Has anyone left Avask / Avalara etc?
Since Amazon are now responsible for collecting the VAT on all EU sales, our EU VAT returns have all been nil VAT to pay for a couple of months.
Only Germany has trickled down because of the business purchases on account. Now all done.
Last week I got my £5.5k annual bill from Avask. No reduction, despite all the nil to pay Vat returns. I spoke to my ACA accountant who says he can do all these returns for me for £200 a month. A significant saving over Avask.
I notified Avask, who are upset after a cash stream for 5 years.I have said they must at least halve their bill or forget my business. Avask say I have to give them 90 days notice, despite the fact that this is not mentioned anywhere in my contract.
Anyway, has anyone left an Amazon sponsored VAT advisor and come back with their own?
30 replies
Seller_Upm8Byyaco0sw
Hi, I received the new Amazon VAT free 6 month offer after using AVASK for almost two years and if I calculated correctly for the 7 countries I am VAT registered in, Amazon says they will only charge $1600 GBP per year (which is obviously better than the $4800 GBP bill that AVASK will send me in January 2022). I was wondering if it was worth switching to another one of their 3rd party tax groups to take advantage of the savings. If so, should I give AVASK my 90 day notice first part of October?
Seller_saK5Ah2SaNYjL
I am certain that they have lost a large amount of customers.
It was only out of sheer determination that we found a route to get our stock into the EU for PAN EU fulfillment. Plus it’s almost impossible to get the SAD documents to claim back import VAT. I’ve been trying to get those docs, without success, for six months.
Not a massive issue for us as a manufacturer with low product costs. Most sellers buy wholesale to re-sell. For them this would be a huge problem.
Seller_2EG6N58tYDYmC
I did sign up with Avalara 3 years ago and it was a completely a nightmare! I did close the account with them but even after 2 years later they went into my French VAT payment and claimed that they are my agency to pay for the VAT! I paid penalty as they are total shambles. Stay away from them! I don’t even know why they exist!
Seller_saK5Ah2SaNYjL
I heard a lot of similar stories about Avalara, which is why I chose Avask.
Avask have done a good job 99% of the time. I have no complaints about their service. My issue is with them still charging £4,800 + VAT per year for filing nil to pay VAT returns, since Amazon are now collecting all the VAT on our PAN EU sales.
Seller_saK5Ah2SaNYjL
The fee you are talking about is the introductory fee, not the long term one.
Seller_cF19YOCNwtn3a
I use VAT Global, same issue.
Has anyone found any small companies who can sort the EU VAT for a lower fee? Surely there must be someone charging less than 5k to do this job.
Seller_JHkouAeJou7vE
Our returns aren’t nil. Mainly due to B2B buyers whose VAT number doesn’t validate so we have to pay the VAT on these orders. Our last DE VAT return was €50.
From what I can see the EU VAT providers will have the same amount of work to do as before - it’s just the number that’s spat out is very different. I don’t think their internal process would change.
They also still have to report the stock transfers into the EU. I’d be weary of asking a UK accountant to do this unless they have proven experience here.
I do agree that a more economical option would be really welcome given the increase in cost of doing business in the EU.
However, with the increased audit risk (the UK is an untrusted ‘third country*’) now I’d be weary of racing to the bottom on price.
*Germany just audited by the way for 2019 returns which Avalara got wrong - we moved to SimplyVAT half way through the year.
Seller_y1oOV7IRdwzeB
We stopped working with Avalara through VAT Services on Amazon because they were useless. All is fine if what you’re putting through is absolutely standard - if there’s anything even slightly out of the ordinary they can’t do it. We had hell and all problems on one matter for 18 months, which was sorted in 10 minutes by our next Provider…
Next provider was Avask, but as it stands I don’t rate them at all. Paying twice the price - I have so many unknowns, errors and outstanding issues at the moment (5 months in). We may have just got a poor person dealing with our account, but at the moment I would say they’re pretty poor.
Seller_Z4DPPoDBTlXUi
We registered with AVASK for FULL Pan-EU last year and still havent been able to ship anything out to EU over the last year. Cost us £6000 + VAT.
Now they are offering a discounted rate of £3990 + VAT for the following year.
Are you still having success in EU? We are considering pull out from AVASK and not part-taking in PAN-EU at all.
It would be great to get some advise.
Thanks.
