For UK sellers on Shopify, Amazon, eBay and Etsy. Marketplace payments often arrive in your bank account as one net figure after fees, refunds and VAT adjustments. We break that payment back down into the full transaction detail, so your accounts show your real sales, costs and margins, not just the amount the platform paid out.
Marketplaces like Amazon and Shopify deposit a single "Net Payout" into your bank account. That deposit has already had seller fees, shipping costs, and customer refunds deducted. The platform's settlement report is the only place those components are itemised.
Recording the deposit as "Sales" understates your gross turnover, miscalculates your VAT position, and hides what the platform charged you to sell. Getting this right means breaking every deposit back into its component parts.
We set up software integrations like Link My Books and A2X to break those deposits down from the settlement reports.
The settlement data is categorised in your digital bookkeeping software. Gross sales are recorded against the right product lines, payment-gateway fees (Stripe, PayPal, Klarna) are mapped to expenses, and the VAT position is calculated against current HMRC treatment rather than reconstructed at quarter-end. Our UK VAT guide covers Standard VAT, the Flat Rate Scheme, Cash Accounting, and the 16.5% limited-cost-trader rate that can make the Flat Rate Scheme expensive once cross-border volumes change the cost mix on your return.
We track cost of goods per product, handle VAT across the countries you sell into, and reconcile your payouts against each marketplace settlement.
Cross-border selling creates a multi-jurisdiction VAT position that has to be set up correctly from the start. UK VAT, the EU One-Stop Shop (OSS) and Import OSS each have their own registration triggers, return cycles and treatment of marketplace deemed-supplier rules. We break down your sales by destination, register you on the right schemes, and submit each VAT return from reconciled platform data rather than reassembled spreadsheets.
Your margin is not just sale price minus manufacturing cost. We track freight, customs duties, and 3PL storage so each SKU has a Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) figure you can rely on.
Through our management accounts, we review Return on Ad Spend, customer acquisition cost, and inventory turnover so you can judge whether to commit more cash to stock.
We check how sales, refunds and fees reach your VAT records and set up the digital links your software needs. Spreadsheets and file imports can form part of the process; retyping figures between programs does not count as a required digital link.
When turnover grows, a limited company structure can reduce personal tax and separate business liabilities. We manage the transition to a Limited Company and the ongoing accounts that follow.
We calculate your year-end Corporation Tax ahead of time, including director remuneration, dividend decisions and the return itself, so the liability is known well before it lands.
Marketplaces deposit net payouts, which already have fees, refunds and shipping deducted. We use integration software like A2X or Link My Books to break those deposits down, so gross sales, individual fees, refunds and VAT each land against the right ledger line instead of collapsed into a single revenue figure.
If your rolling 12-month taxable turnover exceeds the UK VAT threshold, you must register. When you sell internationally, the rules change. We help you navigate domestic VAT, zero-rated international exports, and the EU One-Stop Shop (OSS) thresholds.
Landed cost is the total price of getting your product to the customer, including manufacturing, sea or air freight, customs duties, and 3PL storage. We include this in your management accounts so you can see the margin per item and price with the full cost in front of you.
Marketplace transaction reconciliation across all your sales channels.
ServiceMulti-channel VAT compliance, including cross-border and marketplace obligations.
GuidePayout reconciliation, cross-border VAT, landed costs, and MTD digital links.
A short call with an accountant who works with online sellers. We look at the payout data, the landed-cost picture per SKU, and the digital links into your accounting software, then come back with a written proposal.
Request a consultationFrom 1 July 2026, the temporary €3 customs duty applies to distance-sale imports in consignments with an intrinsic value of no more than €150. It is charged by tariff item category within the consignment, rather than once per parcel or once per physical unit. Five identical T-shirts can be one €3 category; a T-shirt and a watch can mean €6. IOSS remains a VAT scheme, not a duty exemption.
The rule covers relevant imports under IOSS, special arrangements and ordinary import VAT. Preferential-origin or customs-union relief may be available under the ordinary H1 declaration route where IOSS has not been used. Dispatch from Great Britain does not itself prove UK origin. Confirm the product classification, origin evidence, declarant and carrier charges before quoting the delivered price.
Under IOSS, there is no import VAT on the duty. If you charge the duty to the buyer at checkout, that charge forms part of the VAT consideration. Under ordinary import VAT or special arrangements, duty enters the import VAT taxable amount. Keep duty, VAT and carrier charges separate in the records.
On 21 September 2026, the Commission adopted the Union handling fee amount at €2 per customs item. It covers qualifying distance-sale imports above €150 as well as lower-value consignments. It is additional to any customs duty. Official guidance expects collection from 1 November 2026, subject to the delegated act completing the EU procedure. The legal start is the tenth day after that act enters into force.
Include the expected fee in forward landed-cost and margin forecasts, with separate amounts for duty, import VAT and carrier or broker administration charges. Confirm how your carrier or platform will pass it through. Our EU VAT guide explains customs items, payment responsibility, returns and VAT treatment.
Checked 7 October 2026 against the adopted fee-setting act and Commission guidance dated 5 October 2026. A final Official Journal application date has not been verified. The temporary €3 duty runs to 30 June 2028, subject to subsequent changes. These examples concern imports from Great Britain or elsewhere outside the EU; Northern Ireland goods follow separate arrangements.
