Opening a store on a marketplace takes minutes, but your tax obligations start the moment you make your first sale. Here are the topics online sellers mix up most often.
1. Register first
If you sell regularly, you must register as a taxpayer. Marketplaces also ask for a tax certificate and company details when you open a store. Certain handmade products made at home may qualify for a tradesman exemption, but its limits and conditions must be checked carefully.
2. An invoice for every sale
Sales to individuals are usually documented with e-Archive invoices. Integrating your marketplace panel or invoicing software ensures an invoice is issued automatically for every order.
3. Commission and shipping are expenses
The marketplace invoices you for commission, shipping and service fees. These invoices are recorded as expenses and assessed for VAT. Every unrecorded commission invoice means paying more tax than necessary.
4. Payout ≠ sales
The amount reaching your bank is net of commission and deductions. In the books, sales are recorded gross and deductions separately — which is why monthly reconciliation with payout reports matters.
5. Returns in the right period
Returned items require a return invoice or return document, and sales must be corrected in the relevant period.
6. Marketplace withholding
Under recent rules, marketplaces withhold tax from payments to sellers. Because these amounts can be offset in your returns, they should be tracked separately in payout reports.
7. Selling abroad
If you sell abroad via platforms such as Etsy or Amazon, a VAT exemption may apply under e-export or micro-export rules, provided the customs documents are complete.
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