Compliant EU/UK VAT invoices
Pull the VAT Invoice Data Report (GET_FLAT_FILE_VAT_INVOICE_DATA_REPORT) to get the per-shipment tax breakdown, then generate a legally valid VAT invoice for each order, FBA or seller-fulfilled. Requires VCS enrollment.
E-commerce · Amazon SP-API · Restricted role
Tax Invoicing (Restricted) role
The Tax Invoicing (Restricted) role unlocks the buyer data you need to generate compliant tax invoices, VAT, GST and Brazil FBA documents, from Amazon order data. Because those operations require PII to enable tax invoice generation, Amazon does not gate the role on how good your software is. It gates it on compliance. We rebuild the exact security and data-handling file Amazon scores, so the reason behind your refusal is gone.
getOrderBuyerInfo
Invoices API v2024-06-19
VAT Invoice Data Report
BuyerTaxInfo (PII)
Amazon does not approve a Tax Invoicing application because it is well written. It approves because the application demonstrates compliance with the PII it exposes.
This role hands over a buyer's name, email and company tax IDs. The reviewer wants proof you handle that data correctly, not a polished pitch.
What the role is
What the Tax Invoicing role unlocks
In Amazon's own words, the role “provides access to operations that generate tax invoices to comply with tax regulation.” It is marked Restricted because, again verbatim, “Operations that require this role require PII to enable tax invoice generation.”
The four things this role gates
Across three different APIs, the Tax Invoicing (Restricted) role controls access to four distinct things:
1. getOrderBuyerInfo: Orders API v0. Returns buyer information for an order you specify (3-7-7 order ID format), including the buyer’s identity and tax details. Rate 0.5 rps, burst 30. The operation is marked deprecated in the reference but is still listed under this role.
2. GET_FLAT_FILE_VAT_INVOICE_DATA_REPORT: via createReport in the Reports API v2021-06-30. The VAT Invoice Data Report (VIDR) carries transaction-level tax-calculation detail; it is only available to sellers enrolled in the VAT Calculation Service (VCS).
3. GET_EASYSHIP_DOCUMENTS: via createReport in the Reports API v2021-06-30. Contains the invoice, shipping label and warranty documents for an Easy Ship order (India seller-fulfilled program).
4. The Invoices API v2024-06-19, all operations. Released September 25, 2024, it retrieves Brazilian FBA invoices only and runs in the NA region.
Definition and PII wording above are Amazon’s, from the official Tax Invoicing role page and roles in the Selling Partner API.
Knowing the role is one thing. Knowing the exact operations behind it is what a reviewer expects you to articulate.
Here is the API surface, in Amazon’s own terms.
The API in practice
The operations this role actually unlocks
Operation names, report types and API version strings are kept exactly as Amazon publishes them. These are the calls your invoicing logic will make once the role is approved.
Orders & Reports operations
- getOrderBuyerInfo (Orders API v0): returns buyer information for an order, including BuyerTaxInfo, to attach a buyer’s company legal name and tax classification to a B2B invoice header.
- createReport → GET_FLAT_FILE_VAT_INVOICE_DATA_REPORT (Reports API v2021-06-30): the VAT Invoice Data Report (VIDR); an order appears in it immediately after its shipment has been dispatched. VCS enrollment required.
- createReport → GET_EASYSHIP_DOCUMENTS (Reports API v2021-06-30): the invoice, shipping label and warranty documents for an Easy Ship order, ready to print.
- getInvoices: returns invoice details matching the filters you specify. Rate 0.1 rps, burst 20; up to 50,000 results, 200 items per page (over 50,000 returns a 400 error).
- getInvoice: retrieves the details of a single invoice.
- getInvoicesAttributes: returns marketplace-dependent schemas and their valid values (the statuses, types and transaction types you can filter by).
- createInvoicesExport: initiates an asynchronous invoice-file export.
- getInvoicesExport: polls a single export’s status; call it every few minutes until the status is DONE.
- getInvoicesExports: lists all exports, with filtering.
