There were rumors before that the German tax certificate is a "tax payment certificate" issued by the tax bureau. However, according to Xiaomai, the head of Shenmahui International Finance and Taxation, the German tax certificate is not a "tax payment certificate". In other words, obtaining this certificate does not mean that the tax bureau has recognized that there are no problems with your taxes in Germany. There is still a chance that you will be audited by the tax bureau later, so sellers must not take it lightly. Simply put, this certificate is more like a "business license" rather than a "certificate of no criminal record."
The process of applying for a German tax certificate is very simple. You only need to fill out an application form and submit the application by email or letter. However, due to the sudden increase in the number of applications, the current processing efficiency of tax bureau staff is uneven. If you are lucky, you will receive the German tax certificate in about 20 days to 1 month. The German tax certificate is sent by letter to the address of the local tax agent in Germany, so if you do not have a local tax agent in Germany, you will not receive the German tax certificate.
Filling out the application form is very simple. You only need to fill in some basic information such as the company name, address, German tax number, etc. But it is worth noting that the tax certificate also requires the name of the sales platform and the seller account name. What does this mean? This means that for all sellers selling on the platform, the tax bureau has silently recorded your e-commerce account information. I believe that soon the German tax bureau will conduct a carpet search of the tax data of sellers on the e-commerce platform. Well... spring is here, can winter be far behind? The tax bureau’s move of “closing the door and beating the dog” is really quick! allow! ruthless!
Now, even if you are a seller shipping directly from China, as long as you sell products to Germany, regardless of whether you have the obligation to pay German VAT or not, you must register for a German tax number before you can apply for a German tax certificate and sell on cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Amazon/eBay. This is a "one-size-fits-all" approach by the German tax bureau in a certain sense. Regardless of whether you are a seller from an overseas warehouse or a seller shipping directly from China, you need to register for a tax number! The German tax bureau's swift and decisive approach has caused some sellers to shout that they want to abandon the German site, but at the same time it has also made some sellers applaud. After all, Germany's strict tax requirements have helped prevent some tax-noncompliant sellers from entering the German site and reduced the fierce competition among sellers on the German site. I believe that only tax-compliant sellers will be able to survive on the European site in the future. Of course...Winter is here, can spring be far behind?
If you have not received the tax certificate yet, please pay attention. The German Tax Bureau officially issued a statement on February 21, delaying the deadline for cross-border e-commerce sellers to provide German tax certificates to April 15, but the prerequisite is that the application for the "German Tax Certificate" must be submitted before February 28! However, the deadline for uploading the tax certificate is still determined by the major e-commerce platforms. Although Amazon and eBay have not yet clearly changed the deadline from March 1 to April 15, the interests of the e-commerce platforms are proportional to the sales of sellers. The platforms will not close the sellers' accounts at will. I believe that everyone will be notified soon that the deadline for uploading the tax certificate has been extended to April 15.
