An EORI number is a customs identification number, not a tax registration. You need one whenever your goods cross a customs border and a declaration is lodged in your name — which for Amazon sellers means importing stock into a UK or EU fulfilment centre. The rule that trips people up is that the UK and the EU now run two separate registers: HMRC issues GB numbers, and each EU member state’s customs authority issues EU numbers. If you import into both, you need one from each side. Both systems apply the same test: you register where your business is established, or — if it is not established there — with the customs authority for the place where you first carry out a customs activity.
This is a compliance-orientation guide, not tax or customs advice. Every rule below is quoted from a government or European Commission page and dated, but none of it can tell you what your own position is — that turns on where your business is established and who is named as importer on the declaration. Read the official pages linked here and confirm with the relevant customs authority or a licensed adviser before you act.
An EORI Number Is Not a VAT Number
This is the most common confusion around the term, and it costs sellers real money when a freight forwarder is handed the wrong number.
A VAT number registers you with a tax authority so you can charge, reclaim and remit value added tax. An EORI number registers you with a customs authority so your consignments can be identified when they cross a border. Different processes, different purposes, and holding one does not give you the other.
The European Commission defines the EORI as a number that is “mandatory for the clearance of all types of customs operations in the customs territory of the EU, such as import, export and transit” (European Commission, Taxation and Customs Union, data checked 2026-08-14). Nothing in that definition concerns tax rates, returns or thresholds.
They touch in one place. In the UK, import VAT under postponed VAT accounting is “recorded against your EORI number”, and “your business must be registered for VAT in the UK to use postponed VAT accounting” (HMRC guidance, updated 16 June 2025, data checked 2026-08-14). The two numbers must be linked correctly on the declaration — but they remain separate registrations.
If your actual question is about VAT registration rather than customs identity, the separate map of VAT registration thresholds by country covers when a VAT obligation starts, and how to vet an EU/UK VAT provider covers who files it for you.
Who Needs a GB EORI Number
The UK rule is written around movement, not business size. HMRC’s start page states that you may need an EORI number “if you move goods between Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) or the Isle of Man and any other country (including the EU)” (GOV.UK, Get an EORI number, data checked 2026-08-14).
The carve-out is narrow: HMRC states you do not need one “if you’re moving goods that are both: not controlled goods [and] for personal use only” (same page). Commercial stock heading for a fulfilment centre is not personal use.
The number is used where a declaration is made. HMRC lists that you will need it if you “make customs declarations” and “use customs systems, such as the Customs Declaration Service and the Import Control System 2” (same page). A forwarder or broker operates those systems in practice, but the declaration is lodged against your identity when you are the importer — which is why they ask for the number before the shipment sails.
There is an establishment condition attached. HMRC states that “your business usually needs to have premises based in the country you want to import to or export from” (same page), and its detailed guidance puts the general rule plainly: “Economic Operators (EOs) must register for an EORI with the customs authorities in the country in which they are established” (GOV.UK, EORI place of registration, updated 10 September 2025, data checked 2026-08-14). Sellers established outside the UK are not shut out of the form — HMRC states non-UK businesses do not need a UTR, SIC code or National Insurance number — but establishment status shapes what else may apply, including who can act as your representative. Confirm that with HMRC or an adviser for your entity.
Northern Ireland is a separate track. HMRC issues XI EORI numbers for permitted customs activity there, and its application guidance states you must hold a GB EORI number first and meet Northern Ireland establishment requirements. The place-of-registration guidance also warns that operators “should not hold both an EORI number issued by an EU country and an XI EORI” (data checked 2026-08-14). If your route touches Northern Ireland, read that page in full.
Who Needs an EU EORI Number
The EU rule is a blanket requirement for customs clearance, not a threshold you cross. Per the European Commission, an EORI number “is mandatory for the clearance of all types of customs operations in the customs territory of the EU, such as import, export and transit” (data checked 2026-08-14). If your stock is entering an EU fulfilment centre, a customs operation is happening.
Two structural facts matter more than the requirement itself.
One number, EU-wide. The Commission states that “at any point in time, a person can be assigned only one valid EORI number” (data checked 2026-08-14). You do not collect a separate EORI for every EU marketplace you sell on.
Where you register depends on establishment. For businesses established in the EU, HMRC’s guidance describes the same rule from the outside: EU-based operators “register for an EU EORI with the customs authority of the EU country where they are established” (GOV.UK, EORI place of registration, updated 10 September 2025). For everyone else, the Commission gives an explicit fallback: “For economic operators with no establishment in EU customs territory, this is the EU country in which they intend to carry out their first customs operation, i.e. lodge a declaration or apply for a decision” (data checked 2026-08-14).
Read that fallback carefully, because it answers the question most US, UK and Chinese sellers actually have. You do not pick a member state by tax rate or by which one your agent prefers. The relevant state is where your first customs operation takes place — typically your first port of entry, a logistics decision made when you book the freight.
The two registers are separate systems: HMRC issues GB numbers for movements into and out of Great Britain, a member state authority assigns EU numbers for the EU customs territory. A seller importing into both should not assume one covers the other.
How to Apply: United Kingdom
Applications go through HMRC’s own service, linked from the Get an EORI number start page. You sign in with Government Gateway credentials, creating them during the process if you do not already have them.
HMRC’s application page lists what you need to have to hand:
| Information | Who needs it |
|---|---|
| Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) | UK businesses |
| Business start date and Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code | UK businesses |
| VAT number and effective date of registration | Anyone already VAT registered |
| National Insurance number | Individuals and sole traders |
Source: GOV.UK, Apply for an EORI number, data checked 2026-08-14. HMRC states that non-UK businesses do not need the UTR, SIC code or National Insurance number.