- getInvoicesDocument: returns an invoicesDocumentUrl: a URL to download a ZIP file of the XML invoice files.
Every one of those operations carries the same thing: somebody’s personal and tax identity.
That is precisely why Amazon locks the role behind a data-protection review.
The data it unlocks
The buyer data it exposes, and why Amazon gates it
The role is restricted because its operations require PII to enable tax invoice generation. These are the exact fields involved.
The exact PII fields
Buyer identity: through getOrderBuyerInfo, the OrderBuyerInfo object returns BuyerName, an anonymized BuyerEmail, BuyerCounty, the PurchaseOrderNumber the buyer entered at checkout, and BuyerTaxInfo.
Buyer tax identity: BuyerTaxInfo contains CompanyLegalName (the legal name of the buyer’s company), TaxingRegion (the country or region imposing tax) and TaxClassifications (the list of tax classifications, i.e. the buyer’s tax IDs / VAT / GSTIN type). This is the core PII/tax-ID data that makes the role restricted.
Transaction-level tax data and documents: the VAT invoice report rows, the Brazil FBA invoice documents and the Easy Ship invoices and labels all carry buyer name, address and tax IDs.
The Restricted Data Token (RDT). Reports that contain PII must be pulled via the RDT flow, not a plain LWA access token. Your app must also have the Tax Invoicing (Restricted) role selected on both the App registration page and the developer profile. Because all of this is PII, Amazon requires “additional information about your data use and security controls”, the compliance file we build.
Use cases
Who needs the Tax Invoicing role
The role is narrow: you only need it if your app actually generates or retrieves tax invoices or buyer tax data. General order sync does not need it. These are the concrete jobs it is built for.
Brazil FBA invoices (Invoices API)
Search, retrieve and bulk-export Brazilian FBA invoice documents with the Invoices API v2024-06-19, getInvoicesDocument returns a ZIP of XML files, so sellers can manage their bookkeeping.
India Easy Ship documents
Pull GET_EASYSHIP_DOCUMENTS to print the invoice, shipping label and warranty document for each Easy Ship order in one step.
India GST B2B / B2C invoicing
Use GET_GST_MTR_B2B_CUSTOM and GET_GST_MTR_B2C_CUSTOM to reconcile sales, refunds and cancellations against Amazon Business and consumer invoices.
VAT reconciliation & bookkeeping
Feed SC_VAT_TAX_REPORT and GET_VAT_TRANSACTION_DATA into accounting or tax software to reconcile shipments, returns, refunds and cross-border movements.
Buyer tax IDs on B2B invoices
Use getOrderBuyerInfo to fetch the buyer’s CompanyLegalName and tax classification, and put them in the header of a compliant B2B invoice.
Who needs it, and who does not
Needs it
- EU/UK VAT-registered sellers, especially VCS-enrolled
- Brazil FBA sellers retrieving NF-e invoice documents
- India GST sellers and Easy Ship (India) sellers
- Tax / VAT-compliance and e-invoicing software
- Accounting, bookkeeping and ERP integrations
- OMS / e-commerce platforms that issue invoices
Does not need it
- Apps that only sync orders, inventory or pricing
- Tools that never generate or retrieve tax invoices
- Tax-calculation / remittance apps (that is the Tax Remittance role)
The role is clear. The file Amazon wants around it is what trips most applicants up.
This is exactly the part we rebuild, and it is the same review across every restricted role.
How to get approved
How to get the Tax Invoicing role approved
A restricted-role review is a data-protection assessment. Because this role exposes buyer tax PII, Amazon asks for documented evidence of your data use and security controls. We assemble that file for you, and we never need your code, your servers or your Amazon account.
The compliance file for this role
Application answers, ready to submit: every questionnaire answer plus the free-form security and architecture responses, with a role justification stating exactly why you need getOrderBuyerInfo, the VAT/Easy Ship reports or the Invoices API, and why the buyer tax PII is genuinely necessary.
A publishable Data Handling & Privacy Policy: a ready-to-publish page covering how you collect, process, store, use, share and dispose of BuyerTaxInfo and the other PII fields. One of the two things Amazon checks for a private app.
