Nowadays, the cross-border e-commerce industry has gradually followed the policy trend. Sellers have realized the importance of VAT and have begun to actively declare VAT accounts. However, the registration of VAT accounts is complicated and changeable. In addition, due to the language barriers between countries, many sellers do not know how to solve it, especially small and medium-sized sellers. Therefore, most sellers will choose to find a VAT account agent registration service provider to help register VAT numbers and declare VAT. However, the quality of cross-border tax agency services in the market varies, and sellers may accidentally fall into the pit. Today, the editor would like to reveal the pitfalls that may be encountered in the process of using VAT agent registration services.
First, the tax agent did not provide a receipt.
The tax authorities delayed providing the seller with a receipt, which delayed the seller’s VAT declaration time, resulting in overdue declaration and fines.
Second, the tax calculation is wrong.
Most sellers are not clear about the complex tax algorithm, so they can only trust the tax agent. Whether to pay more or less depends only on whether the tax calculation is correct.
Third, the tax agent registered the GatewayId for the seller, but the seller was not aware of it.
For example, in the UK, when the agent is transferred, the seller needs to provide the Gateway ID. But in the industry’s unspoken rules, tax accountants generally say that they have not registered. In fact, they don’t want to give it to the seller, don’t want the seller to transfer the ownership, or want to charge some fees to tell the seller.
Fourth, the VAT service process is not transparent.
After submitting information to the tax agent, the seller has no idea about the progress of the service and can only wait or contact customer service for consultation. If the customer service does not reply, the seller can only reply by himself.
Fifth, underreporting, misreporting, and delayed registration of tax numbers.
Traditional tax agents manually connect materials, which is prone to errors and underreporting. Moreover, the service process is not transparent and often has to wait until the normal service cycle. If the seller finds an abnormality and then negotiates with the agent, they will rush to deal with it, which ultimately delays the seller’s business.