Do you, as a businessman/woman spend great amounts of money on business trips, only to find yourself overwhelmed on how to claim back the Value Added Tax (VAT) component? Are you aware that such a component might actually be refundable? It is time to stop losing money and/or wasting time on VAT claims. Here is how to do it.
In a globalised world whereby national borders are becoming increasingly blurred, transboundary transactions are growing exponentially. Technological advances, greater connectivity and communication channels as well as cheaper modes of transport have enabled business operations to move into a more international setting. This is requiring business people and entrepreneurs to travel more frequently – both to maintain existing business relationships as well as to scope new areas of growth and business development.
This brings with it new challenges as corporates are now required to navigate through various jurisdictions, each with its own legal and financial structures. One such challenge is that of claiming back VAT refunds. Indeed, it is believed that €10bln per annum are lost in terms of unclaimed VAT.
Firstly, businesses are often unaware that they might be eligible to such VAT refunds on accommodation, travelling, conferences etc. even if these occur outside their domicile country. In those cases when enterprises hold such awareness, they might find it challenging to understand the VAT regimes of each different EU jurisdiction. This might be a daunting task because an identical transaction could be considered as VAT refundable in one country but not in another. Hence the process often becomes too lengthy. Moreover, national tax portals tend to be complex to navigate and not user-friendly. Often enterprises would be required to log in each transaction on the platform, even if the same supplier is used. This means that no data is saved from one transaction to another, leading to a monotonous, repetitive process as well as plenty of wasted time. One way to save on this time and energy would be to engage a VAT specialist who would do such work for the company. Nevertheless, locally, very few specialists are willing to offer such a cumbersome service. Moreover, usually, the fees charged would outweigh the funds claimed back making it not worthwhile.
VAT4U has been developed precisely to overcome the above challenges. This is the first-ever EU automated VAT refund platform, developed by VAT experts, which enables VAT refund claims to be made in a cheap and efficient manner.
This user-friendly online platform considers more than 2000 VAT rules in all the 28 Member States of the EU and simplifies such regulations into a simple rules map for each country indicating which expenses are VAT refundable and which are not. Moreover, this online platform speeds up the refund claim process by allowing certain data entered to be saved and shared on the platform. This means that if one supplier has already been included in the database by another user, one would simply need to select it and then only input the invoice number, date and amount. Additionally, the platform also offers a dashboard feature, whereby one can keep track of the expenses and transactions inputted as well as the status of the past claims made. The system is cloud-based and has all the necessary safeguards to protect the users’ data, be EU compliant and in line with all GDPR rules.
It is worth noting that VAT4U does not bypass the national jurisdiction platforms. It, however, reduces the work needed to be done manually. It employs an Artificial Intelligence bot which inputs all the data from its own platform into the national online tax systems. This reduces the repetitive tasks and allows businesses to save time, energy and money.
VAT4U offers different packages and respective levels of assistance, depending on the needs of the client. By paying 5% of the refunds to VAT4U a company can get access to the platform, a travelling app as well as access to an e-filling claim. By paying 10%, one gets all of the above plus the benefit of a ‘satisfied or reimbursed’ option, so as to cover the eventuality that the claim is not accepted. Finally, the most comprehensive package is that of getting 80% refund, with no advance payment made and getting all the paper and input work done by the VAT4U staff.
Apart from being an optimal tool for companies with travelling commitments, the platform could also be used by accountants who might want to partner with VAT4U and get part of the commission whilst serving their own customers. Hence whether you are a frequent business traveller or an accountant interested to partner up with us - is time to stop losing money on unclaimed VAT.