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FAQ

Everything you need to know about empact

General

No, the primary value of empact platform is that we completely remove your need for applying and owning a VAT number. This comes from the unique status empact received from the European Union as a Seller Representing Platform. In actuality, our onboarding process takes less than 24 hours and we can immediately make sure you are VAT compliant.

empact takes care of the shop integration, our onboarding team makes sure that our system will calculate the VAT for every sale – and just like that you’ll be ready to sell anywhere within the 27 EU countries and in the United Kingdom.

No actions at all.

empact is not an agency, we are acting in frame of a legal licensed entity by the European community to act as your VAT compliance representative. By nominating empact to act on your behalf for all VAT related issues, your VAT compliance responsibility is fully on us.
 
We are being audited by the authorities on a monthly basis and, based on our innovative technology and tax expert team, we have the perfect/ideal infrastructure to remove any exposure to the best interest of your cross border business.

Surprising statistics emphasizing the enormous resources of time & Money invested in favor of VAT registration by eCommerce businesses in every country.  

  • A business must file an average of 13 documents to complete one VAT registration process in EU Member State. 
  • Wait an average of 100 days to receive a VAT number, 
  • Submit up to 60 VAT & statistical filings per country per year, 
  • Spend thousands of Euros in compliance costs to VAT register and trade in another Member State. 
  • SMEs are estimated to spend €4,500 for each VAT registration application plus a further €6,000 per country per year in compliance costs to engage in cross-border trade.  

Marketplaces

We have no additional fees. Our package is lean in order to empower sellers. We do not have any additional or hidden fees that pop on along the way, except the ones we agreed on (namely integration fee and monthly fee). As our partner, we would like you to be able to provide your clients with the most added value VAT compliance services. We know that generating clients is not easy, but not being able to provide them with the VAT solutions they require is even worse.  

There is no need to update the platform, once you finished with the onboarding, our team will guide you where to fill the relevant information in the Admin panel. 

empact will not be able to support clients that are using additional reporting services. We will be happy to cover all your reports in frame of paid subscription for your online sales and transactions. 

According to the European regulation, the marketplace must enable sellers to appoint their own representatives in Europe for VAT compliance issues. 

Yes, we can. empact has implemented an innovative solution which enables us supporting any kind of platform. All you need to do is provide empact a delegate user to access your sales reports and we will take it from there.

Solutions

Indeed it is. There are two infrastructures for B2B sales:
 
B2B Online – well-established eCommerce businesses that have the resources and ongoing traction. Usually, Drop shippers are looking to optimize their profits and their local footprinting in the market within the minimum effort. Usually, they have multiple platforms, Whole-sellers, online shops, or complex billing, between internal companies looking to simplify the process. (retailers, fashion, toys, sports, electricity, gadgets, etc).  
 
B2B Offline– traditional product sales managed via “old school’ procedures with old ERP systems. Those companies are not willing to establish a local subsidiary in the EU. We need to address our messages to their pain points- legal exposure, and tax exposure. Don’t risk your business for maximum profit.  
Most of our clients use ​our special settlement with the EU authorities (they recognize us as their gate keeper), that enable postponement of VAT on imports for stock shipments imported via Netherlands.
 
This is not an obligation but a benefit, for you to decide to use or not, which eventually contribute to merchants’ positive cashflow.
 
Alternatively, you can ship directly to Europe for stock purposes. We currently support the following entry points in Europe: Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, and United Kingdom (by the way, we are in the process for getting for the UK the same benefit that we have in the Netherlands).

empact covers a vast of VAT solutions. For more information please go to our packages. 

We know how to support both of them. The B2B solution is only for merchants who sell to
businesses and therefore their activity and supply chain works differently from B2C.

Security & Privacy

The API integration is the most basic and is a standard ecommerce protocol where the data only goes one-way, from you to us. We cannot make actions from our end so you maintain all of the control.
 
The API integration with empact works only based on the fact that your online shop notifies empact on specific events such as sales, returns, new products added, so that eventually empact can actually take responsibility over your full eCommerce activity in Europe and make the required reporting, filing and paying to authorities on your behalf.
 
Empact cannot access any additional data existing in your shop, and the control is fully managed on your end.
 

Subscription

You may cancel your empact subscription or change plans at any time by clicking on the “cancel subscription” button on the My Account->Subscription page. Your paid plan will end on the date of your next billing cycle (i.e. the month or year anniversary of whenever you first paid for your subscription’s start). We do not offer refunds for partial use, except in the cases of empact-caused issues with account access or other problems. If this is the case, email us: [email protected] and we’ll look into any troubles you’ve experienced.
 
 
You can switch/add to a new plan at any time by going to the Billing page in your account. Select the plan you’d like to switch to and immediately start using new features.

At the top of this pricing page there is a annual to monthly toggle that will update the pricing for monthly subscriptions. Below is what the toggle looks like.

If you have any additional questions, just send an email over to [email protected] and we will get back to you in a flash.

Yes, we currently accept payment in multiple currencies with more currencies being added soon. If you would like to confirm a specific currency, please contact [email protected]

The subscription is per account, so you can connect to as many online shops as you’d like, as long as they are under the same company legal name. We charge per company and not per shop.

