Join Sovos at Factuurcongres®, where digital transformation and EU regulations take centre stage. Discover the latest trends, connect with peers and explore smart solutions to optimise your financial processes.
Don’t miss this chance to future-proof your financial strategy.
Postillion Convention Centre Utrecht, Bunnik, Netherlands
Tax authority audits can happen at any time. Join us for this webinar where our compliance experts will explain how to minimize the risk of audit, the evolving landscape of reporting and common triggers for an IPT audit.
You’ll explore how businesses can navigate the evolving compliance landscape without getting trapped between disparate e-invoicing, reporting, and determination vendors.
Join us for an in-depth webinar designed to help event organisers navigate the complexities of VAT compliance for international events. Discover essential steps for handling cross-border VAT, understand Place of Supply rules for physical and virtual events (including the new 2025 updates) and learn how to avoid common VAT risks.
For many U.S.-based companies, the first step in global expansion is selling into Canada, especially for eCommerce sellers and marketplaces.
However, to ensure a smooth and compliant expansion, it’s crucial to understand Canada’s unique “sales tax” system. This is a must-attend webinar for anyone doing business in Canada, or planning to expand operations to the Canadian territories.
In the first blog in our series, we introduced SAP Clean Core concept and how much is being made about its impact on business, specifically the ability to customize an ERP to meet operational needs.
In part two, we addressed how businesses can use the SAP Clean Core principles to create a system that better supports their business objectives and positively impacts their tax and compliance management.
For our third installment in this series, I’d like to spend time talking about your business’ path to Clean Core and what that means for your tax and compliance programs and initiatives.
As outlined in our first two posts, aligning with Clean Core holds a number of significant advantages for companies including making them more nimble, efficient and cost efficient. It is a move I would encourage any business using SAP to consider sooner than later.
Readying for the Project
With any large-scale update, migration or platform change, getting your business ready for Clean Core is a process that takes advanced planning, a sound strategy and buy in from the highest levels of the organization to execute effectively.
In assessing your business’ readiness to adapt to Clean Core, it is important to understand both the short and long-term goals of the project and outline the specific actions that you will need to take to get there. My recommendation is to determine what your ultimate goal is, and then work backwards from there. This will help to ensure that no important steps are missed in the planning process.
With a project of this size and scope, it’s also critical to detail which parts of the project will be assigned to which departments and determine a method of oversight to ensure that all areas of the business are making progress and on track to meet associated deadlines.
When you are dealing with large, multi-faceted organizations, it is not uncommon for departments to move at different paces. This is where having executive buy-in becomes critical as it ensures that the project remains an organizational priority.
Outlining your Change Management Strategy
No two organizations are exactly the same in terms of their makeup and infrastructure. Therefore, you will need to conduct a self-assessment of where you are before you can determine which transformation trajectory makes the most sense for your business.
It is important to realize that an ERP transformation journey is a commitment that will require change. Assessing your organization’s appetite for change and the pace at which these changes can be implemented are critical success factors.
For organizations with the ability and desire to move faster, they will accelerate their time to modernization and be in a position to reap the benefits more quickly. However, I will caution that moving faster than your organization can realistically support can have serious consequences as well, which makes your initial assessment such an important part of your transformation journey.
The Impact on Tax and Compliance
Embracing the tenets of Clean Core can ensure that critical Tax and Compliance functions and decisions are no longer driven by complex and often difficult to maintain customizations within core ERP functions. Moving to an infrastructure with reduced complexity will enable your organization to more easily integrate specific tax solutions that are automated and maintained by third parties. This is an issue of great importance as governments and tax authorities around the world embark on their own technology journey and implement systems that are far more complex than previous generations.
Many countries have moved towards the complete digitization of tax compliance which requires real-time transactional data and complete transparency into your end-to-end transaction processes. Meeting these requirements can be the determining factor in your ability to conduct business within certain regions. Aligning with Clean Core is an important step in enabling your technology to react to changing regulatory conditions faster and more efficiently.
