Amazon Netherlands: What changes regarding VAT?

Some time ago, Amazon announced that it will open a new marketplace in the Netherlands: Amazon.nl. What is planned and how will it affect e-commerce, find out in our article.

Amazon.nl as “new” Amazon marketplace

As you may have noticed, there will be a new Amazon marketplace in Europe in the very near future.

Strictly speaking, Amazon.nl has been around since 2014, but so far only e-books can be bought there and Dutch Amazon customers usually order on the German Amazon website.

Already in the course of this year, physical products will be available on the platform, creating a new marketplace in Europe step by step. ‘Step by step’ because not all product categories will be available right from the beginning. However, it is expected that most categories will already be integrated on the “new” Amazon site within the next few months.

The long-awaited expansion into the Dutch market is scheduled to take place to a large extent in February.

Amazon.nl will be the sixth Amazon country with an Amazon marketplace from which the entire EU market will be served. The other marketplace countries are:

1. Germany
2. France
3. United Kingdom
4. Italy
5. Spain

The countries mentioned here are also the countries where Amazon maintains its logistics centres and warehouses from which products are shipped. In addition, there are also warehouses in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Do I need a Dutch VAT number?

For the moment, a Dutch VAT number is not necessary, as the storage for Amazon.nl will still take place in Germany in the beginning. The newly opened warehouse in Mönchengladbach-Rheindahlen, located just across the Dutch-German border, will be used for this purpose.

In the long term, there may also be logistics centres and warehouses in the Netherlands, but nothing is planned or announced here yet.

This means that the tax liability of online sellers is in Germany (where the goods are stored) and not in the Netherlands. Exceptions to this are companies in the Netherlands & online merchants in other EU countries that have exceeded the Dutch delivery threshold limit.

And exactly the last thing can happen quickly in the future, because to reach the threshold limit in Holland, sales that were made in Holland on Amazon.nl and then sent from Mönchengladbach-Rheindahlen to Durch customers do also count.

In the Netherlands, the delivery threshold for distance selling is €100,000. If this import threshold is exceeded within a calendar year, a Dutch VAT number must be requested at an early stage. We are happy to assist you with the registration and with any other questions you may have.

Is it worth selling on Amazon.nl?

As already mentioned, Amazon has already established itself in the Netherlands in 2014, even if up to now only e-books and e-readers are available for purchase.

Since 2019, Amazon customers in Holland have been able to obtain prime status and with this year’s innovations Amazon.nl will finally become a new, fully-fledged Amazon Marketplace in Europe.

Moreover, the purchasing power of the 17 million Dutch people should not be underestimated. More than 96% of the inhabitants are Internet users (which is really an extremely high number, even by international standards) and so in 2018 the Netherlands spent 23.7 billion euros on e-commerce.

With Amazon in the Netherlands, online stores such as Wehkamp.nl or Bol.com, which are successfully established there, are getting a serious competitor. So it remains exciting.