Be tax compliant this peak sales season
Four steps to add tax compliance to your peak sales season strategy
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Make the most of the winter peak sales season
Are your multichannel marketing plans, payment platform, logistics, and special offers all set? Of course they are. But there’s one part of the ecommerce jigsaw puzzle that can be an afterthought for online retailers that trade internationally — often resulting in overpaying tax, costly fines, and a poor customer experience.
Being tax compliant ensures your business can focus on maintaining revenue and increasing customer satisfaction.
A well-executed compliance strategy can help you keep up with multiple tax jurisdictions and differing tax regulations. Additionally, a good strategy can help avoid fines — especially if you’re already tangling with the impact of inflation and the stress of peak sales season.
Four steps to mastering global tax compliance
Having tax compliance as part of your holiday sales strategy is more essential than ever in this turbulent economy. It’s doubly important for international business: Selling across borders can create unexpected tax obligations for your company so it’s wise to reinforce your compliance processes or use a digital solution to help you stay compliant.
An omnichannel indirect tax compliance strategy can support your global business goals. An effective strategy involves these four steps:
- Research your tax liabilities
Your first step should always be researching your tax liabilities. Make sure you know where your business has an obligation to charge VAT, and which authority the taxes should be remitted to.
Online businesses may also need to consider the tax implications of metaverse shopping. If you’re interested in bringing your business into the metaverse, take the time to research how the authorities are likely to tax metaverse transactions, and what you can do to ensure your business is ready.
- Get registered
Next, ensure you’re registered with the appropriate tax authorities. For Europe, registering for VAT will likely involve the EU One-Stop Shop (OSS) scheme. The OSS is a simplified registration method that allows EU companies to register in a single member country to sell throughout the EU, instead of registering and submitting VAT returns to every country they sell in. If you’re an international business selling through the EU, you’ll use Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) instead, which offers a similar benefit.
For more information on the OSS and IOSS, check out our helpful tax advice blog.
- Calculate tax at checkout
Third, ensure you can correctly calculate tax and provide transparent pricing at checkout.
While tax rates in the EU do not vary as much as they do elsewhere (for example, the U.S. has over 13,000 different sales and use tax jurisdictions), it’s still vital that you have a way of calculating and applying tax rates during customer transactions. This is especially true during peak sales season when your sales volume will increase substantially.
- Keep on top of deadlines
Finally, make sure you understand the rules and deadlines for creating and filing VAT returns.
International businesses will have several different filing methods to keep track of, so automating this process where possible is a great way of saving time and reducing errors.
Video: Watch our webinar on six strategic tips for your peak selling season, including why you should add tax compliance.
Make the most of the winter peak sales season
Are your multichannel marketing plans, payment platform, logistics, and special offers all set? Of course they are. But there’s one part of the ecommerce jigsaw puzzle that can be an afterthought for online retailers that trade internationally — often resulting in overpaying tax, costly fines, and a poor customer experience.
Being tax compliant ensures your business can focus on maintaining revenue and increasing customer satisfaction.
A well-executed compliance strategy can help you keep up with multiple tax jurisdictions and differing tax regulations. Additionally, a good strategy can help avoid fines — especially if you’re already tangling with the impact of inflation and the stress of peak sales season.
Four steps to mastering global tax compliance
Having tax compliance as part of your holiday sales strategy is more essential than ever in this turbulent economy. It’s doubly important for international business: Selling across borders can create unexpected tax obligations for your company so it’s wise to reinforce your compliance processes or use a digital solution to help you stay compliant.
An omnichannel indirect tax compliance strategy can support your global business goals. An effective strategy involves these four steps:
- Research your tax liabilities
Your first step should always be researching your tax liabilities. Make sure you know where your business has an obligation to charge VAT, and which authority the taxes should be remitted to.
Online businesses may also need to consider the tax implications of metaverse shopping. If you’re interested in bringing your business into the metaverse, take the time to research how the authorities are likely to tax metaverse transactions, and what you can do to ensure your business is ready.
- Get registered
Next, ensure you’re registered with the appropriate tax authorities. For Europe, registering for VAT will likely involve the EU One-Stop Shop (OSS) scheme. The OSS is a simplified registration method that allows EU companies to register in a single member country to sell throughout the EU, instead of registering and submitting VAT returns to every country they sell in. If you’re an international business selling through the EU, you’ll use Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) instead, which offers a similar benefit.
For more information on the OSS and IOSS, check out our helpful tax advice blog.
- Calculate tax at checkout
Third, ensure you can correctly calculate tax and provide transparent pricing at checkout.
While tax rates in the EU do not vary as much as they do elsewhere (for example, the U.S. has over 13,000 different sales and use tax jurisdictions), it’s still vital that you have a way of calculating and applying tax rates during customer transactions. This is especially true during peak sales season when your sales volume will increase substantially.
- Keep on top of deadlines
Finally, make sure you understand the rules and deadlines for creating and filing VAT returns.
International businesses will have several different filing methods to keep track of, so automating this process where possible is a great way of saving time and reducing errors.
Contact us
Video: Watch our webinar on six strategic tips for your peak selling season, including why you should add tax compliance.