On timing, HMRC states: “You’ll get your GB EORI number immediately unless HMRC needs to make any checks on your application. If they do, it can take up to 5 working days.” For Northern Ireland numbers it states: “You’ll get your XI EORI within 5 days” (data checked 2026-08-14).
Neither HMRC page consulted on 2026-08-14 states an application fee for the registration itself. That is an observation about what the pages say, not a guarantee that no cost arises anywhere in the process — a customs agent’s service fee is a separate matter, and one of the line items worth itemising in any compliance provider quote.
Verify a number after issue with HMRC’s public checker at gov.uk/check-eori-number (checked 2026-08-14).
How to Apply: European Union
There is no single EU-wide application form. Registration is handled by national customs authorities, so the entry point is the customs administration of the relevant member state — the one where you are established, or, if you are established outside the EU customs territory, the one where you intend to carry out your first customs operation (European Commission, data checked 2026-08-14).
The practical sequence for a non-EU seller runs in this order:
- Decide the route and the port of entry with your freight forwarder, because that determines the member state.
- Apply to that member state’s customs authority. Procedures, languages and required documents differ between states — this is the part no generic guide can standardise for you.
- Validate the issued number in the Commission’s public database at ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/dds2/eos (checked 2026-08-14), which confirms whether a given EORI is valid across the EU customs territory.
Because member state procedures diverge, do not take a figure or timeline from a service provider’s blog as the rule for your country. Go to that authority’s own page.
Where EORI Meets Your Amazon Account
An EORI is not something you enter into Seller Central to switch on a feature. It appears earlier, in the freight and customs paperwork, and it attaches to whoever is named as the importer on the declaration.
That last point is worth being deliberate about. The importer of record is the party legally responsible for the import — for the declaration, for duty and import VAT, and for the goods meeting local requirements. If that party is you, the declaration carries your EORI, and the consequences follow you: import VAT recovery, customs correspondence, and any assessment if something was declared incorrectly.
Two checks belong in the same conversation with your forwarder: whether your EORI is correctly linked to the VAT number you intend to reclaim import VAT against, and whether the party you appointed is acting in your name or in their own. Both are settled in the booking. Choosing a freight forwarder covers the selection side.
What we could not verify on 2026-08-14: Amazon’s own Seller Central help pages on import delivery requirements returned a page shell without readable content to a logged-out browser. Statements circulating about Amazon’s position on acting as importer of record for FBA inventory are therefore left unquoted here rather than presented as confirmed. Check the current wording inside your own Seller Central account before relying on it.
If your goods are low-value consignments sold to EU consumers rather than bulk stock moved into a fulfilment centre, the import mechanics differ and are covered in the IOSS guide.
Common Mistakes
Assuming the VAT number is enough. Different register, different issuing body. A forwarder asking for your EORI is not asking for your VAT number in other words.
Assuming a GB EORI works in the EU. HMRC issues GB numbers; EU member state authorities issue EU numbers. Importing into both means two registrations.
Applying for several EU numbers. The Commission states a person can hold only one valid EORI number at a time. Applying repeatedly in different member states does not create a portfolio.
Letting the agent pick the member state by habit. For a business established outside the EU, the Commission ties registration to the state of the first customs operation — a consequence of the route you book, so decide the route knowingly.
Leaving it until the freight is booked. HMRC’s stated GB timing is immediate in the ordinary case, up to 5 working days if checks are needed, XI within 5 days (data checked 2026-08-14). Member state timings are set nationally and are not covered by those figures.
Treating a provider’s blog as the rule. The conditions here come from HMRC, the Commission and national customs authorities; anything else is a secondary account, and secondary accounts age badly. The same discipline applies when selecting an agency or compliance provider.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is an EORI number the same as a VAT number?
No. A VAT number is a tax registration; an EORI number is a customs identification number that the European Commission describes as “mandatory for the clearance of all types of customs operations in the customs territory of the EU” (data checked 2026-08-14). They come from different authorities. The two are linked on a UK import declaration when import VAT is accounted for, but one does not substitute for the other.
Do I need both a UK and an EU EORI number?
If you import into Great Britain and into the EU, you are dealing with two separate registers: HMRC issues GB numbers, and an EU member state’s customs authority issues EU numbers for the EU customs territory. Whether both apply to you depends on your actual movements and on who is named as importer — confirm your case with the relevant authority.
Can a seller based outside the UK and EU get one?
Both systems anchor registration to establishment. HMRC states a business “usually needs to have premises based in the country you want to import to or export from”, while its application page states non-UK businesses do not need a UTR, SIC code or National Insurance number to apply. On the EU side, the Commission provides an express route for operators with no EU establishment: they register in the country of their first customs operation (data checked 2026-08-14).
How long does an EORI number take?
For Great Britain, HMRC states you get the number immediately unless checks are needed, in which case up to 5 working days; XI numbers within 5 days (data checked 2026-08-14). EU timings are set by each member state and are not published as a single figure.
How do I check whether an EORI number is valid?
The UK checker is at gov.uk/check-eori-number and the European Commission runs a public EORI validation database (both checked 2026-08-14).
Conclusion
The useful mental model is two registers and one question. The registers are the UK’s, run by HMRC, and the EU’s, run by member state customs authorities under a common Commission framework — separate systems that do not substitute for each other. The question is where your business is established, because both anchor registration to establishment, with a defined fallback for those established in neither.
Everything else follows from your shipping route and from who is named as importer on the declaration — facts about your business that no guide can supply. Take the quoted rules above to the official pages they came from, check them against your own setup, and involve a customs adviser where the answer is not obvious.