Practical Operation | A comprehensive explanation of the German B2B declaration process (with common mistakes)

German B2B declaration process explained (with common mistakes)

What should be done if only B2B declaration is required without paying taxes? Where can it be handled for free? What documents are needed? What should be done if an error occurs? Don’t worry, everything can be done on the EU Taxation System, which is easy to operate! Sellers involved in B2B can read on.

1. Free handling of B2B declaration on EU Taxation System

The B2B declaration function has been launched on the EU Taxation System, supporting sellers to submit monthly or quarterly B2B declarations for multiple sales platforms and sites. Sellers only need to submit the declaration without paying taxes. B2B declaration is also known as ZM declaration, the full name of which is Zusammenfassende Meldung (S18a UStG), which means “cross-border B2B tax-free declaration between EU countries”.

2. Checklist for B2B declaration documents

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1. Cross-border B2B sales within the EU: i.e., real B2B sales from Germany (sellers selling goods to business customers in other EU countries from German warehouses)

2. Storage and transfer of FC-Transfer: i.e., the seller’s goods in German warehouses are automatically transferred to warehouses in other EU member countries through Amazon’s storage agreement.

3. B2B declaration process on EU Taxation System

Step 1: Log in to the EU Taxation System website, click [VAT]-[Declaration]-[Tax Declaration], sort out the “abbreviation of countries with valid tax numbers + tax number” information of all country sites under your company’s store that you are declaring for, complete it to the following interface, and click [One-Key Validation of Tax Numbers].

Step 2: Select the sales platform, upload the corresponding sales report/data, and click [Start Tax Calculation].

Tips: If the platform you operate is part of [Other OMP Platforms] and [Non-OMP Platforms], the data related to cross-border B2B transactions needs to be counted and uploaded in the format of the system’s example for sales data (B2B declaration is for goods exported from Germany to other EU regions, and tax numbers of other EU countries need to be filled in here).

② OMP stands for Online Marketplace, such as Amazon, eBay, and other sales platforms that belong to other OMP platforms; non-OMP platforms refer to independent websites/local EU companies.

Step three: After clicking “Start Calculating Tax”, the Eurotax system will immediately calculate and display the data you uploaded. Sellers only need to verify the calculation results, click “Submit Declaration” after confirming that there are no errors, to complete the B2B declaration.

4. B2B declaration precautions

1. If the B2B quarterly declaration total exceeds 50,000€, according to German tax law, you need to submit a B2B declaration every month. The Eurotax system will automatically change your B2B declaration cycle to monthly reporting. Please pay attention to the change in the B2B declaration cycle and submit the declaration on time.

2. The B2B declaration total amount must be consistent with the 41 VAT declarations. If you modify any declaration, please check whether the VAT and B2B declarations are consistent.

3. If the operated store platform is Amazon, the system will calculate the relevant B2B data for you based on the sales data you uploaded.

Regarding B2B relocation, if you know the actual cost price of the product, you can click “Fill in ASIN cost price” to fill in the actual cost price corresponding to each ASIN. After filling in, the system will calculate the relocation data based on the data you filled in. If you cannot confirm the actual cost price of the product, there is no need to modify it. The system will calculate the relocation data based on the estimated cost price of the tax bureau. You can choose whether to fill in the actual cost price based on your own situation.

5. Common Q&A for B2B Declarations

Q: What is a B2B declaration? What is the difference between a B2B declaration and a VAT declaration?

A: The B2B declaration is for enterprise buyers’ orders (cross-border sales B2B) + relocation orders. Now overseas tax bureaus are becoming more and more strict in their declaration reviews and tax compliance. Therefore, if the data provided by the seller contains the B2B part, the corresponding B2B declaration should be submitted.

The European Taxation System is now offering free access to B2B portals for sellers. Follow the system’s prompts to download and upload data during the reporting period. The system will automatically calculate the amount, and the seller only needs to report it. Additionally, the data used for B2B reporting is the same as that used for VAT reporting.

Q: Do I need to make a B2B declaration if there are no sales data? After uploading the data, the system prompts that there are no B2B sales, do I still need to declare?

Yes, you still need to make a B2B declaration even if there are no sales data, and the seller can submit the declaration according to the system’s prompts.

Q: How do I operate the B2B declaration on eBay or other platforms?

The European Taxation System supports B2B reporting for multiple sales platforms. When making a declaration in the system, select “Other OMP platforms” and fill in the eBay platform data. The process for VAT sales data and historical operations is the same. Calculate the sales amount and fill it in the “Other OMP platform taxable sales” field. Calculate the B2B sales data yourself, and then fill in the B2B sales amount according to the data template provided by the system. If the B2B data is “0”, fill in “0” in the data template.

Q: What should I do if there is an error or omission in the German B2B declaration?

It is recommended that the seller correct the declaration. From the perspective of tax compliance, B2B declarations for the current period can only be made during the current period and cannot be merged into the next reporting period. Additionally, B2B declarations in the same reporting period must be consistent with the 41 items of VAT reporting.

Above all, we recommend that sellers check their declaration status to prevent incorrect or missed reporting.

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