A plain-language implementation checklist: every control Amazon scores: PII kept no longer than 30 days after delivery then securely deleted; the Restricted Data Token (RDT) flow for PII reports; the role selected on both the App registration page and the developer profile; encryption in transit and at rest; least-privilege access with MFA; PII-free logs; and an incident-response runbook. Your IT lead implements it point by point.
The real reason
Why Tax Invoicing applications get rejected
Amazon rarely tells you what went wrong. The decision almost always comes down to one phrase, your security and compliance documentation did not meet requirements. For this role specifically, that usually means one or more of these:
- Weak justification for the buyer tax PII, no clear reason why CompanyLegalName, tax IDs and BuyerTaxInfo are truly needed to generate the invoice.
- No field-level data inventory showing which PII fields are used, where and why.
- Not using the Restricted Data Token (RDT) flow for PII reports, or describing a plain-token download.
- PII retention not capped or not provably automated, no enforced 30-day deletion after delivery.
- Logs that store buyer PII, or no evidence of access reviews and offboarding.
- A public website that does not match an invoicing use case, overclaiming, or no visible invoicing capability at all.
- Generic, copy-paste answers and vague wording that prove nothing.
- Documentary inconsistency, the application answers, the privacy policy and the security procedures contradict each other.
- Any hint of credential harvesting, asking for Seller Central passwords or keys is an automatic refusal.
- An incomplete Data Handling & Privacy Policy that does not meet Amazon’s restricted-roles standard.
Amazon reviews evidence, not promises. We remove every one of these reasons, so there is no compliance ground left to refuse you on.
Frequently asked questions
What does the Tax Invoicing (Restricted) role give access to?
In Amazon’s words, the role “provides access to operations that generate tax invoices to comply with tax regulation.” Concretely it gates four things: getOrderBuyerInfo in the Orders API v0; createReport for the report types GET_FLAT_FILE_VAT_INVOICE_DATA_REPORT and GET_EASYSHIP_DOCUMENTS in the Reports API v2021-06-30; and every operation in the Invoices API v2024-06-19.
Why is the Tax Invoicing role “Restricted”?
Because, in Amazon’s words, “Operations that require this role require PII to enable tax invoice generation.” Restricted means the role exposes sensitive information, which may include personally identifiable information (PII), so Amazon asks you for additional information about your data use and security controls before granting it.
What PII does getOrderBuyerInfo return?
The OrderBuyerInfo object returns BuyerName, an anonymized BuyerEmail, BuyerCounty, the PurchaseOrderNumber the buyer entered at checkout, and BuyerTaxInfo. BuyerTaxInfo contains CompanyLegalName (the buyer company’s legal name), TaxingRegion, and TaxClassifications (the buyer’s tax IDs / VAT / GSTIN type). That buyer tax identity is the core PII that makes the role restricted.
How do I download a report that requires this role?
Via the Restricted Data Token (RDT) flow, not a plain LWA access token. Report types under this role contain PII, so Amazon requires you to obtain an RDT before downloading the report document. Your app must also have the Tax Invoicing (Restricted) role selected on both the App registration page and the developer profile.
Which marketplaces does the Invoices API v2024-06-19 cover?
It is only able to retrieve Brazilian FBA invoices, you cannot use it for any other invoice types, and it runs in the NA region. It was released on September 25, 2024. getInvoicesDocument returns an invoicesDocumentUrl you use to download a ZIP file of the XML invoice files.
Is the Invoices API real-time?
No. Exports are asynchronous: you call the getInvoicesExport operation every few minutes until the status is DONE, then download the file. There are no notifications for it. getInvoices is rate-limited to 0.1 requests/second with a burst of 20, returns up to 50,000 results and 200 items per page, and exceeding 50,000 results returns a 400 error.
Do I need VCS to use the VAT Invoice Data Report?
