Accounting for Marketplaces: Recording Sales, Commissions and VAT on Uzum, Wildberries, Ozon

Selling on marketplaces looks simple only until the platform's first report. Commissions, deductions, returns and logistics turn accounting into a task of its own, where it's easy to get revenue and taxes wrong. Let's break down what to watch for.

Why marketplace accounting is tricky

• revenue is not the amount that lands in your account: the platform withholds commission, logistics, storage and returns;
• income must be recognized by the platform's report, not by when the money actually arrives;
• returns and buyouts shift periods and require adjustments;
• each platform (Uzum, Wildberries, Ozon, Yandex.Market) has its own reports and deduction logic.

Revenue and commissions

The key principle: income is recognized as the full value of the goods sold, while the platform's commission and deductions are your expenses. If you count "by what arrives in the account," revenue is understated and expenses are lost — a direct path to discrepancies with the tax authority and incorrect taxes.

VAT and taxes

The tax regime determines how VAT is accounted for on sales and on the platform's services. A VAT payer needs to correctly reflect input and output tax, while under the simplified regime the key is to calculate turnover correctly, so as to notice in time when you're approaching the threshold for switching to the general regime.

Typical seller mistakes

• recording revenue by account receipts rather than by the platform's report;
• not reflecting commissions and logistics as expenses;
• losing returns and adjustments from past periods;
• not tracking turnover and suddenly "outgrowing" the simplified regime.

All of this is solved with systematic accounting based on the platforms' reports. If sales are high, it's wiser to hand this area of accounting to specialists who already work with marketplace sellers and know the specifics of each platform.