Blog

How Financial Institutions Should Respond to the Challenges of CRS

Although financial institutions (FIs) certainly struggled to comply with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) during its first reporting season in 2015, panelists at SIFMA’s Global Tax Symposium in New York City agreed that FATCA is far less complex than the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). One panelist noted that the biggest challenge in complying […]

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Handle SAF-T once and for all

Norway’s tax administration recently advised Sovos regarding its previous plan to make the new SAF-T regulations mandatory by January 1, 2018, which it now says is unrealistic. Sovos’ Jeroen Wensveen discussed this development in our webinar at the beginning of September, ‘Helping companies meet their eAccounting obligations is what we do. Next up is Norway […]

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AEOI Compass Update: Week of Oct. 2, 2017

Changes to global FATCA and CRS compliance requirements happen frequently.  In order to provide customers with the updated and accurate information they need, Sovos documents each of these changes in its Compass portal. Here are some notable changes in AEOI reporting from this week. New Zealand Updates Guidance Notes for Reportable Accounts and Collective Investment […]

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European Commission Proposes VAT Overhaul

On October 4, 2017, the European Commission published a set of proposals aimed at simplifying and modernizing the current VAT system. The “cornerstone” principles of the Commission’s approach are: Combating VAT fraud and reducing the €150 billion VAT Gap. Establishing a “One Stop Shop” for cross-border trade. Consistently applying the “destination principle” for VAT. Simplifying […]

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Sovos Continues European Expansion with Acquisition of FiscalReps, Adding Leading Solution for Insurance Premium Tax Compliance

Earlier today, we announced that Sovos has acquired U.K.-based FiscalReps, Europe’s leading solution for Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) compliance. The acquisition does a few important things for our clients and the market as a whole: It adds IPT to our global solution for insurance companies, helping those businesses consolidate solutions on a single platform with […]

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4 Reasons Why Your Archiving Strategy Can Help Your E-Invoicing Strategy

Here at Sovos, we’ve noticed how many companies are starting to reflect on what their e-invoicing strategy should be. That doesn’t mean they view e-invoicing as an isolated process, or necessarily want to acquire it as a standalone service – but in whichever form they’ll be adopting this still way-too-often missing piece of the enterprise […]

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6 Questions to Consider for Norway’s SAF-T Mandate

Norway’s government planned to officially require SAF-T reporting beginning in January 2017, but pushed the deadline back to 2018 as it finalizes details. With the 2018 deadline looming, companies need to start implementing their Norway SAF-T compliance solution now, or risk fines, penalties and business disruptions. SAF-T mandates have already been implemented in several EU […]

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Why the First Year of CRS Reporting Isn’t Really Over Yet

Why the First Year of CRS Reporting Isn’t Really Over Yet Don’t break up your Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) team just yet. The first round of reporting under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) might be over, but jurisdictions themselves will soon begin exchanging information using the Common Transmission System (CTS). For financial institutions (FIs), […]

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China 2017 Update: E-Invoicing Adoption and Other Trends

In 2016, China’s Business Tax to VAT reform legally enabled many consumer-facing industries to issue electronic normal VAT invoices (not eligible for input VAT claim) to their customers. Since this tax reform, the past year has seen China make an increased effort to focus on the electronic normal VAT invoice (not eligible for input VAT […]

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159.5 Billion Reasons Why the Global Tax Landscape Is Changing 

The VAT Gap in the EU was estimated to be €159.5 billion in 2014, and the enormity of that gap is one of the reasons why the global tax landscape is changing so dramatically. Sovos explained this development to attendees of the FD Exchange conference, which took place in the Steigenberger Airport Hotel in Amsterdam. […]

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AEOI Experts Discuss the Risks and Complexities of CRS Reporting

Overview: Sovos AEOI Event in New York City Sovos recently hosted its AEOI Global Compliance Series event in New York with an event focused on Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) reporting. Speakers for the event included Jennifer Sponzilli from KPMG, Darren Rykers from Ernst & Young, Chris Orchard from Hansuke and Lanu Chou from Pricewaterhouse […]

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Does the Market Require E-Invoicing Compliance and VAT Automation in One Service?

Two years ago, a small number of forward-looking enterprises issued RFPs requesting ‘end-to-end invoice compliance automation services’. These RFPs requested all VAT-related compliance decisions to be managed through a single SaaS platform which integrated with the requesting company’s invoicing engine. In this article, we’re exploring the background and implications of this apparent evolution in market […]

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VAT Newsletter: August 2017

Keep current with VAT news without having to sift through the news every day. Here are the most significant happenings in the world of VAT reporting from August: International News OECD: OECD Publishes Comments on Model Tax Convention On August 11, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development published comments to its newly-released 2017 Model […]

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Changes Ahead for Travel and Expense Management in a World of Real-Time Tax Controls?

Anyone who travels for work knows the pain of sorting through weeks’ or months’ worth of receipts and completing clumsy spreadsheets. If you work in a company’s financial administration and are on the receiving end of these messy expense reports, you’re not much better off. It should not be a surprise that the market for […]

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Norway Prepares for SAF-T eAccounting

Norway will soon require SAF-T (Standard Audit File for Tax), electronic submissions of transaction-level accounting records, joining a growing number of European countries that are adopting eAccounting. Across the world, the wave of change continues to sweep over more countries, as governments move to require real-time or near-real-time transactional reporting. Tax administrators in 69 countries […]

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IoT Real-Time Tax Controls for Russian B2C Transactions

Recently, most medium and large retail businesses across Russia shifted to internet-connected cash desks that every day, in real-time, report to the Federal Tax Administration approximately 70 million B2C transactions. According to official sources, since July 1st 2017 when the mandate entered into force, over 6 billion B2C electronic receipts have been issued so far […]

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Hungarian Invoice Data Reporting – Real-Time in 2018?

Earlier this year we reported about the soon-to-be Hungarian invoice data reporting export requirement, and more importantly, about unanswered questions at the time. This summer, a draft regulation (modifying Decree 23/2014. (VI. 30.) NGM) was published, shedding some light on many of those questions: When is the obligation entering into force? As expected, the previous […]

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An Update on the Global Dialogue of Real-Time Government Controls

We have been writing about the rapid emergence of ‘clearance’ systems worldwide for some time now. Our annual white paper and the 2017 Billentis market report provide more detailed analysis of different real-time controls that tax administrations are experimenting with. It’s happening everywhere, from Rome to Rio and from Seoul to Saint Petersburg. Some call […]

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