Selling on Amazon from Poland requires a registered business, a company account and — in most cases — VAT registration, including VAT-UE. The key decision is the choice of logistics model: if goods go to Amazon warehouses in other EU countries, a Polish entrepreneur usually also has to register for VAT abroad. Below we discuss formalities on the Polish tax side, not the handling of the seller panel itself.
Form of business: JDG or company
Amazon verifies sellers as entrepreneurs, so an entry in CEIDG or the KRS, a NIP, a business account and an ID document for the person representing the firm are needed. At the start, a sole proprietorship is most often chosen — registration is free and quick. A sp. z o.o. makes sense at a larger scale, with a partner or when wishing to limit liability from private assets. The general rules of online commerce, including the terms and consumer duties, are covered in our article how to open an online shop.
When choosing taxation under JDG, it is worth counting three variants. Ryczałt for retail activity is 3% of revenue but does not allow costs to be deducted, and in platform sales the costs (commissions, warehousing, advertising, cost of goods) are high. With low margins, the tax scale or flat tax (podatek liniowy), which tax income, can be more favourable.
Watch out for the product range: sale of parts and accessories for motor vehicles is excluded from ryczałt. The first revenue from such a sale means losing the right to ryczałt and moving to general rules.
Domestic VAT — when the exemption does not work
In 2026, the threshold up to which a firm may remain under turnover-based VAT exemption is PLN 240,000 of annual domestic sales. For an online seller, however, the exemption is often unavailable from day one. The VAT Act excludes it for firms that sell at a distance (as part of an organised contracting system, e.g. through a platform) of, among other things:
- cosmetic and toiletry preparations,
- computers, electronic and optical products,
- electrical equipment,
- machines and devices not elsewhere classified.
The exemption also does not apply to supplies of parts and accessories for cars and motorcycles and excise goods. Anyone selling, for example, headphones, lamps or cosmetics must register as an active VAT payer before the first sale.
Even if the product range allows for exemption, registration as an active payer can be worthwhile: VAT charged on the purchase of goods and platform services can be deducted. An exempt seller does not recover this tax, so its price must cover it.
Sales to customers in other EU countries
Shipment from Poland
Sales to consumers from other EU states, where goods leave Poland, are intra-Community distance sales of goods. Up to a combined threshold of EUR 10,000 (PLN 42,000) per year, Polish VAT can be settled. Once the threshold is exceeded, the VAT of the consumer's country applies, which is most convenient to settle through the VAT OSS procedure — a single quarterly return filed in Poland. OSS registration is made on form VIU-R. These sales do not count towards the domestic PLN 240,000 limit.
Goods in Amazon warehouses abroad
This is where the most common mistake arises. Sending your own goods from Poland to a warehouse in Germany, Czechia or France is, for VAT, a transfer of own goods, which the Act treats as an intra-Community supply. Consequences:
- in Poland, VAT-UE registration is required before the first transfer, and the transfer must be shown in JPK and the recapitulative statement,
- in the warehouse country an intra-Community acquisition arises, and sales from there to customers are domestic supplies — this requires VAT registration in that country, regardless of the EUR 10,000 threshold,
- every country in which Amazon stores the goods means separate registration and returns.
That is why, before enabling programs for distributing stock across several countries, it is worth agreeing with the accountant where the goods may physically end up. We write about Polish formalities in our article VAT-UE registration.
Launch plan step by step
- Choosing the product range and checking whether it excludes VAT exemption or ryczałt.
- Registering the firm (CEIDG or KRS) with a PKD code for retail of the relevant range.
- Filing VAT-R: active payer and VAT-UE, if goods are to leave Poland.
- Opening a business account and reporting it to the tax office.
- Checking environmental duties — a firm that packs and ships goods itself usually needs an entry in the BDO register before starting operations.
- Setting up a seller account, verifying firm data and choosing the shipping model.
- Agreeing with the accounting office the flow of sales reports and invoices for commissions.
Accounting for a platform seller
Amazon issues invoices to the seller for commissions and logistics services from another EU country. For a Polish active VAT payer this is usually an import of services, settled under the reverse charge. Sales to consumers from Poland, documented by the platform's report, require records — in many cases on a cash register, although mail-order sales fully paid by bank transfer may benefit from an exemption (this does not cover, among other things, electronics, computers and car parts). For sales to firms, invoices are issued in KSeF, which from 2026 is mandatory for most entrepreneurs.
Example: a seller of electronic accessories from Łódź starts with his own shipments to customers in Poland and Germany. Because of the product range, he registers as an active VAT payer and for VAT-UE. After six months, sales to Germany exceed the EUR 10,000 threshold, so he registers for OSS. When he wants to transfer part of the stock to a warehouse in Germany, he first obtains a German VAT number and documents every shipment to the warehouse as a transfer of own goods.
Most common mistakes at the start
- Assuming that up to PLN 240,000 of sales VAT does not apply — without checking the product-range exclusions.
- Enabling stock distribution in several countries without foreign VAT registrations.
- Not recording the platform's commission invoices as import of services.
- Choosing ryczałt at low margins, when tax on revenue exceeds tax on income.
How Good Balance can help
We help online sellers through registration and ongoing settlements. As part of support for sole proprietorships, we select the form of taxation, register for VAT and VAT-UE and keep records of platform sales. For companies trading in several countries we offer full accounting with the settlement of transfers and the OSS procedure.