## The week commencing 14 September 2026 brings important accounting, fulfilment and cross-border compliance actions for Amazon and Shopify sellers.
If you are looking for an **ecommerce accountant in the UK**, an **Amazon seller accountant UK** service, or structured **Shopify accounting UK** support, your priority should be accurate daily records. This means reconciling marketplace settlements, tracking VAT correctly, recording fulfilment costs and preparing for filing deadlines before they become urgent.
Prepare your Amazon FBA accounts for peak-season costs
Amazon’s UK festive season peak fulfilment fee applies from **15 October 2026 to 14 January 2027** for selected FBA orders.
For UK sellers, the fee applies to:
- Small and standard parcels fulfilled through local UK FBA.
- Large and extra-large envelopes.
- Remote Fulfilment orders from the EU to the UK.
The average additional charge is:
- £0.12 per parcel item.
- £0.07 per large or extra-large envelope item.
The fee does not apply to oversize items, Low-Price FBA items, apparel, or items delivered to buyers in other EU countries. The fee is determined when units leave the fulfilment centre, based on the ship date.
You should also include Amazon’s separate **1.5% fuel and logistics-related surcharge** in your calculations. This surcharge has applied year-round since **17 April 2026** and continues on top of the festive peak fee.
Do not rely on headline fee estimates. Review the exact impact on each SKU using Amazon’s Revenue Calculator and the FBA Fee Preview report. Then update your product margin reports and cash-flow forecasts.
This is essential for accurate **Amazon FBA accounting UK**. A product can appear profitable before fulfilment, storage, referral, advertising and peak-season charges are reconciled.
Track Amazon’s Q4 deadlines before inventory becomes expensive
Amazon’s key UK deadlines are now close.
For Prime Big Deal Days:
- Deal submissions remain open until **23 September 2026**.
- UK inventory should arrive by **16 September 2026** to support Prime badge eligibility.
For Black Friday Week:
- Deal submissions remain open until **18 November 2026**.
- UK inventory should arrive by **28 October 2026** to support Prime badge eligibility.
UK promotion fees include:
- £12 upfront per promotion.
- 0.75% of promotional sales, capped at £600.
Prime Exclusive Discounts also require a minimum product rating of **3.5**.
Record each promotion fee separately in your bookkeeping system. Do not combine Amazon promotion costs with general advertising. Separating these costs helps you measure the true return from each campaign and supports cleaner year-end accounts.
Amazon’s fulfilment centres typically focus on receiving inventory during September and October before shifting towards order processing in November and December. Inbound delivery slots can become limited, so use Capacity Manager and monitor your available receiving dates.
Keep FBM delivery data and customs records accurate
From **30 September 2026**, Amazon.co.uk sellers using Fulfilment by Merchant must maintain a business-hour delivery rate of at least **90%** for Amazon Business customers.
From **30 October 2026**, Amazon may deactivate listings for business customers where the requirement is not met.
Review your:
- Dispatch timestamps.
- Carrier collection records.
- Delivery confirmations.
- Business-hour delivery performance.
- Handling-time settings.
From **1 September 2026**, Amazon may enable Automated Handling Time for SKUs where the set handling time has exceeded actual performance for more than 30 days. Account-level default handling time settings now show only zero-day and one-day options, following the change introduced on **15 July 2026**.
For shipments under €150 imported under IOSS, new EU Customs Reform requirements also mean you must use approved couriers and provide Amazon’s IOSS number and the relevant ASIN details for each product.
Keep customs evidence with your sales records. This will help you reconcile import charges, identify the correct importer and respond quickly if Amazon or a customs authority requests documentation.
Monitor the proposed UK marketplace VAT liability rules
HMRC’s consultation on extending online marketplace VAT liability closed on **18 August 2026**. HMRC is now evaluating feedback, and legislation may follow in Finance Bill 2026–27.
The proposal would potentially make marketplaces jointly or fully liable for VAT on certain sales by UK-established sellers. This would extend the existing approach used for some overseas sellers since 2021.
The consultation targets VAT under-declaration and missing-trader behaviour, including:
- B2C sales incorrectly classified as B2B.
- Sellers fragmenting activity across multiple marketplace accounts.
- VAT not being declared on digital marketplace sales.
Nothing has changed in law yet. Continue applying the current VAT rules and maintain your own transaction records.
Read the full HMRC online marketplace VAT liability consultation. The practical lesson is simple: do not depend solely on marketplace reports. Keep a complete record of sales, refunds, VAT treatment, customer type and stock location.
Review MTD requirements for qualifying ecommerce income
HMRC began auto-enrolling eligible sole traders with qualifying income above £50,000 from September 2026 for the 2026/27 phase of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.
The second quarterly update for 2026/27 is due by **7 November 2026**. You must keep digital records and use compatible software.
If you operate an ecommerce business as a sole trader, review your 2024/25 qualifying income and confirm whether MTD applies to you. Include marketplace and direct-store income in your records, then reconcile the figures to bank deposits and payment processor reports.
Use HMRC’s MTD eligibility guidance to check your position.
Completing reconciliations weekly will reduce the risk of missing income, duplicating sales or submitting incomplete quarterly updates.
Apply the new UK VAT group refund process correctly
HMRC Revenue and Customs Brief 8 (2026), published on **8 September 2026**, changes how non-UK businesses in a UK VAT group claim UK VAT refunds.
A non-UK business that incurred the VAT must now submit its own refund claim. The UK VAT group’s representative member cannot claim the VAT unless it incurred that cost itself.
For the prescribed year from **1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026**, transitional arrangements allow claims from either:
- The individual non-UK group member that incurred the VAT.
- The representative member.
The deadline for these claims is **31 De
