NetSuite Readies Ecommerce Businesses For Major European Union VAT Change

LONDON and SAN MATEO, Calif., Nov. 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites, today announced that all NetSuite ecommerce customers can have peace of mind about the upcoming sweeping regulatory change to value-added tax mandated by the European Union. As 2015 dawns, any local or international B2C company selling e-services into the EU must change the basis for charging VAT from its location within the region, known as 'the place of supply,' to all of the EU countries in which its e-services are consumed. NetSuite can already automatically handle the required functionality to comply with the major new tax regulation change thanks to its powerful end-to-end cloud solution which encompasses ERP, CRM and omnichannel commerce, and the super flexible tax compliance engine built in within the suite. Furthermore, NetSuite is also planning to release a free and seamless enhancement to all ecommerce customers to address the specific issue of e-services consumption location. NetSuite has been playing a leading role in the industry by raising customer awareness of the impending EU tax change for many months and is offering customers educational training sessions and best practice webinars.

"NetSuite is uniquely positioned to address and handle tax regulation changes, thanks to our end-to-end cloud solution, which unifies business processes across ERP, CRM, and omnichannel commerce," said Craig Sullivan, Senior Vice President, Enterprise and International Products at NetSuite. "NetSuite is justly proud of its long pioneering history of automating complex tax compliance requirements so our customers don't have to shoulder that burden. Our direct response to this latest tax change means NetSuite customers can enjoy the holiday season safe in the knowledge that, thanks to NetSuite, they will be fully prepared when the new EU VAT regulation goes into effect as 2015 dawns."

What B2C E-Services Providers Need to Know

On January 1, 2015, any B2C company selling e-services to private individuals and non-business customers within the European Union must charge VAT based on the point of e-services consumption, instead of where that e-services provider is located, known as 'the place of supply,' typically a single European country. That amounts to multiple countries, or potentially all 28 EU member states for most businesses. The tax represents a potentially huge technical and administrative headache for e-services companies including European and global telecommunications, broadcasting, software maintenance, and distance-learning providers. E-services providers will also have to provide proof of customer location beyond a billing address, such as the IP address the customer is using to purchase or download their services. Organisations unable to comply with the change in taxation or registering late or whose filings contain errors, will be penalized depending on which EU member's tax regulation they are deemed to have broken. Fines will vary across the EU, but may be as high as double the amount of unpaid VAT, and, in some EU member states, companies may also face legal and criminal proceedings.

E-services providers have two options in order to comply with the EU tax regulation, they can either:

• Register for VAT in each EU member state where they have customers - potentially 28 countries, each with at least two sets of tax rates – standard and reduced tax rates, or
• Register in one EU country under a scheme known as 'Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS)' regardless of how many countries their customers are in. That country collects and distributes the VAT for all the other countries – charged at the national rate where the customer is located.

Why NetSuite?

While NetSuite is tackling the problem head-on to ensure a smooth transition for its customers, on-premise ERP competitors such as Microsoft, Sage and SAP are not providing their own solutions but instead are pointing their customers to basic functionality provided by third-party tax software vendors at extra cost. NetSuite is best positioned to address this major change in EU VAT regulation on behalf of its customers because:

• NetSuite can leverage the power of its cloud suite which unifies business processes across ERP, CRM, and omnichannel commerce. NetSuite customers can rely on their NetSuite cloud business management software to automate much of the functionality required by the change in VAT regulation while they sleep. By contrast, organisations with a hairball implementation of multiple, disparate on-premise systems will find the EU VAT change challenging due to manual modifications being needed in their ecommerce, tax, order management and ERP systems.
• NetSuite has its own web store and manages the integration of that web store with its back-end applications such as invoicing, so it can deal with all of the areas of business management software that will be impacted by this tax change. Its competitors don't have their own web store and instead depend on third-party vendors.
• NetSuite can use its own functionality to empower customers to denote which of their products are e-services and therefore subject to the change in regulation. NetSuite then applies the appropriate tax treatment data to the e-services as they pass through its ecommerce, POS, CRM, and order management systems and information about the e-services consumer's location is utilized throughout the entire business process so as to correctly calculate, represent and track the tax impact.
• NetSuite already provides global subsidiary selection and management and can automatically provide tax codes for all 28 EU member states. Its competitors have to address this issue manually – either through end-user configurations or via a professional services consulting engagement.

NetSuite Ecommerce Customers Comply with VAT Change Without Lifting a Finger

NetSuite customers can rely on their NetSuite cloud business management software to automate the vast majority of the functionality required by the change in VAT regulation. In addition, for customers choosing the 'Mini One Stop Shop (MOSS)' option, NetSuite is planning to provide e-services providers with a free and seamless enhancement by the end of November, which will include:

• The automatic creation of all tax codes and rates based on the tax jurisdiction that the e-services provider has registered in.
• The ability for companies to select which items in their NetSuite account are e-services, so differentiating between goods/non-e-services and e-services.
• Automatic determination of the tax rate based on the service selected and the customer location (IP and billing address) for all sales orders and invoices.
• The provision of new reports containing details of all MOSS transactions.
• Online submission of the MOSS transactions.
• The ability to charge tax based on the country of a consumer's bank account and credit card.

NetSuite is also planning to continue its industry leadership role in preparing its customers for the January 1, 2015 EU tax change by providing free online webinars and training and advice on best practices to help e-services providers understand the implications of the change in tax regulation for their businesses.

Today, more than 20,000 companies and subsidiaries depend on NetSuite to run complex, mission-critical business processes globally in the cloud. Since its inception in 1998, NetSuite has established itself as the leading provider of enterprise-class cloud financials/ERP suites for divisions of large enterprises and midsized organisations seeking to upgrade their antiquated client/server ERP systems. NetSuite excels at streamlining business operations as demonstrated in a recent Gartner study naming NetSuite as the fastest growing top 10 financial management systems vendor in the world. NetSuite continues its success in delivering the best cloud ERP/financials suites to businesses around the world, enabling them to lower IT costs significantly while increasing productivity, as the global adoption of the cloud is accelerating.

Follow NetSuite's Cloud blog, NetSuite's Facebook page and @NetSuiteEMEA Twitter handle for real-time updates.

For more information about NetSuite, please visit www.netsuite.co.uk.

NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are registered service marks of NetSuite Inc.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090924/SF81218LOGO-b

SOURCE NetSuite Inc.

Related Links

http://www.netsuite.com