Concluding Thoughts
This type of transformation project should always be supported by and aligned with a solid business strategy. Having a set criterion of what you are trying to achieve and how you will measure effectiveness should be established up front. And global tax compliance should be a foundational element of any transformation event.
Tax and compliance are a great place to start your journey to begin unlocking the full power of aligning Clean Core principles with best-in-class tax solutions.
In the first blog in our series, we introduced SAP Clean Core concept and how much is being made about its impact on business, specifically the ability to customize an ERP to meet operational needs.
For part two, I’d like to address how businesses can use the SAP Clean Core principles to create a system that better supports their business objectives and positively impacts their tax and compliance management.
Why Clean Core is Becoming a Business Priority
In an article in Forbes last year entitled, SAP: Why Modern Software Needs A ‘Clean Core,’ the author makes the argument, correctly so in my opinion, that the old way of adding functionality by customizing the core has often become overly complex, cumbersome and costly. He explains how a new model was developed that decouples two components: one focused on predictability and the other on exploration. This evolution model is known as ‘bimodal IT.’
Now, bimodal IT is not a new term. According to TechTarget it was coined by Gartnerback in 2014 and was the subject of a Gartner report in April of 2015 entitled, “How to Achieve Enterprise Agility with a Bimodal Capability,” by analysts Simon Mingay and Mary Mesaglio.
So, why the history lesson on the subject matter? I think it’s important to establish the fact that over-customization of technology platforms is not a new concern. It has been around for a while, but what has changed is the environment surrounding it.
Today, digital economies are moving at a pace where traditional methods and countermeasures are no longer effective. Today’s environments demand more structure, standardization and flexibility so that they can react fast when called upon.
Why Agility is Essential
Over the last decade, we have seen an explosion across core areas of the technology sector that makes agility critical. Whether it is preparing for cyberattacks, or the ability to quickly analyze data to take advantage of business opportunities, agility is an essential tool in your arsenal and old methods simply aren’t cutting it.
Today’s digital economies are demanding the rapid adoption of new technologies. A crucial step in keeping up with these changes is to adopt agile business-critical connected technologies that aligns with the principles of SAP Clean Core.
Adopting a global compliance solution that aligns with Clean Core principles will become critical to ensure you can keep up with the pace of digitization as it continues to evolve.
Clean Core’s Impact on Tax and Compliance
There is perhaps no other business segment that has felt the impact of technology on a global scale more than the area of tax and compliance. Heavy investment by government tax authorities over the past decade has completely changed the process of collecting and remitting tax obligations.
In an effort to close or eliminate tax gaps, gone or soon to be gone are the days of collecting and analyzing tax data and remitting after the fact. Today, it’s all about real-time analysis across the complete spectrum of the transaction. This requires the use of automated tax platforms that can quickly adapt to changing regulatory environments, ensuring compliance across every transaction.
Through applying the principals of Clean Core businesses can now attach dedicated and highly functional compliance platforms into their technology stacks without the need to customize their core SAP environment. This eliminates the need for long testing cycles, customization and many of the manual process updates that would otherwise be required.
Coming Next
Stay tuned for the next part in this series, where we will dive deeper into how Clean Core impacts specific tax processes. Upcoming segments will cover:
Part IV: Clean Core benefits and business performance
Part V: Eliminating Tax’ dependency on IT
Much is being made about the introduction of SAP’s ‘Clean Core’ concept and how it will impact a business’ ability to customize its ERP to meet the unique needs of its operation. In this first blog in a series taking on the issue of Clean Core, I’d like to focus on the realities of what it is, why it’s important and the reasoning behind it.
What is SAP Clean Core?
SAP defines ‘Clean Core’ as a method of integrating and extending systems in a way that is cloud-compliant, while ensuring governance over master data and business process. In simpler terms, the move to SAP Clean Core helps protect the integrity of the SAP platform by limiting the extent of customization. And for good reason.
As a software vendor, you can’t lose control of your own code because you’re allowing so much customization and additional code to be added by your customers and or their consultants. These customizations are often intended for very specific use cases that may impact only a small number of customers. A ‘Clean Core’ architecture protects the SAP platform and its customers by limiting these excessive customizations.
