Also interested to know if they came via world options or as a result of direct contact with the shipping company. World Options spent months getting me SAD docs from the English side, only to tell me then I needed to go Direct to UPS from the French side.
Be grateful to know what route you took. Thanks!
I got them via UPS and some came 3-4 weeks after they got delivered and a couple got delivered the same day I got sent the custom charges
I had to contact UPS direct, either their German or French side, they were pretty good at getting them for me, usually same day I got sent the custom charges
I tried going through the French help but got nowhere. Do you have the contact details for France?
Thanks
I am interested in this also. I went onto the generic help area of the UK UPS website yesterday. The response was an encouraging start. I had asked how to go about claiming a SAD from the French side. They have taken all my shipment info and are putting me through to the “right department”. Did you try that route already?
I’ve finally managed to get my first SAD document from a shipment sent via World Options. It was for a DHL shipment sent in June, but my account manager said the UPS ones are now coming through thick and fast.
The document has been accepted by my EU accountant, applied to my French VAT return - and now the French Tax Office owe me money!
I have just collected around 4 SAD docs for VAT reclaiming. has anyone done corrective return to France? through Amazon VAT services i.e. Avalara? how do you do these? I have been sent to automated excel spreadsheet but no insturctions about SAD
Has anyone else received news that France are changing their system re import tax. I just received this in an email:
"effective from the 1st of January 2022; From next year, all import VAT will be mandatorily deferred to the VAT return via an import VAT reverse charge mechanism. This means no import VAT will need to be paid upon arrival and any import VAT that may have been due will be declared and reclaimed simultaneously on the French VAT return "
This will be a massive help!
It says you need a French company (SIREN) number. Is it only for companies based in France?
I’ll have to ask Avask.
I’ve just spotted that too.
I had an email from AVASK and it didn’t include anything about the SIREN number. My hope is that is it not a mandatory requirement for using the system.
I will drop a reply to that email and see what they say.
Hopefully good news.
My update from Avask this morning:
Previously, to qualify for deferred import VAT a physical presence would be required in France. However, now, only a valid FR VAT number is required so I can confirm you would definitely be eligible to utilise this.
Please also note that SIRET numbers are issued simultaneously to VAT numbers…
Pretty chuffed with that!
With regards to Amazon fees as stipulated here and via their downloadable calculator (below), it suggests that if I were to register for two countries it would cost £62 a month. Even if you were to use 7 countries, accordingly to Amazon calculator it would still only be £1699 per year, but I’ve seen some of you mention it actually costing you at least double that figure, so what am I missing here please?
What you are missing is the gulf in quality and support between Amazon VAT Services and an external provider. Amazon is cheap, but not necessarily good value. It is certainly not a like-for-like comparison.
I would summarise it by saying if everything is running fine than Amazon VAT Services might be okay. But if you get any communications from the tax offices (I’ve had several), get an audit (I’ve had 1) or have any questions (I’ve had loads), then you’ll be on your own.
I agree with @MediaDreams . You are not getting anywhere near the same level of service. There are some intro offers that set you up with specific accountants, so thats a factor to consider. There have been plenty of bad experiences with some.
The accountants I use have several points of contact all of which respond quickly for the most part. I get peace of mind for one thing and thats worth a lot.
For me personally I calculated the the savings of PAN EU FBA verses selling via the old multi country fulfilment method pre - Brexit. The savings outweighed the expense in my case, even with the first year costing north of £5k and so it was a no brainer.
Has anyone had any experience with the new French VAT method? Is it up and running already?
Reading through this thread it seems this was the main issue with using World Options, has this now been sorted?
Thanks
We have now sent four shipments this year to France via World Options and as yet, we have only received invoices for duty and not VAT so it looks like it’s all going to be tickety boo.
Well hopefully, anyway.
It takes a long time for UPS to send through SAD docs. This isn’t World Options fault.
We have sent over 1,000 consignments with WO to France. Last week we got our SAD documents for March to September 2021. We are due a massive VAT refund from France.
You have to be patient in these new and trying circumstances.
Although we put up our prices, assuming we would never get the import VAT back (still waiting). When we do, it will be pure profit.
I spoke to my account manager about France and he replied that it would not solve the problem.
I have not pushed him any further. I might have another go.