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Sales in a country stop, for a season, after you move your stock or because a marketplace project is on hold. The VAT number stays. Many sellers assume that no sales means nothing to file. In almost every European country that is wrong. As long as you are registered, the tax office expects a return for every period, even if every box is zero. A missing nil return is treated like any other missing return.
Maja Bernat Piletic
Last Updated on 27 October 2026This guide explains what a dormant VAT registration still requires, what happens if you stop filing, and how to decide whether to keep the number or deregister.
Why a return is due when nothing happened
A VAT registration is an obligation to report, not only to pay. The tax office does not know you had no sales until you tell it, and a nil return is how you tell it. If no return arrives, the system sees a missing return, not a quiet period. It sends reminders and, in some countries, estimates the tax you might owe or issues a penalty.
“No sales” is also often not quite true. Amazon may still move stock into or out of the country, refunds can arrive months after a sale, and storage and fulfilment fees create purchases. All of these can belong in the return. Before filing a nil return, check your marketplace reports for the period, especially the stock movements.
Country by country
| Country | While registered with no activity | Risk if you stop filing |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | Monthly or quarterly advance returns and the annual return are still due; the office can release you from advance returns if your VAT is very low | Reminders, estimated assessment, late-filing surcharge |
| France | The CA3 return is still filed for every period, marked as nil (néant) | Late-filing surcharge, formal notice, estimate |
| Spain | The quarterly return is still filed for every quarter, plus the annual summary | Penalty proposals by letter; the number can be flagged as inactive |
| Italy | The annual VAT return is still due; periodic obligations depend on whether anything happened in the period | Penalties for the missing annual return |
| Poland | Monthly JPK_V7 files are still due | The office can remove you from the VAT register after six months, or two quarters, of returns with no sales and no purchases |
| United Kingdom | Nil returns are still due for every period | Penalty points for each late return; at the threshold (4 points for quarterly filers) every further late return costs £200 |
The details depend on your filing frequency and your regime, but the rule is the same everywhere: registered means filing. See our guides to VAT returns in Germany, France and Poland for each country’s deadlines.
When the tax office ends a dormant registration for you
Some tax authorities do not wait for you to deregister. Poland removes taxpayers who report no sales and no purchases for six consecutive months. Other countries deactivate numbers that stop filing or cannot be reached at their address. It can look convenient, but it causes problems. A number that is deactivated by the authority, rather than deregistered properly, can leave open periods and fines behind. And if you start selling again, you usually need a new registration, which takes weeks.
The Amazon trap
If you sell through Amazon, the question is not only what the tax office requires. Amazon checks that you have a valid VAT number in every country where it stores your goods. If you are in Pan-European FBA, or still have stock in a country’s warehouses, and that VAT number lapses or is deregistered, Amazon can restrict your listings or stop storing stock there. Before you deregister, remove the stock, opt that country out of Pan-EU storage, and report the last stock movement out of the country. Our article on Amazon Pan-EU VAT requirements explains what happens when a number fails validation.
Keep or deregister? Four questions
- Will you sell or store goods there again within the next year? If yes, keeping the number usually costs less than registering again. A new registration can take several weeks to a few months, and you cannot sell from local stock in the meantime.
- Is there still stock, or could Amazon send stock there? As long as goods can be stored there, you need the number.
- Do you sell to consumers there only from another country? Then you may not need a local number at all: cross-border sales to consumers can be declared through the One-Stop Shop (OSS) from your home country. See our OSS guide.
- Are all past periods filed and paid? Deregistration is only clean once every return up to the last day is filed. Missing returns follow you, and some authorities will not process the deregistration until they are filed.
If the answers point to deregistering, read our guide to VAT deregistration for the steps and the final return.
Common mistakes
- Cancelling the service that files your returns but keeping the VAT number. The returns are still due, and nobody is filing them.
- Filing a nil return although Amazon moved stock in or out of the country that period.
- Letting the number lapse instead of deregistering, then needing it again for a new marketplace or warehouse.
- Deregistering while stock is still in the country’s fulfilment centres.
How hellotax helps
hellotax keeps filing your returns in every country where you are registered, nil returns included, and checks your marketplace data for stock movements before a return is filed as zero. When you stop selling in a country, we help you decide between keeping the number and deregistering, and we handle the final return and the deregistration if you choose to close it. Talk to our team if you have VAT numbers you are no longer using.
