On April 1, 2024, the Amazon UK team suddenly launched a challenge: Starting from April 1, 2019, Amazon will comply with legal requirements to fulfill the due diligence program for warehouse service operators. This will also mean that we will need to collect Import Entry Numbers (IENs) from non EU sellers who send goods to FBA warehouses in the UK.
The Amazon platform will send email notifications to these sellers, and if it knows or has reasonable grounds to suspect that the seller is not complying with their autonomous VAT or tariff obligations, Amazon may need to notify the relevant tax authorities.
And the sellers who received this email were all shocked. They asked various peer sellers and independent VAT tax authorities what IEN is. Today, the UK VAT special logistics company - Topquan editor will explain it to everyone.
IEN refers to the import declaration code, abbreviated as IEN. The customs clearance serial number generated during the import declaration of goods in the UK, which is located in the upper left corner of the C88/E2 document homepage. Generally, it is a combination of dock code, 7-digit code, and date, which has * consistency.
This means that those who previously used the double clearance and tax inclusive customs clearance mode according to general trade may not be able to provide IEN numbers for each seller. If the seller clears customs with their own VAT number, there will be a separate IEN code on C88.
If the seller is using a tax inclusive channel, the concept of tax inclusive is that one VAT number can clear customs for goods from multiple different stores, and the carrier can also provide IEN, which means that different stores in the same tax inclusive bill of lading use the same code.
But in this case, Amazon may later question whether the main VAT bound to the store is different from the independent VAT bound to the IEN we provide. When it comes to tax coverage, sellers on the European site generally rely on three methods to send their goods to FBA warehouses.
1. Complete dependence on double taxation?;
2. Report taxes with your own VAT?;
3. Combining the two, some adopt double clearance and inclusive tax, while others use independent VAT tax reporting.
Previously, one way was the main force, also known as the 'suicide squad'. Because everyone knows in their hearts that double clearance tax is a seller's tax evasion, and tax evasion without paying taxes is illegal and irregular.
But the recent IEN incident in the UK, coupled with the "3.11 Germany mass account suspension" incident and other events, all of these phenomena and constantly changing rules indicate that the European site will usher in a major reshuffle, with the trend towards "VAT" universalization, compliance, and taxation. The market will gradually clear and become more formal.