A US Amazon seller pays no VAT on Amazon ads and, in almost every state, no tax at all. The one exception is Washington State: since October 1, 2025, Amazon adds Washington sales tax to the ad invoice of any advertiser billed at a Washington address, from 7.6% to 10.7% depending on the city. No return gives it back, and registering for anything changes nothing. What does change it: a "multiple points of use" certificate in Seller Central, which legally limits the tax to the Washington share of your ads.
For Amazon sellers (FBA and FBM) based in the United States, from the Amazon Advertising Agreement, Amazon's help pages, Washington's laws and its Department of Revenue, checked in October 2026. This is information, not tax advice.
Check your own figures with our free Amazon Ads tax calculator
Who bills your ads, and what tax they add
As a seller, your US ads are billed by Amazon.com Services LLC. The Amazon Advertising Agreement names Amazon Advertising LLC, "or, if Customer is a seller under the Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement, Amazon.com Services LLC" for the United States (Amazon Advertising Agreement, posted July 23, 2026).
| Where you are billed | Tax Amazon adds | Can you get it back? |
|---|---|---|
| Washington | 7.6% to 10.7% | No |
| Any other state | None | Nothing to get back |
There is no VAT to reclaim in the US. Sales tax is not a VAT: no return credits you the tax paid on what you buy. A seller to consumers and a seller to businesses are in the same place: outside Washington, nothing is added; in Washington, the tax is a cost unless an exemption applies.
Your own sales: Amazon already collects the tax
You charge no sales tax yourself on Amazon orders. As a marketplace facilitator, "Amazon calculates, collects, remits, and refunds sales tax on third party sellers transactions destined to states where this legislation is enacted" (Marketplace Tax Collection). Its list covers every state with a sales tax, plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.
So the trade-off sellers face in VAT countries, register to reclaim the tax on your ads but charge it on every sale, does not exist here. There is nothing to register for, at any size.
Why Washington taxes your Amazon ads
A 2025 law made advertising a taxable retail sale. Washington's ESSB 5814 took effect on October 1, 2025. RCW 82.04.050 now covers "online referrals, search engine marketing" and "the acquisition of advertising space in the internet media".
Amazon applies it to "all Display and Sponsored Ads products" for advertisers with a Washington billing address. The tax shows as "a line item on your PDF invoice" (Washington State Sales Tax Requirements for Amazon Ads).
The rate is 6.5% for the state plus a local rate, from the Department of Revenue's table for October to December 2026:
| Location | Combined rate |
|---|---|
| Klickitat County (unincorporated) | 7.6% (the lowest) |
| Seattle | 10.55% |
| Edmonds, Lynnwood | 10.7% (the highest) |
What it costs a Seattle seller, at 10.55%:
| Ads per month | Tax per month | Tax per year |
|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | $105.50 | $1,266 |
| $5,000 | $527.50 | $6,330 |
| $20,000 | $2,110 | $25,320 |
The legal way to pay it on far less: a "multiple points of use" certificate
Amazon accepts two exemption certificates for advertising (Amazon Ads help).
A reseller certificate: not for you. Amazon accepts it from "an agency or reseller that purchases advertising services from Amazon for the purpose of resale to advertisers". You buy ads to sell your own products: you resell no advertising.
A multiple points of use (MPU) certificate: made for sellers who sell nationwide. RCW 82.08.0208(6): the sales tax "does not apply to the sale of advertising services when the buyer of the advertising services provides the seller with an exemption certificate claiming multiple points of use". Two conditions:
- You buy as a business, which an Amazon seller advertising its products does.
- Your ads are "concurrently available for use within and outside this state". The Department of Revenue "will presume there is concurrent use" when an ad is shown inside and outside Washington through servers. Ads on amazon.com reach shoppers in every state.
You then pay use tax on the Washington share yourself. The Department: the buyer pays "use tax on the amount apportioned to Washington". When you cannot know where your ads are seen, it accepts "a reasonable estimation method using internet usage statistics or other information" (Interim guidance on ESSB 5814).
Example: $5,000 of ads a month, billed in Seattle. Say 2% of the shoppers who see your ads are in Washington (our assumption, for the example):
| Per month | Without MPU | With MPU |
|---|---|---|
| Taxed amount | $5,000 | $100 |
| Tax at 10.55% | $527.50 | $10.55 |
| Per year | $6,330 | $126.60 |
Where to file it: Seller Central, not the Ads console. Amazon: "For sellers, you can submit the exemption certificate in Seller Central", through the Amazon Tax Exemption Program. It stays active until it expires: send a new one before then.
What it costs you: records of how you split your spend, and use tax returns to the Department. If it rejects your split, you owe the difference with interest. If you are unsure of your Washington share, ask the Department for a binding tax ruling before you rely on it.
Tax already paid: Amazon's help gives no procedure for refunding tax on invoices issued before your certificate. Washington's own limit for a refund is four years (RCW 82.32.060). Do not move your billing address out of Washington to dodge the tax: you would still owe use tax on the ads used there.
Other states: Maryland taxes the platform, not you
Maryland's digital advertising tax is owed by the platform. The law imposes it "on annual gross revenues of a person derived from digital advertising services in the State" (Maryland Tax-General § 7.5-102), at 2.5% to 10% depending on that company's global revenue (§ 7.5-103). The buyer of the ads is not the taxpayer.
Amazon Ads' help center has a sales tax page for one state only: Washington.
Frequently asked questions
Do I pay VAT on my amazon.co.uk or amazon.de ads as a US seller?
No. Amazon charges VAT on ads to advertisers based in the countries on its list of "Countries that collect tax on Electronically Supplied Services". The United States is not on it.
I also advertise on amazon.ca. Is that taxed?
Ads on amazon.ca are billed by Amazon Advertising Canada, Inc. Amazon asks advertisers based outside Canada that advertise in Canada for "their Canada GST number": if you are registered in Canada, enter it in Seller Central.
Which Washington rate applies to me?
The rate of the address on your billing profile. Amazon: "the address associated with that billing profile will be used to determine the tax location".
Check your figures
Work out what tax adds to your Amazon ads with our free calculator, then take the figure to your accountant before you file an exemption certificate.
In Seattle, every dollar wasted on a click that never sells costs you $1.1055: see how Amazon negative keywords work and automatic vs manual targeting. Self-publishing too? US KDP authors and tax on Amazon ads.
Sources
- Amazon Advertising Agreement (posted July 23, 2026, "Amazon Contracting Party"), Amazon Ads
- Washington State Sales Tax Requirements for Amazon Ads (September 23, 2025), Register your Tax ID and Countries that collect tax on Electronically Supplied Services, Amazon Ads help
- Marketplace Tax Collection, Amazon.com help
- Marketplace facilitators, Washington Department of Revenue
- Interim guidance statement on ESSB 5814 advertising services, Washington Department of Revenue
- Local sales and use tax rates, October to December 2026, Washington Department of Revenue
- Request a tax ruling, Washington Department of Revenue
- RCW 82.04.050, RCW 82.08.0208 (subsection 6) and RCW 82.32.060, Washington State Legislature
- Maryland Tax-General § 7.5-102 and § 7.5-103, Maryland General Assembly
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