Yes. GET_FLAT_FILE_VAT_INVOICE_DATA_REPORT (the VAT Invoice Data Report, or VIDR) is only available to sellers enrolled in Amazon’s VAT Calculation Service (VCS). It contains transaction-level tax calculation details for generating an accurate VAT invoice per shipment, FBA or seller-fulfilled. This is a seller-side prerequisite, not an app-approval gate.
Which report types fall under the Tax Invoicing (Restricted) role?
SC_VAT_TAX_REPORT, GET_VAT_TRANSACTION_DATA, GET_GST_MTR_B2B_CUSTOM, GET_GST_MTR_B2C_CUSTOM, GET_FLAT_FILE_VAT_INVOICE_DATA_REPORT and GET_EASYSHIP_DOCUMENTS. Do not confuse these with the Tax Remittance reports, GST_MTR_B2B, GST_MTR_B2C, GST_MTR_STOCK_TRANSFER_REPORT and GET_FLAT_FILE_SALES_TAX_DATA belong to Tax Remittance (Restricted), and GET_GST_STR_ADHOC requires the Amazon Fulfillment role.
Is Tax Invoicing the same as Tax Remittance?
No. Tax Invoicing (Restricted) is about generating invoices, VAT/GST/NF-e documents and the buyer info that goes on them. Tax Remittance (Restricted) is about calculating and remitting sales taxes (for example GET_FLAT_FILE_SALES_TAX_DATA and the GST_MTR_B2B / GST_MTR_B2C reports). They are judged separately, so each one needs its own justification.
Who needs the Tax Invoicing (Restricted) role?
Sellers and software that actually generate or retrieve tax invoices and buyer tax data: EU/UK VAT-registered sellers (especially VCS-enrolled), Brazil FBA sellers, India GST and Easy Ship sellers, plus tax/e-invoicing software, accounting/ERP and OMS platforms, and India Easy Ship label-and-invoice tools. It is narrow, general order sync does not need it.
Why do Tax Invoicing applications get rejected?
Almost never because of the product, almost always because of the file. Common reasons: weak justification for why the role and the buyer tax PII are truly needed; no field-level inventory of BuyerTaxInfo / CompanyLegalName use; no enforced 30-day PII deletion; logs that store buyer PII; not using the RDT flow; a public website that does not match an invoicing use case; or an incomplete Data Handling & Privacy Policy. Amazon reviews evidence, not promises.
Do I need an EU company to apply for the Tax Invoicing role?
Not strictly, but a properly established company with a clean public presence and a real data-handling policy makes approval easier, and for VAT invoicing in particular, a compliant EU structure aligns with VAT and data-protection expectations. We help you set up a compliant Bulgarian company, 100% remotely, and align your structure, your VAT and your Amazon application so they all support each other.
How long does Amazon take to approve the Tax Invoicing role?
Amazon controls the final timing, so there is no guaranteed deadline. In our experience preparing restricted-role applications since 2018, a complete, compliant submission is typically reviewed within roughly 2 to 6 weeks. Public apps that also require the third-party Data Security Assessment add about a month for that step. The single biggest accelerator is a file that meets Amazon's security and compliance bar on the first attempt, which is exactly what we build.
Get the Tax Invoicing role approved
Start the form and we will confirm your roles, your path and your next steps. The standard restricted-role file is 650 €, delivered in 48 hours, obtained or refunded subject to our T&Cs. Building invoicing software for many sellers? Book a call for a tailored scope.
Content reviewed by Loïc Segui (COO & CTO), Fenchell’s Marketplace Compliance Team · last updated 29 June 2026. Technical facts, operation names, report types, API version strings and PII fields, are verified against Amazon’s live Selling Partner API documentation. We never promise approval: even when your file is prepared correctly, Amazon retains the right not to grant restricted access without justification. The figures shown on this page (accesses obtained, success rate) are based on real client cases and do not constitute a guarantee of outcome. Fenchell Capital OOD, Bulgarian firm based in Plovdiv (EIK 207945095).
Best Service. “Getting approved for access to the Amazon API was a real challenge for us. Fenchel and their team stepped in, audited our functionality, and helped us understand precisely what Amazon's software review team was looking for — which made all the difference.”
4.8/5