EU VAT rule change poses compliance headache for e-commerce merchants
Irish technology company has the solution
From 1st January 2015, businesses selling e-services – such as music streaming, on-demand film streaming, software downloads and downloads of images – to consumers within the European Union will have to contend with new rules on how much VAT to charge.
Up to now, VAT has been charged based on where the company selling the product is based. But from next year, hundreds of thousands of B2C e-commerce websites in the EU (along with several hundred thousand others based elsewhere but selling to consumers in the EU) will have to work out where their customer is based and charge the VAT rate for that country.
The rule change covers the supply of broadcasting, telecommunications and electronic services and only affects B2C sales.
Greg Birdthistle, Head of Business Development at EU VAT compliance specialists Taxamo, explains: “For e-businesses with customers in the European Union, this will pose a major headache. Business owners need to quickly realise that they must comply with the new rules. Non-compliance is not an option. Business owners need to change their systems now so as to comply.
“That’s where Taxamo can help. Our platform enables e-service providers selling into and within the EU to outsource their VAT compliance system. We remove the complexities, simplifying the process in a cost effective manner with speed and reliability.”
Taxamo integrates into all e-commerce websites and payment service providers (PSPs). Taxamo also handles MOSS registration and filing on behalf of its clients. MOSS (Mini One Stop Shop) allows companies supplying e-services to non-business customers in the EU to account for the VAT due on their sales via a single web portal.
“Our end to end solution allows eService merchants to take the pain out of being EU VAT compliant,” added Birdthistle. “We look after the complete VAT cycle from the moment a customer goes to a checkout page, through filing a return to complying with the EU’s onerous data retention requirements. We are the one-stop-shop for VAT compliance for digital services”
About Taxamo
Taxamo is a full end to end eService Vat service. The Taxamo team has over 30 years experience in the payments industry. We have the expertise and drive to deliver a simple world class EU VAT compliance solution for our clients. Taxamo has been founded so merchants can focus on selling their products – leaving the difficult task of designing and operating a compliance solution to our expert team. If you would like to learn more about Taxamo, please contact us.
Denise Gee
Director
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