TL;DR
- Pre-screen on FBA expertise, not general credentials: bridge software, Pan-EU VAT, per-SKU margin, reimbursements.
- Red flag: anyone proposing to reconcile Amazon settlements by hand, or unaware of Pan-European FBA VAT.
- Red flag: quoting the old £85k VAT threshold (it rose to £90k in April 2024).
- Good looks like: A2X/Link My Books, per-channel P&L, PVA + OSS/IOSS fluency, fixed fees.
- GoEcom matches you free with specialists who already pass every check.
The questions to pre-screen any FBA accountant on
- "Do you use A2X or Link My Books in production?" The right answer is yes. Manual settlement reconciliation does not scale and introduces errors.
- "How do you handle Pan-European FBA stock movements?" They should immediately understand the multi-country VAT registration risk and have a view on managing it.
- "Will you set up per-SKU or per-channel profitability?" Headline revenue is meaningless after Amazon's ~15-20% fees; you need margin visibility.
- "How do you account for FBA reimbursements?" Lost and damaged inventory reimbursements are a real, recurring line.
- "How do you treat import VAT?" Look for PVA fluency, see import VAT.
- "What's the VAT registration threshold?" A quick sanity check, it is £90,000 (next answer explains why this matters).
Red flags to walk away from
- Proposes to reconcile Amazon settlements manually. A signal they do not understand the volume or do not have the tooling.
- Blank look at "Pan-European FBA VAT". This is the biggest FBA compliance risk; not knowing it is disqualifying.
- Quotes £85,000 as the VAT threshold. It rose to £90,000 in April 2024. Quoting the old figure shows they are not current.
- No per-channel reporting. If they only produce total revenue and total cost, you will never see which products or channels are profitable.
- Vague or hourly fees with no fixed quote. Ecommerce volume makes open-ended billing risky.
What good looks like
A strong FBA accountant:
- Runs A2X or Link My Books into Xero or QuickBooks as standard.
- Proactively manages Pan-European FBA VAT and advises on EFN vs multi-country registration.
- Gives you per-SKU and per-channel margin, not just a P&L.
- Handles import VAT via PVA and EU consumer VAT via OSS/IOSS where relevant.
- Quotes a fixed monthly fee covering the core scope.
Typical fees
| Stage | Monthly fee | Turnover |
|---|---|---|
| Starter FBA | £44-£100/mo | Under £150k |
| Growth FBA | £100-£250/mo | £150k - £500k |
| Scale FBA | £250-£500/mo | £500k - £2M |
Core fees usually include accounts, corporation tax, bookkeeping, VAT and the bridge subscription. Pan-European VAT and R&D claims are typically separate. Your matched firm confirms a fixed quote.
Skip the screening, get matched
Every accountant on the GoEcom bench already passes the checks above, we pre-screen them so you do not have to. Run the quiz, get a shortlist with fees up front, and choose. Free to you. Match me with an FBA accountant →