Amazon Raises UK Fees by 2% After the Digital Services Tax

In brief: the UK introduced a Digital Services Tax (DST) in spring 2020 — a 2% tax on revenue some large tech companies earn from UK users. Amazon absorbed it while the law went through, then from 1 September 2020 raised four UK fees by 2% to pass the cost on: referral fees, FBA fulfilment fees, monthly FBA storage fees and Multi-Channel Fulfilment fees. The rise wasn't backdated.

Which fees rose for the 2020 digital services tax

Fee	Change from 1 September 2020
Referral fees	+2%
FBA fulfilment fees	+2%
Monthly FBA storage fees	+2%
Multi-Channel Fulfilment fees	+2%

How the fee evolved

• 2020: DST built into the base fees (this change).
• October 2024: Amazon took it back out of the base fees and charged a separate digital services fee instead — see the standalone digital services fee.
• March 2026: the fee was re-based on the tax rate where the sale happens — see the 2026 digital services fee changes.

A worked example

A seller paying £4,000 a month in referral fees and £3,000 in FBA fees saw about £140 a month more from September 2020 (2% of £7,000), before any change in sales.

What it means for your bookkeeping

• The cost was invisible at first. Between 2020 and October 2024 the DST cost sat inside your referral and FBA fees, so fee lines rose without any new line appearing. Year-on-year comparisons across September 2020 should allow for it.
• UK VAT position. Before August 2024, Amazon's UK seller fees were billed from Luxembourg and handled under the reverse charge — see the August 2024 VAT on fees change.
• Price reviews. A 2% rise on fees is small per sale, but it compounds across every fee type and every order.

How TrueBooks helps

TrueBooks posts each Amazon fee type from every settlement to its own account in Xero with the correct VAT for its date, so you can see how DST-related changes moved your costs over time. See the Amazon Xero integration.