The first and most obvious approach was to do a system-wide upgrade of the SAP platform to incorporate VAT management. However, as Jos points out, this was not as simple as it might appear. “We have affiliates in many countries in which we trade and each of these has its own instance of SAP. This means each instance would have had to be tailored to manage the local VAT rules. Trying to collate that in a number of different languages to ensure a seamless solution would have been a major task, and probably impossible without a dedicated team.”
Instead Nu Skin looked at different solutions and explored the market to find an external provider that could cover all their markets. “I knew of Avalara from my previous work, so I invited them to bid for the role amongst other providers. One of their most appealing benefits was that they cover all the countries where VAT is either in place or being rolled out, so we don’t have to worry about localising the outputs for different formats, rules and filing regimes. It was the perfect answer all rolled up into one effective box.”
“VAT Reporting runs like a Swiss watch. It does exactly what it says on the tin and does it very efficiently.”
