Do I need to register for VAT if I sell online?

The same £90,000 UK threshold applies to online sellers as to any business. Cross-border sales, marketplaces and holding stock abroad can add further obligations on top, sometimes at lower thresholds.

What are OSS and IOSS?

EU schemes for selling to consumers post-Brexit. OSS (One Stop Shop) lets you report VAT on B2C sales across the EU through one return; IOSS (Import One Stop Shop) lets you collect EU VAT at the point of sale on lower-value imports so parcels clear customs smoothly.

Does Amazon handle VAT for me?

For certain transactions, large marketplaces now collect and account for the VAT — particularly on imports and overseas-seller sales. But you still need to account for everything correctly from their reports, which are easy to misread or double-count.

Can holding stock abroad create a VAT obligation?

Yes. Using fulfilment services that store your stock in other countries (like Amazon FBA) can create a VAT registration requirement in those countries, often unexpectedly. It's worth checking before expanding your fulfilment.

VAT for online sellers: Amazon, Shopify, OSS and IOSS

Selling online adds layers to VAT that a local business never has to think about — different countries, marketplaces that collect VAT for you, and post-Brexit rules for selling into the EU. If you sell on Amazon, Shopify, Etsy or your own site, here's what actually matters.

The basics still apply

First, the ordinary UK rules haven't gone away: once your VAT-taxable turnover crosses £90,000, you must register for VAT in the UK, whatever you sell and wherever you sell it. Our guide on when to register for VAT covers that threshold in detail. For online sellers, the extra complexity sits on top of this, mostly around cross-border sales.

Marketplaces that collect VAT for you

For many sales through large marketplaces like Amazon and eBay, the marketplace is now responsible for collecting and accounting for the VAT on certain transactions — particularly imports and sales by overseas sellers. That can simplify things, but it also means the VAT shown in your payouts and reports needs careful handling so you account for everything correctly and don't double-count. Marketplace VAT reports are notoriously easy to misread.

Selling to the EU: OSS and IOSS

Since Brexit, selling goods to consumers in the EU changed significantly. Two schemes exist to make it manageable:

OSS (One Stop Shop) — lets you report VAT on B2C sales across all EU countries through a single return, rather than registering in each country separately.
IOSS (Import One Stop Shop) — for lower-value goods imported into the EU, letting you collect EU VAT at the point of sale so parcels clear customs smoothly and customers aren't hit with surprise charges on delivery.

Whether you need these, and which, depends on what you sell, where your stock is held and who your customers are. Getting it wrong leads to parcels stuck in customs, unhappy customers and unexpected VAT bills.

Where stock is held matters

If you use fulfilment services (like Amazon FBA) that store your stock in other countries, you can create a VAT registration obligation in those countries — sometimes without realising it. This is one of the most common and expensive surprises for growing online sellers, so it's worth understanding before you expand your fulfilment footprint.

Get e-commerce VAT set up properly

E-commerce VAT is an area where the software, the marketplace reports and the cross-border rules all have to line up — and where mistakes compound quietly across thousands of small transactions. We help online sellers get their VAT set up correctly, reconcile the marketplace reports, and expand internationally without nasty surprises. If you're scaling an online store, talk to us before the complexity gets ahead of you.