The Problem with Over-Customization
When a platform becomes overly customized, SAP, the platform owner, must deploy a tremendous amount of development and support resources to ensure that they are accounting for all the changes and capturing feedback from the field.
This generally requires the platform owner to be in a perpetual state of developing hot fix code patches to repair ‘breaks’ in the system brought on by over customization. While customers would only be required to implement the code patches there were relevant to them, SAP was still on the hook for developing thousands of these patches. The cost and resources of doing so were growing exponentially, and needed to be reined in.
Benefits of Clean Core for SAP Customers
As anyone who has worked in or with IT for any period of time can attest to, the most complicated environments are ones where there is a great deal of customization. Early on in Information Technology, it was the Wild West, where based on the knowledge and experience of your architect, is how your businesses network would be constructed.
Then, thankfully, platforms and standards entered the discussion and businesses were able to construct environments that enabled them to operationalize new capabilities quickly, while simultaneously lowering costs and driving down dependencies within IT departments. The position SAP is taking here, and one that I agree with, is that clean core will be the next stage in making your environment more productive and efficient.
Implications of SAP Clean Core on Taxes
One of the most significant implications of Clean Core is in tax compliance. Clean Core opens up new possibilities for businesses to employ personalized tax technology outside of their traditional SAP environments. Rather than trying to build complex coding to tackle increasingly complex tax rules within their ERPs, they can integrate dedicated tax engines that are automated and seamlessly update to changing regulatory environments.
SAP Clean Core offers businesses the opportunity to simplify their IT environments, reduce customization, and improve system stability. The implications of Clean Core on taxes are especially promising, as businesses can now leverage specialized tax technology that integrates smoothly with their SAP systems, ensuring compliance without added complexity.
Coming Next
Stay tuned for the next part in this series, where we will dive deeper into how Clean Core impacts specific tax processes. Upcoming segments will cover:
Part IV: Clean Core benefits and business performance
Part V: Eliminating Tax’ dependency on IT
Sovos invites you to meet the team in London and hear Ryan Ostilly, our VP, Product Management share strategies for harnessing tax compliance measures as a force for growth within your organisation.
Sovos are delighted to support this year’s event as Platinum sponsors. Meet the team and learn more about our Indirect Tax Suite and how it can benefit your business.
The EU Directive for VAT has laid the groundwork for a harmonised VAT system throughout the different Member States. However, the implementation of the EU VAT law within the national jurisdictions still creates a disparity between its application and conditions to be met, specifically regarding some of the intra-EU simplifications to be applicable.
In less than six months, Poland is going to introduce its long-awaited CTC clearance e-invoicing mandate – a tax reform that will impact a large amount of businesses.
It has been possible to issue and receive e-invoices voluntarily via Krajowy System E-Faktur (KSeF) since January 2022, but from 1 July 2024 it will become mandatory for suppliers and buyers that are in scope of mandatory e-invoicing to do this via KSeF.
A detailed understanding of the new regime, plus timely and proper preparation, is critical for compliance. Whilst there is a six-month grace period on financial penalties, non-compliance can negatively impact your business in many other, often unexpected, ways.
In this 45-minute deep-dive webinar, Marta Sowińska from our Regulatory Analysis and Design team will cover:
Introduction to the mandatory e-invoicing reform in Poland
Scope of the clearance mandate: domestic vs. cross-border transactions
Key challenges:
B2B vs. B2C transactions
Latest updates on QR codes
Emergency models – also known as offline modes
Key dates and implications of non-compliance
Join us on 8 February at 2pm GMT | 3pm CET for a thorough review of the Polish KSeF e-invoicing mandate and the opportunity to submit your questions.
As tax authorities continue to digitize processes in their mission to reduce fraud and close their VAT gaps, they are introducing requirements that provide greater visibility into a company’s financial operations in the form of Continuous Transaction Controls (CTC).
