Sales tax and VAT software for Amazon sellers
Amazon collects and remits sales tax on the orders it facilitates, in 46 states plus DC and Puerto Rico. It also states that it does not file taxes on your behalf, and it does not tell you that 27 states count those same orders toward your own nexus threshold. Commenda covers the rest of the obligation, across all 50 states and 70+ countries.
Trusted by global businesses
Amazon collects. You still register and file
Amazon calculates, collects, and remits on the orders it facilitates. It also states that it is not responsible for filing taxes on your behalf, and that you may still have a reporting obligation on the tax it collected. Commenda covers all 50 states and 70+ countries.
Amazon sales still move your own threshold
27 states count the orders Amazon already taxed toward your own economic nexus threshold. 18 exclude them. California and Texas both count them against $500,000. Commenda measures each state on its own rule and notifies you at 80%.
FBA inventory may be nexus, and states disagree
Washington counts inventory held by a marketplace facilitator as physical presence. Illinois says marketplace-only stock is not, until the same stock fulfills one of your own orders. Commenda tracks where your inventory sits and applies each state's rule.
Coverage comparison
What Amazon collects, and what it leaves with you
Amazon is a marketplace facilitator, so row one is a straight yes. The rest is still yours, and Amazon says so. Its figures come from Marketplace Tax Collection, Marketplace Withheld Tax, its tax exemption program, its VAT calculation service, and the FAQ announcing the end of VAT Services on Amazon, checked on July 30, 2026. The threshold and FBA rows come from state tax authorities and our US nexus guide, because Amazon reports on neither.
Calculating and collecting tax at checkout
- Amazon
- Handled on Amazon orders. US sales tax in 46 states, EU VAT in its EU stores
- Commenda
- Calculated on every other channel, with Amazon orders left untouched
Registrations for collecting tax
- Amazon
- Not handled. Amazon says you must register yourself before collecting anywhere else
- Commenda
- Permits in all 50 states, EU VAT with OSS and IOSS, GST across APAC and Canada
Filing and remitting your own returns
- Amazon
- Not handled. Amazon states it does not file taxes on your behalf
- Commenda
- Filed and remitted in all 50 states, amendments included
Do Amazon sales count toward your threshold?
- Amazon
- Not reported. They count in 27 states and are excluded in 18
- Commenda
- Measured on each state's own rule, with alerts at 80% before you cross
Nexus from FBA inventory
- Amazon
- Not flagged. Whether your FBA stock counts as nexus depends on the state
- Commenda
- Inventory locations tracked per state, on each state's rule, plus trailing nexus
Filing VAT and GST outside the United States
- Amazon
- Ended. Amazon closed its own VAT filing programme on October 31, 2024
- Commenda
- Registered and filed across 70+ countries from one platform
Exemption certificates
- Amazon
- Buyer-side only. Shoppers enroll their own documents to purchase exempt
- Commenda
- Collected, validated, stored, and applied automatically where valid
| Amazon |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Calculating and collecting tax at checkout | Handled on Amazon orders. US sales tax in 46 states, EU VAT in its EU stores | Calculated on every other channel, with Amazon orders left untouched |
| Registrations for collecting tax | Not handled. Amazon says you must register yourself before collecting anywhere else | Permits in all 50 states, EU VAT with OSS and IOSS, GST across APAC and Canada |
| Filing and remitting your own returns | Not handled. Amazon states it does not file taxes on your behalf | Filed and remitted in all 50 states, amendments included |
| Do Amazon sales count toward your threshold? | Not reported. They count in 27 states and are excluded in 18 | Measured on each state's own rule, with alerts at 80% before you cross |
| Nexus from FBA inventory | Not flagged. Whether your FBA stock counts as nexus depends on the state | Inventory locations tracked per state, on each state's rule, plus trailing nexus |
| Filing VAT and GST outside the United States | Ended. Amazon closed its own VAT filing programme on October 31, 2024 | Registered and filed across 70+ countries from one platform |
| Exemption certificates | Buyer-side only. Shoppers enroll their own documents to purchase exempt | Collected, validated, stored, and applied automatically where valid |
Calculate taxes globally on Amazon using Commenda
Every Amazon order carries the tax Amazon collected on it. Commenda reads that figure and leaves it alone, so it is never charged or filed twice. Your own store, your distributors, and your wholesale invoices get tax calculated at the ship-to address instead. One ledger holds both, and every line shows the channel it came from.
