hellotax VAT Services: EU-wide VAT registration, VAT returns, Amazon VAT service & more

The field of VAT is a complicated one for every retailer or seller in the EU. Registration, filing returns and the responsibilities that come with being a seller active across borders within the EU overwhelm many sellers. That’s where VAT services come into play. With hellotax VAT services registration and return filings are simplified, VAT responsibilities are automated and our team makes sure that sellers can concentrate on their core business while staying VAT compliant in any country they’re trading or storing in.

What is VAT?

The VAT, or Value-Added-Tax, is a Europe-wide consumption tax that is assessed on the value of all products and services which are sold in the EU. Each producer, seller, or retailer active in the European Union adds the VAT to the product prices and is responsible for paying those taxes back to the corresponding governments. They also pay the VAT of the previous value chain level, the input or pre-tax. However the two taxes can be calculated against each other, easing the VAT responsibility of the seller. The final tax burden therefore lies with the private and final consumers. 

The process of calculating and paying VAT can be complicated as each country has different VAT rates and different rules concerning the VAT compliance and registration. For example, the standard VAT rate in Germany is 19% while in Italy, sellers and retailers have to add 22% VAT. The process is further complicated by speciality rates like the 7% reduced rate in Germany for food, water, education and other goods and services deemed necessities by the government. Especially for sellers and retailers active across borders within the European Union, keeping their business compliant with a multitude of VAT responsibilities requires a lot of time, knowledge and effort. Providers of VAT services, like helltax, can help navigate the field and ensure VAT compliance.  

How do I take care of VAT responsibilities?

If no VAT service is utilized, in order to comply with tax laws of several european countries it is important to compose a list of all responsibilities of all countries the seller stores in or sells to. If a polish seller, who has been selling items to polish customers starts selling items to customers in Germany and those revenues cross a VAT treshhold and become VAT relevant, he has to comply not only with polish but also with german VAT regulations. This is especially important to keep in mind for sellers selling on international marketplaces such as Amazon and storing in fulfillment warehouses across the EU.

Whether a seller has a VAT exempt amount of revenue or is immediately responsible for paying VAT depends on the countries. So does the amount of VAT exemption. Once the seller is responsible for VAT there are certain steps he needs to take:

• Registration for VAT purposes
• VAT returns
• Calculation of VAT for each item and country combination
• Payment of VAT to tax offices in corresponding countries
• Supervision of changes in tax law, regulations and notices

How and in which way a seller can register for VAT in european countries differs. Some countries require the seller to submit forms, others require him to apply for tax IDs. The same holds true for returns and payment of VAT. Some countries require prepayment of VAT for estimated revenues, others only require payment at the end of the year. In some countries returns need to be filed yearly, in some cases they need to be filed even more frequently. Since the overarching system applies EU-wide but rates, deadlines and the processes are configured by each country of the EU based on their own tax laws, a lot of laws and notices have to be monitored in order to ensure VAT compliance. This is very time intensive and requires extensive knowledge of european and country-specific tax law. This is where VAT service providers like hellotax come in. 

How can hellotax VAT services help me?

Hellotax is a european VAT service provider, specializing in VAT services to help sellers all over the EU sell their products to european customers without worrying about VAT registration, returns, and more. All of this is possible with hellotax’s proprietary software and a team of specialized tax accountants. Through the system, all sellers’ information on sales and revenue from a multitude of european countries is imported and monitored. The seller himself only needs to act once the system sends a warning signal, for example if a VAT exempt threshold is about to be reached and registration for VAT in a country is due. Then the tax accountant from the corresponding country takes over and files all necessary paperwork for the business to be compliant with country-specific regulations. The team is further supported by tax lawyers, reporting specialists and many more so that sellers don’t need to worry about their EU-wide VAT compliance. Sounds complicated? Don’t worry! Every client is assigned to a single Account Manager who answers all his questions and organizes the clients processes. 

hellotax VAT registration service

As mentioned, an additional VAT registration is necessary for a lot of sellers and retailers in the EU. The following situations require a registration for VAT purposes: 

• Business in the country of origin requires first a VAT registration 
• Storage in another country requires a VAT registration in that second country
• Revenues earned from sales to other countries exceeding their thresholds require VAT registration in those countries

Keeping all those thresholds and regulations in mind is complicated. This is where hellotax’s VAT registration service can help. With the VAT service, registration in any country is a simple 3-step process:

• Select the country you want to register in 
• Fill in the hellotax form
• Submit