It would be a mistake to think that being prepared to meet obligations in one of the countries where you operate can simply be replicated in another – CTCs are far from a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution.
Join us on 24 January 2024 in our latest quarterly VAT Snapshot webinar series where regulatory experts Dilara Inal and Marta Sowinska will examine how tax authorities in Poland, Romania, Israel, Greece and Spain – all simultaneously implementing CTC regimes – are doing so with different sets of requirements.
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn more about these unique regimes and what they mean for your business.
Staying informed about VAT Reporting and SAF-T can be challenging when it requires keeping up with ever-changing and demanding regulations.
Ensuring you are well-informed about the latest updates from tax authorities is a crucial step in preparing for potential consequences.
In Sovos’ most recent quarterly update webinar on VAT Reporting and SAF-T, Regulatory Counsel Inês Carvalho explores the most recent legislative amendments and their potential impacts on your business.
During this webinar, our expert will cover:
Reporting news in Hungary, Belgium and Romania
SAF-T implementation in Bulgaria
EU-based companies must grapple with VAT charges on a myriad of goods transactions within the EU. As a manufacturing company, this intricate web of varying VAT rates can pose significant challenges. Choosing the right EU entry point is a pivotal decision, complicated by each country’s unique VAT regulations. Compounding the complexity, you may not always know the precise location of your goods in transit.
Manufacturers face supply chain disruptions, potentially jeopardising their already sophisticated operations. The question is, where should you commence your VAT journey?
Our VAT expert Russell Hughes guides you in this immersive webinar, where you will gain insights into:
The Current Landscape of the Manufacturing Industry
VAT Challenges and Strategies
Futureproofing Your VAT Strategy
Join us on this transformative journey through the VAT labyrinth and gain a competitive edge in the EU market. Don’t miss this opportunity to optimise your expansion strategy.
With the rate of change in tax digitization not set to slow down any time soon, it’s more important than ever to keep up with what’s happening where you do business.
This quarter, our VAT Snapshot webinar looks in detail at CTC and e-invoicing implementation timelines across six different countries.
Join Dilara İnal and Carolina Silva from our Regulatory Analysis and Design team for an examination of scope, key timelines and essential milestones for compliance across these jurisdictions.
The webinar will cover:
Germany – Introduction of a new CTC mandate for mandatory e-invoicing
Malaysia – Key features and the phased implementation of the upcoming CTC mandate
Israel – Scope of the new clearance regime, and details on the ‘pilot programme’ rollout
Croatia – Scope of the new e-invoicing and CTC reporting system
France – Recent changes to the timeline and a closer look at some of the key features that make up the French mandate
Poland – Core details for the forthcoming July 2024 e-invoicing mandate
As always, please bring your questions for our experts in the Q&A at the end.
Stay up to date with the evolving landscape of tax mandates by registering today.
The speed at which regulations and requirements evolve can make it difficult to stay abreast of VAT Reporting and SAF-T.
Remaining knowledgeable about recent changes enforced by tax authorities is the initial stride towards readiness for repercussions.
In Sovos’ most recent quarterly update webinar on VAT Reporting and SAF-T, Inês Carvalho, Regulatory Counsel, delves into the freshest legislative revisions concerning VAT reporting and SAF-T and the potential implications for your business.
In this webinar, our expert will cover updates on:
Reporting news for Belgium, France and Switzerland
Our latest webinar delves into the intricacies of VAT and reveals key insights into both Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B) transactions.
Sovos’ VAT expert Francisco Gomes will share insights for businesses seeking to expand their reach and streamline operations.
In our free 30-minute webinar, you will learn more about:
Selling cross-border B2C using the One Stop Shop (OSS) and Import One Stop Shop (IOSS)
Requirement of importing goods into the EU as EU or Non-EU entities
VAT treatment on the B2B supply of goods: general rules and simplifications
Don’t miss this opportunity to enhance your understanding of VAT in cross-border trade and unlock the growth potential. Find out more details in our webinar filled with practical insights and expert advice to propel your business forward, and bring your questions to the Q&A session at the end.