You will get a VBAN (Virtual Bank Account) under a Payoneer account (which necessitate no fees when we move the money between us), and your receivables will be getting into this account. On the last day of the month, the VAT amount will be deducted from the total receivables amount automatically via API call, the rest of the money will be transferred to the bank account specified by you in the registration process. 

VAT Info

With the rise of e-commerce, and further acceleration provided by the recent pandemic, the EU VAT rules introduced in July 2021 were put into place for several reasons. The new regulations were not only designed to simplify VAT returns for online sellers and marketplaces, but also to provide fair competition for EU businesses and deliver transparency to EU shoppers.
More importantly, the recent legislation is intended to reduce approximately €7 billion worth of annual VAT fraud.
The 2021 VAT rules impact the entire transaction supply chain, including sellers, sales and payment platforms, postal and freight operators, couriers, consumers, customers, customs administrations, and tax authorities.

The new VAT rules impact the sale of all B2C goods and services within EU member states by non-EU established online sellers. The distance sales of mail order, telesales, or online goods from EU suppliers in one country to non-VAT registered customers in another EU country are also affected, as are some domestic goods sold online under certain conditions.

VAT is applied to all goods and services, regardless of their commercial value. In addition:

 
VAT must now be paid in the EU member state that goods, ranging from €0 to €150, will be delivered EU-established suppliers of distance sales or B2C telecommunications, broadcasting, and entertainment services are affected by the EU-wide threshold of €10 Imported goods and services valued at €150 or more into the EU are subject to customs duties
Yes and no. Although the OSS simplifies the VAT reporting and payment process for products destined for EU customers, VAT rates for the same items and services differ in each EU member state. Therefore, e-commerce businesses must comply with the “destination principle” by tracking and applying the varying VAT rates where the goods and services will be consumed.
 
Because of the new EU VAT rules and OSS scheme, non-EU businesses have the option to register, report, and pay one consolidated VAT to a single member state. The tax authority of that EU member state will then distribute the VAT payments and data to each of the relevant countries. However, tax payers may receive tax audit requests, payment delay warnings, or error notifications, from any or all EU member state tax authorities.

Although the OSS was designed to simplify and streamline VAT remittances, the complexity of the new EU VAT rules creates a myriad of tax compliance challenges and requires companies to think carefully about their operations and how they implement digital tax reporting. For instance:

 
Each of the 27 EU member states may have different VAT rates for the same goods or services supplied Reporting processes and digital filing formats are not standardized throughout the EU — some countries insist on CSV documents, while others require XML submissions Non-EU established online sellers may require assistance from a fiscal representative to act on their behalf in the member state of IOSS or Non-Union OSS registration

No. Digital filing formats, e-commerce regulations, along with registration and submission processes, differ among EU member states and may be modified at any time.

No. Rates differ because the tax authority for each EU member state sets its own VAT rate, which ranges from 0% to 27% on goods and services. Also, depending on the sale of certain types of products or services, EU countries offer varied reduced rates or VAT exemptions.

 
If your customers are in multiple EU member states, you’ll need to calculate and remit the correct VAT for each country and goods classification. However, you can use the IOSS form to remit one VAT return for all EU member states on imported goods transactions valued up to €150.
The OSS is an online B2C reporting and payment platform that allows online sellers to file a single VAT return to report sales in multiple EU member states. The online portal, which made its debut in July 2021 as the cornerstone of the EU VAT changes, was devised to simplify the e-commerce VAT return process. Its use is optional — businesses can still register, calculate, file, and pay VAT in each EU member state they sell goods and services to. Domestic VAT returns must be filed separately.
 
Rather than having to deal directly with every EU country in which they have consumers, online retailers have the option to register with one country’s VAT OSS, which is then responsible for distributing the reported VAT to the respective member state tax authorities. Furthermore, the new regulations are advantageous to distance-selling companies that deliver their goods from a single, centrally located distribution center to EU consumers.

Although the OSS and IOSS are alike, they are dissimilar. The OSS is an online portal and digital tax reporting system with three types of OSS VAT forms, whereas IOSS is one of the three OSS forms. IOSS is exclusively used to report VAT on imported goods transactions valued up to €150 to EU customers.

It’s difficult to determine penalties since they vary from one infraction to another and differ among each country. Your OSS registration’s tax authority will typically send a reminder 10 days after the VAT return due date. Specific member states of consumption will then relay additional reminders, as well as assess penalties. Afterwards, payments must be paid directly to each relevant member state, versus the country of your OSS registration.

OSS sales records must be maintained for 10 years.

Yes, but only if your e-commerce business is non-EU based, imports goods and services to EU customers, and needs to register for and file an IOSS VAT return. You may be advised to hire an EU-based intermediary (also known as a fiscal representative or VAT agent) to register your organization for the IOSS or Non-Union OSS, as well as file returns and submit VAT payments on your behalf.

Contact us

Your One Stop Shop for EU VAT
  • Boekweitstraat 23, Nieuw-Vennep, 2153 GK Netherlands
  • +31 (20) 215-9468
  • Kemp House, 160City Road, London, EC1V 2NX, United Kingdom
Everything eCommerce and EU VAT in your mailbox!

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Data Sync

The ultimate feature developed by empact to eliminate the enormous resources invested into creation of API integrations or its maintenance.

With empact’s Data Sync feature, there is no need for API integration any longer, which means that data can be received on our side seamlessly by only simple sales reports issued from any online shop or ERP system with no limitations.

For more information contact sales

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