Track your global exposure from Amazon
Amazon reports what it collected. It does not tell you that 27 states count your Amazon revenue toward a threshold of your own, and that California and Texas both set that at $500,000. Commenda measures those same orders against economic and physical thresholds in all 50 states and 70+ countries, on each state's own rule, and notifies you at 80%.
Automatically remit transactions around the world
Amazon states it does not file taxes on your behalf, and that you may still have a reporting obligation on the tax it collected. Its own marketplace tax report says on its face not to use it to remit. Commenda builds the return from your order lines instead, across all 50 states, plus EU VAT with OSS and GST in APAC and Canada.
Manage your customers and exemptions in one place
Amazon's tax exemption program works on the buyer side, for shoppers who enroll to purchase exempt. It does not gather certificates for the wholesale and distributor sales you invoice yourself, and those need one per delivery state. Commenda collects them through a self-service portal, validates each on upload, applies it automatically where valid, and chases expiries.
Consolidation
Why Amazon collecting tax is not the same as being compliant
Marketplace facilitator rules moved the collection to Amazon. They did not move the registration, the return, or the threshold. Knowing your real position means knowing which revenue arrived already taxed, which states count it anyway, and where your inventory is sitting. Commenda solves that.
Amazon collecting the tax does not stop your threshold moving
This is the part sellers get wrong. 27 states count sales made through a registered marketplace facilitator toward your own economic nexus threshold, and 18 exclude them. California and Texas both count them against a $500,000 threshold, so $600,000 of Amazon revenue registers you in either state on Amazon sales alone. Pennsylvania excludes sales by a facilitator that collects and counts sales by one that does not, so the answer turns on which marketplace it was as well as which state.
FBA puts your inventory where it likes, and states disagree what that means
With FBA you do not choose the warehouse, and the rule changes at the state line. Washington lists inventory held by a marketplace facilitator as physical presence, and California treats a seller who stores inventory in a California fulfillment center as engaged in business there. Illinois goes the other way with a catch worth knowing: stock used strictly for marketplace orders is not physical presence, and the moment that same stock fulfills one of your own sales it is.
The return still has to reconcile to what Amazon collected
Amazon states you may continue to have a reporting obligation for the tax it collects and remits on your sales. Its own Marketplace Tax Collection Report is labelled informational only, with an instruction not to use it to remit sales tax. We have scoped multi-marketplace sellers whose previous provider pulled that data at state level, missed the line-level detail, and filed on roughly $90 of a $100 Amazon invoice. It was raised every quarter and never fixed. Reading the order lines is the difference.
One ledger behind every channel
Amazon is rarely the only source of revenue. A direct storefront, a second marketplace, and a set of distributors all land in the same exposure figure, and only some of it arrives already taxed. Every source connects to one ledger, across 100+ supported integrations, and each transaction carries its origin, product tax code, and any tax already collected. That gives one number per state and one return per period, which is what global indirect tax at Commenda covers. If you only need the combined rate at a single delivery address, the sales tax calculator does that on its own.
What it takes
What global indirect tax takes on Amazon
Amazon publishes two prices that matter here: its selling plan fees, and 2.9% of every tax amount its calculation service works out. Marketplace Tax Collection itself carries no separate charge. Everything else Amazon publishes is scope, so the rest of these rows are what each capability depends on.