The Account Manager answers all questions and informs the seller once a VAT ID has been issued. If more than one registration is needed, the information once entered into a form is saved for the next one, making registrations in multiple european countries easier. Using the hellotax VAT service ensures that sellers don’t have to deal with country specific forms or need to use a different lawyer, accountant or VAT service in each country. This is why hellotax is especially popular among pan-european sellers selling their goods and services in many european countries. To learn more about VAT treshholds, VAT rates, and requirements for registration in several european countries, visit our country-specific information pages: 

• VAT registration in Austria
• VAT registration in France
• VAT registration in Germany
• VAT registration in the Czech Republic
• VAT registration in the Netherlands
• VAT registration in Italy
• VAT registration in Poland
• VAT registration in Spain 

hellotax VAT returns service

When it comes to VAT returns and payments, different deadlines, forms to fill out, requirements to meet, and rates to calculate often overwhelm a lot of sellers. But with hellotax, filing returns in several countries is as easy as can be. The VAT service for filings and returns offers a few practical tools for sellers: 

• VAT Return Overview 
• Automated VAT filings
• Extensive Quality Control
• VAT Return Notifications

Knowing when VAT returns and VAT filings are due is crucial. That’s why all deadlines are listed in an orderly fashion in the client’s hellotax dashboard. This ensures that the seller has a real-time overview over all country-specific deadlines and none will be missed. Not only that, the software informs sellers when a deadline is approaching or when a payment is due. Automation of VAT filings is also possible. All of these processes go through extensive quality control. In a first step, the AI in the software checks the data. Additionally, specialized tax accountants check the deadlines and make sure country-specific compliance is met. Want more information? We summarized the most important facts about VAT returns in a few select countries in the pages below.

• VAT returns in France
• VAT returns in the Netherlands
• VAT returns in the Czech Republic
• VAT returns in Austria
• VAT returns in the UK
• VAT returns in Spain
• VAT returns in Italy
• VAT returns in Poland
• VAT returns in Germany

hellotax VAT software

All of this is possible because of hellotax’s proprietary software for VAT services. Among the key features of this software are: 

• Real-time Data Validation
• Storage & Threshold Limit Monitoring 
• Goods Movement & Proforma Invoices 
• Extended Data Analysis
• All Files & Reposts in one place

Not only does the software inform sellers when they need to register for VAT or when they need to file a VAT return, it also monitors the movement of goods and offers proforma invoices for even more control. Additionally the VAT service software offers extended possibilities for Data Analysis. This way sellers can concentrate on their core business while hellotax monitors VAT responsibilities. All files and reports are organized, stored and ready for sellers in the hellotax dashboard.

hellotax Amazon VAT services

The software can also handle Amazon VAT issues, a notoriously complicated field. Once a seller active on the marketplace platform stores his goods in a fulfillment center, for example through participation in the FBA program, he has to register for VAT in the countries those fulfillment centers are located in. Since Amazon splits storage between many different locations, this can soon be complicated. Hellotax however started as a VAT service provider specialized in the Amazon fulfillment program. The local in-house tax accountants are therefore perfectly prepared to deal with all country- and Amazon-specific VAT related issues. 

hellotax Tax Letter Inbox

One of hellotax’s tools that both the accountants as well as the sellers themselves are working with is the Tax Letter Inbox. This inbox scans legal documents received by hellotax in sellers’ names and converts them into documents that can easily be edited. Next, tax documents from foreign countries are translated into the sellers’’ mother language, making them easily accessible for all parties. Once translated, important information is extracted and summarized, leaving both the accountants and sellers themselves with a clear overview of deadlines, duties, payments and more. This type of VAT service ensures that foreign legal documents, which are often especially hard to interpret and translate without extensive knowledge of regulations and wording, are understandable. 

hellotax OSS service for VAT

In July 2021 some changes concerning the EU-wide VAT regulations were implemented. Part of the so-called One Stop Shop are the introduction of a single EU VAT return and changes concerning the selling thresholds. Advantages of the OSS implementation are a reduction of countries a VAT registration is necessary in, a simplification of the threshold system and, in some cases, the possibility of filing a single EU-wide VAT return. However as with any new regulation, the initial registration and an adaptation of business to the new system is complicated. That’s why hellotax offers VAT services focusing on OSS. The Team will help with the registration, include OSS in the existing software, and answer all questions concerning new threshold limits and more. 

Hellotax Partners in VAT services

To improve its VAT services even further, hellotax has partnered with firms from many different backgrounds to make sellers’ lives even easier. Partners include marketing agencies, banks, bookkeeping programs, consulting firms, E-Commerce platforms and many more. All of this is convenient for the seller and increases the amount of automation that can be utilized. For example data entered into one of our partners bookkeeping systems can be easily imported into the hellotax dashboard to calculate VAT, and the other way around. For more information on partner integrations, visit our partner page or book a demonstration with us.

Frequently Asked Questions