Got a letter from the Czech tax office? What it means for Amazon sellers

First: don’t ignore it

A letter from the finanční úřad — the Czech tax office — is unsettling when it arrives in a language you can’t read, about a country you may never have set foot in. So let’s start with the two things that matter most.

One: this is fixable. Amazon sellers receive letters like this because their stock sat in a Czech warehouse, often without them realising it. You are not the first, and there is a standard path out — respond, register if needed, catch up on filings, stay compliant. Every step of it can be handled for you.

Two: the deadline in the letter is real. Czech administrative correspondence typically sets a date by which you must respond. Missing it doesn’t make the matter go away — it takes your side of the story out of the process and lets the office proceed on the data it already has. Whatever else you do, respond before that date, even if the response is simply that you’ve appointed someone to handle the matter for you.

Why they wrote to you: they already have the data

The Czech tax office doesn’t write to random foreign companies. If you’ve received a letter, it’s almost certainly because the office already holds data connecting your business to the Czech Republic.

• + DAC7 reporting. Under EU rules known as DAC7, platform operators like Amazon report seller identity and turnover to EU tax authorities. The reporting is automatic, it happens quarterly, and the data is exchanged between member states. Nobody at the tax office had to go looking for you — the report arrived on its own.
• + Goods moved into the Czech Republic. If you enabled the CEE programme (Germany + Poland + Czech Republic — usually chosen for the per-unit fulfilment fee discount), Amazon may have stored your goods in Czech fulfilment centres. The PRG warehouse code in your inventory reports means Prague — and under Czech law a non-established business storing goods there for sale must register for VAT, with no registration threshold, from the first taxable activity.

Put those together and the picture is clear: the letter is not a fishing expedition. It’s the office acting on information it already holds. That’s useful to know, because it tells you what a good response looks like — one that matches the facts in your Amazon reports, not one that hopes they’ll lose interest.

What the letter typically is

The exact content varies case by case, and nobody can tell you what yours says without reading it. But letters to foreign Amazon sellers generally fall into a few families:

• + a request to explain your activity in the Czech Republic — what you sell, where your goods are stored, since when;
• + a prompt to register for VAT, where the office believes a registration obligation exists;
• + a request to file returns — for sellers who are registered but have missed filings.

The letter will normally be in Czech, and it will normally state a deadline. Whichever family yours belongs to, the safe move is the same: work out precisely what is being asked, and respond within the deadline with accurate information. If any part of it is unclear, that’s a reason to get help — not a reason to wait.

Three things not to do

• + Don’t ignore it. The matter doesn’t expire; it escalates. Unanswered letters lead to the office deciding without you, and unresolved VAT obligations accrue penalties and late-payment interest for as long as they stay unresolved.
• + Don’t respond with guesses. An official reply becomes part of your file. Statements about where your stock was and when your activity started should come from your Amazon inventory and fulfilment reports — which show exactly which warehouses held your goods — not from memory.
• + Don’t register and then go silent. Registration is the start of your obligations, not the end of them. A Czech VAT number comes with monthly filings, and a registered business that files nothing creates a new problem on top of the old one. We wrote a separate guide on exactly this: registered for Czech VAT but not filing.

The fix path, in order

Here is the sequence that resolves this, whatever stage you’re at. Fees are fixed and quoted in writing before anything starts.

Not every seller needs every step. If you’re already registered, the path starts at back-filing. If the letter is a first enquiry and it turns out no obligation exists, the response itself may be the whole job. The point of starting with the free check is to find out which case you’re in before you spend anything.

You don’t have to write to a Czech authority yourself

Handling correspondence with the tax office is part of what Veritax does. Once engaged, we deal with the office directly and you get plain-English updates on what was asked, what was answered, and what happens next. Filings are prepared with a licensed Czech tax advisor in the loop, fees are fixed, and everything is in writing by email — no calls needed.

The worst part of the letter is the not-knowing: what it says, how bad it is, what it will cost to put right. All three are answerable within days. Get in touch and find out.