Ecommerce (Amazon and Shopify)

Why one marketplace deposit hides four different problems

A Shopify or Amazon payout lands in the bank as a single figure. Underneath it sits gross sales, marketplace or payment-processor fees, refunds, and VAT collected on behalf of customers in a dozen different member states. Sellers who post that one number as revenue end up with a profit and loss that cannot answer a simple question: which country, which channel, which product is actually making money.

Finbryn connects Seller Central and Shopify to Xero or QuickBooks Online through A2X or Link My Books, so each payout arrives already split by channel, fee type and VAT rate before it hits the ledger. Our team then reconciles that feed against the bank statement and the platform's own reports directly, because connector data can lag during peak sales weeks.

VAT, OSS and the distance-selling threshold

Once total cross-border B2C sales of goods and digital services to consumers across the EU pass EUR 10,000 in a calendar year, VAT is due in the customer's member state rather than the seller's home state. The One Stop Shop scheme lets a seller register in a single member state and declare all of that cross-border VAT through one quarterly return instead of registering separately in every country sold into. We track a seller's running total against that EUR 10,000 threshold and flag it well before it is crossed, then prepare the OSS return data for the seller's VAT-registered fiscal representative or their own registration to file.

For goods imported from outside the EU in low-value parcels, the Import One Stop Shop covers consignments valued at EUR 150 or less, collecting VAT at the point of sale instead of at the border. We reconcile IOSS-reported VAT against actual shipment data so nothing is declared twice or missed.

What changes when a seller moves to Finbryn

The Xero or QuickBooks Online file stays owned by the client from day one. A named pod runs the account, with a recorded handover memo whenever that pod changes, and books are reconciled weekly rather than left until the quarter closes. Local statutory accounts and VAT filings still run through a credentialed local partner (an expert-comptable in France, a Steuerberater in Germany, or the equivalent elsewhere), because those are reserved activities in most member states; Finbryn's role is the preparation and reconciliation work that partner needs to sign off quickly. Pricing is published on the pricing page rather than quoted after a call, and terms are set out in your engagement letter.

Catch-up work is common for sellers who discover OSS exposure after crossing the threshold; we scope that separately by transaction volume before moving the account onto ongoing monthly bookkeeping.