VAT for NETP – TAX AGENT

What do you need to know?

What goes into a non-resident’s EU VAT return?

Non-resident: a company or a sole trader operating in a foreign country without having an establishment there.

Non-resident companies are required to have a VAT agent to submit periodic filings detailing VAT transactions, and to pay any outstanding monies. Exact requirements vary enormously from country to country  as do penalties for non-compliance.

As with domestic VAT returns, companies are expected to report on all purchasesand sales that fall within each country’s scope of VAT. Reporting requirements vary from country to country depending on the following criteria:

1. Treatment of transactions: Under local rules, various transactions may be treated differently; some will be charged at full rates, while others may be zero rated undersimplification rules. This needs to be clearly shown in the return.

2. Compliance rules: There are very strict rules in each country governing issues suchas invoice formats,tax points and exchange rates. In many EU countries, simpleinfringements of these rules can often result in punitive, automatic fines.

Payment on return submission

A payment is required once the return is submitted, generally at the same time as the submission. For most EU countries this is relatively simple and just requires a bank transfer from the company’s home country.

However, some countries – even within EU member states, for example Spain and Greece – require payments through a local bank account. Many others (for example, Poland and Belgium) will only repay VAT credits to a local bank account.

If you require local payment facilities, we can organise this through secure client accounts in each country.