Germany VAT registration for non-EU sellers (the Finanzamt set by your country)

Germany has no registration threshold for a business outside the EU, and it does not ask for a fiscal representative. You register for VAT with the Finanzamt that the regulation on tax-office jurisdiction assigns to your country of residence: Finanzamt Bonn-Innenstadt for the United States, Finanzamt Hannover-Nord for the United Kingdom, Finanzamt Berlin International for any country the list does not name. The BZSt then issues your German VAT identification number, the USt-IdNr (UStZustV §1, BZSt). This page is only what Germany adds to EU VAT registration. The other German rules are on the Germany page.

You register in Germany when your sale is German

Your sale takes place in Germany when the goods are in Germany, or when their transport to the buyer starts there (UStG §3(6) and (7)). The table shows the cases a non-EU seller meets.

Parcels shipped from outside the EU to a customer who is the importer are not German sales, because the transport starts outside Germany (§3(6)). Parcels of EUR 150 or less go through IOSS. Services to a German business are taxed by the customer (§13b(2) no. 1, (5)). The general cases are in EU VAT registration.

Selling goods from German stock to a German business does not move the VAT to the customer. Germany reverse-charges goods only for the items its list names, for example mobile phones, tablets and games consoles when one transaction reaches EUR 5,000 (§13b(2) no. 10). If you only had costs with German VAT, or only sales on which the customer owes the VAT, you do not register: you claim the input VAT back through the BZSt. That works only if your country refunds VAT to German businesses or charges none; the BZSt links the list of countries in a Federal Ministry of Finance letter of 9 November 2022. You claim within six months of the year end, for at least EUR 1,000 (EUR 500 for the year or its last period). VAT on fuel is not refunded (UStG §18(9), BZSt, Finanzamt Bonn-Innenstadt).

No threshold applies to you

The German small-business exemption of EUR 25,000 and EUR 100,000 is for a business established in Germany. A business established in another EU country can use it only with a small-business number from its home country. The text covers only businesses established in Germany or elsewhere in the EU (UStG §19, BMF guidance notes). The EUR 10,000 limit for distance sales is for a seller established in one EU country only (UStG §3c(4)), and the BZSt repeats that condition. The EU rule is in VAT OSS.

Your country decides which Finanzamt registers you

The Finanzamt follows the country where your business is resident, not the city where your warehouse is (AO §21(1), UStZustV §1). The regulation also covers the overseas and self-governing territories of the countries it names.

The regulation also lists most EU countries and Monaco, each with its own office.

How you register, in order

1. Fill in the questionnaire for businesses abroad. It is the Fragebogen zur umsatzsteuerlichen Erfassung von im Ausland ansässigen Unternehmern, with supplements for corporations, facilities and online trade in goods. The Federal Ministry of Finance issues it also in English and French, and the versions are equally valid (BMF, 16 July 2026). A business that sells through marketplaces fills in the “Online trade in goods” supplement.
2. Attach your papers. Finanzamt Bonn-Innenstadt lists, for a US business: the IRS residence certificate (Form 6166), the founding documents of the company, a copy of the director’s identity card or passport, the signed supplements, and an authorisation for e-mail communication. The notes are in English (Finanzamt Bonn-Innenstadt). If a tax adviser or agent acts for you, add its separate authorisation (BMF guidance notes).
3. Tick the box for a USt-IdNr. The Finanzamt forwards the request to the BZSt once your registration is complete. That can take several weeks from receipt at the Finanzamt, so register before your first sale. The number is sent by post only, and the BZSt charges nothing (BZSt). You need the number to show a marketplace that you are registered.
4. Name an agent for service in Germany if you sell on a marketplace. See the next section.
5. Give the Finanzamt your expected turnover and tax. The form asks for the expected turnover in the year you start and the next year, and the expected VAT of the current year. The return period is based on your expected VAT of the current year (BMF guidance notes).

The law makes a business abroad that starts a taxable activity in Germany notify the Finanzamt named in the regulation within one month of starting, unless all its German supplies go through the OSS or IOSS (AO §138(1), (4)). German is the official language. If you submit a document in another language, the office can require a translation without delay, and at your cost if you do not supply it (AO §87).

A fiscal representative is optional and does not reach you

A Fiskalvertreter is allowed only for a business with no German seat, management or branch that makes only VAT-exempt supplies in Germany and cannot deduct input VAT (UStG §22a(1)). A seller with taxable German sales is outside that rule. The representative would file the returns as its own duty (§22b). What a representative is elsewhere in the EU is on fiscal representative.

An agent for service is a different role. It receives the tax office’s letters. A marketplace seller with no seat or management in Germany, another EU country or the EEA names one in Germany when it applies for registration (UStG §22f(1) sentence 2). The official guidance ties this to businesses that supply goods through an electronic interface, and says it can be your tax adviser. The authorisation is a separate form, and only a tax adviser can enter it in the power-of-attorney database (BMF guidance notes). Outside that case, the Finanzamt can still ask you for an agent, and if you do not name one its letters count as received one month after posting, and an electronic document on the fourth day after sending (AO §123).

The marketplace is liable for your VAT unless you hold the USt-IdNr

The operator of a marketplace, platform or portal that supports a sale of goods is liable for the VAT that the seller does not pay. This does not apply where the operator is the deemed supplier under §3(3a) (UStG §25e). The operator is free of that liability if the seller has a valid USt-IdNr from the BZSt at the time of the sale, unless it knew, or with a prudent businessperson’s care should have known, that the seller does not meet its tax duties.

The official guidance says you need the number to prove your registration to the operator. The operator records your name, address, website, USt-IdNr, your tax number where known, and the date and amount of each sale, and keeps the records for ten years (UStG §22f(1), (4)). Such operators may have the validity of a German USt-IdNr confirmed by the BZSt (BZSt).

If you do not meet your duties, or not in large part, and other steps promise no quick result, the Finanzamt can notify the operator. After the notice the operator is liable for sales contracted after it, unless it shows within the period the Finanzamt sets that you can no longer offer goods through its interface (§25e(4)). For a seller from outside Germany, the EU and the EEA, the operator can be asked to pay without the Finanzamt first trying to collect from you (§25e(8), AO §219). Which sales the marketplace itself declares is on EU VAT for online sellers.

You file and pay in Germany

Returns go in electronically through ELSTER, after you register there. A period with no sales still needs a return with zero entered, or you get a reminder (Finanzamt Bonn-Innenstadt). On request the office extends the advance-return deadline by one month if the tax claim does not look at risk. A business that files monthly then pays a special prepayment (BMF guidance notes).

The Union OSS return goes through the BZSt online portal and needs the USt-IdNr. As a rule the registration starts on the first day of the quarter after you apply. The payment cannot be a direct debit: it must reach the federal treasury by the end of the month after the quarter, with the reference number the BZSt gives you (BZSt). Joining, leaving and the quarterly return are in VAT OSS.

What happens if you do nothing

The VAT is due whether or not you registered. The tax office estimates what it cannot work out (AO §162(1)). The marketplace route is above: without your USt-IdNr the operator is not free of liability, and the Finanzamt can notify it. The other consequences:

Your USt-IdNr, EORI number and IOSS number are three separate numbers. The EORI is on the EORI guide, and the VAT number itself on what a VAT number is.