| What you need | What Amazon requires | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Sales tax collected on your Amazon orders | Nothing. Amazon states it is responsible to calculate, collect, remit, and refund state sales tax on third-party sales, and that all US states with a sales tax had enacted these laws as of January 1, 2023 | US Marketplace Tax Collection FAQ |
| Your own returns filed from that collection | A provider of your own. Amazon states it is not responsible for filing taxes on your behalf, and that it does not report or remit taxes on behalf of any seller to government authorities | Marketplace Withheld Tax |
| Local taxes carved out of that collection | Your own registration, jurisdiction by jurisdiction. Amazon names Colorado home rule cities, some Alaska cities and boroughs, and Illinois retail occupation tax before December 31, 2021 | US Marketplace Tax Collection FAQ |
| Permission to collect anywhere Amazon does not | Your own registration first. Amazon states you must register with the appropriate tax authority to obtain a tax registration number before collecting any sales and use tax | State Tax Registration Numbers |
| Tax calculated in a jurisdiction Amazon does not cover | A Professional selling plan plus 2.9% of every tax amount calculated. Amazon states individual sellers are not eligible for tax calculation service or sales tax reporting at all, and that its rates come from Vertex | Tax Calculation Service terms |
| Those amounts actually remitted | You remit them. Amazon states the tax it calculates on orders to non-collection states is paid to you with your normal disbursement, for you to remit to individual taxing authorities | Tax calculation services |
| Tax calculated correctly on a given product | A product tax code on every item. Amazon states that without one it will not calculate any tax amounts for that product, and that the calculation result defaults to non-taxable | Set up tax calculation services |
| A sales tax report at all | A Professional plan, and a US, Canadian, or Mexican marketplace. Amazon states report generation is only supported in those regions, and that its marketplace collection report must not be used to remit | Sales tax information in seller reports |
| VAT calculated on your European orders | Enrollment plus at least one valid EU or UK VAT number, at no extra fee. Amazon lists generation of VAT returns among the things the service does not support | VAT Calculation Service terms |
| Those VAT returns actually filed | A third-party provider. Amazon states it decided to end the VAT Services on Amazon programme on October 31, 2024, and automatically unsubscribed enrolled sellers | VAT Services on Amazon FAQ |
| What Amazon charges you to sell | $39.99 per month on the Professional plan or $0.99 per item on the Individual plan, plus referral fees by category. Amazon states it does not apply the 2.9% fee to Marketplace Tax Collection | Selling plan pricing |
Sales tax collected on your Amazon orders
Nothing. Amazon states it is responsible to calculate, collect, remit, and refund state sales tax on third-party sales, and that all US states with a sales tax had enacted these laws as of January 1, 2023
US Marketplace Tax Collection FAQYour own returns filed from that collection
A provider of your own. Amazon states it is not responsible for filing taxes on your behalf, and that it does not report or remit taxes on behalf of any seller to government authorities
Marketplace Withheld TaxLocal taxes carved out of that collection
Your own registration, jurisdiction by jurisdiction. Amazon names Colorado home rule cities, some Alaska cities and boroughs, and Illinois retail occupation tax before December 31, 2021
US Marketplace Tax Collection FAQPermission to collect anywhere Amazon does not
Your own registration first. Amazon states you must register with the appropriate tax authority to obtain a tax registration number before collecting any sales and use tax
State Tax Registration NumbersTax calculated in a jurisdiction Amazon does not cover
A Professional selling plan plus 2.9% of every tax amount calculated. Amazon states individual sellers are not eligible for tax calculation service or sales tax reporting at all, and that its rates come from Vertex
Tax Calculation Service termsThose amounts actually remitted
You remit them. Amazon states the tax it calculates on orders to non-collection states is paid to you with your normal disbursement, for you to remit to individual taxing authorities
Tax calculation servicesTax calculated correctly on a given product
A product tax code on every item. Amazon states that without one it will not calculate any tax amounts for that product, and that the calculation result defaults to non-taxable
Set up tax calculation servicesA sales tax report at all
A Professional plan, and a US, Canadian, or Mexican marketplace. Amazon states report generation is only supported in those regions, and that its marketplace collection report must not be used to remit
Sales tax information in seller reportsVAT calculated on your European orders
Enrollment plus at least one valid EU or UK VAT number, at no extra fee. Amazon lists generation of VAT returns among the things the service does not support
VAT Calculation Service termsThose VAT returns actually filed
A third-party provider. Amazon states it decided to end the VAT Services on Amazon programme on October 31, 2024, and automatically unsubscribed enrolled sellers
VAT Services on Amazon FAQWhat Amazon charges you to sell
$39.99 per month on the Professional plan or $0.99 per item on the Individual plan, plus referral fees by category. Amazon states it does not apply the 2.9% fee to Marketplace Tax Collection
Selling plan pricing
Figures verified on July 30, 2026.
From the field
Trusted by businesses across the globe
“The platform works exactly the way I need it to. I have one team member who manages all of our exemption certificates, and that functionality has been particularly efficient for us. It allows him to handle everything seamlessly, making the handoff significantly easier.”
VP of Finance, TRX
Compare Commenda sales tax software with competitors
Most tools built for Amazon sellers stop at the marketplace report. We compare the options on coverage, ratings, and real pricing, and we say where each one wins.
More sales tax resources
Guides from the Commenda team on nexus thresholds, EU warehousing, back periods, and resale certificates.
Frequently asked questions
Custom integration support for your business
Most Amazon sellers run a second marketplace, a direct store, or a wholesale book alongside it. We map every channel, work out which revenue already carries tax, and build the connections to match, with no engineering work on your side.
Indirect Tax
Monitor nexus exposure, register, file, and remit sales tax and VAT in one platform. Commenda keeps you compliant across 100+ jurisdictions.
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