tax audit plan to conduct strict investigations on tax evasion and tax avoidance in the country, and just last week, the German federal cabinet also passed a bill to implement the EU anti-tax avoidance directive. Since then, German law has had stricter regulations to combat tax avoidance by multinational companies.

Currently, if cross-border sellers want to apply for a German tax number, they must prove that they have warehouses in Germany, otherwise they cannot apply. Amazon sellers are the focus of supervision, and many FBA sellers have been unable to complete the application for a German tax number because their stores were closed by the platform and they could not provide FBA warehouse screenshots.

Not only Amazon, but eBay's official website has also issued an announcement stating that from July 1, 2021, sellers who are obliged to register for German VAT must register for a German VAT identification number and upload the number to their eBay account, otherwise eBay will take certain restrictive measures on the account. eBay also reminded sellers: " Restrictive measures will be taken against accounts and their associated accounts that use false information to register for German VAT, including but not limited to account freezing. "

It is reported that this regulation is intended to assess whether sellers have business activities in Germany and whether they meet the conditions for approving the issuance of a tax number. In addition, sellers who used false warehousing contracts in their tax number applications were also refused tax numbers after being discovered by the tax bureau.

Not only that, even if the seller has successfully registered a tax number after going through a lot of hardships, he or she will still have to accept irregular spot checks by the German Tax Bureau in the days that follow: if the information after the seller's store link is opened does not match the information registered during the previous registration, the tax bureau will ask the seller to make an explanation; and if the seller declares 0 in 2020 and has had no sales, the German Tax Bureau will assume that the seller does not need to use a German tax number and will forcibly cancel it.

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