Title: Features
Last modified: August 22, 2016

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# Features

 *  Resolved [quanto](https://wordpress.org/support/users/quanto/)
 * (@quanto)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/features-25/)
 * At this point, the plugin only imports VAT rates for the EU member states.
 * For full compliance, it must gather at least 2 non-conflicting proofs for that
   the customer is located in the EU, e.g. IP address (resolved to a EU country)
   plus something else (e.g. billing address, location of the payment method (bank
   location, credit card issuing country, etc.). What types of 2 proofs for customer
   location you want to integrate?
 * How will this plugin deal with conflicting data – e.g. the customer’s billing
   address is in a EU country but his/her IP is not (or vice versa)?
 * Will be there a feature to check a VAT number (if the customer provides it) and
   exempt the sale from VAT, if it’s a valid number?
 * What features will be available in the free and the pro version?
 * I like the option to manage all the EU VAT 2015 requirements independent from
   paid online services (SaaS) 🙂
 * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce-eu-vat-compliance/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce-eu-vat-compliance/)

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 29 total)

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 *  [Diego](https://wordpress.org/support/users/daigo75/)
 * (@daigo75)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/features-25/#post-5548494)
 * As a collaborator of the project, I can give my opinion about the planned features.
    - The plugin will definitely handle the IP address (the billing address is already
      part of standard order data).
    - Handling conflicting data should not be part of this plugin, at least not 
      at this stage. After speaking for hours with the local Revenue, I think they
      realised that the pieces of information they require can be:
 *  - Unreliable (IP address)
    - Not applicable. Most of the “accepted evidence”, such as SIM cards, landline,
      cable connection, etc, doesn’t apply to small online shops.
    - Unavailable, or available too late. The credit card or bank location, **if**
      available, is returned **after** payment, and that’s too late. Just think 
      about the absurdity: _customer should pay for the order, so that you can find
      out where the card is registered, so that you can tell the customer how much
      he would have to pay_.
       The revenue officers told me that none of them even
      thought about this, and this shows how much time was spent thinking things
      through.
 * In any case, if data is conflicting, a merchant cannot be expected to cancel 
   a sale, nor to rectify orders and invoices manually, chasing the customers for
   VAT refunds. Even worse, no customer is going to waste time providing “additional
   evidence” about their location.
    - The feature to check a VAT number against VIES is in the “to do” list.
    - I cannot describe the differences between free and paid version (I hate the
      term “pro”, it often means “cr.p”), as the plugin is still in development 
      and many features are in draft stage.
    - **Bonus**: to play devil’s advocate, I have to say that I do prefer to use
      external services for accounting, because they allow me to delegate the paperwork
      to my accountants. I’m particularly keen to make this plugin flexible, so 
      that integrations with accounting software can easily pick up the EU VAT data
      and pass it to the remote system.
 * **Important**: the above may change, everything is in development at this stage.
 *  Plugin Author [David Anderson / Team Updraft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/davidanderson/)
 * (@davidanderson)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/features-25/#post-5548498)
 * Hi,
 * I’ve just released version 1.1, which now records the IP geo-location information,
   and displays that information as well as the info on how Woo decided how much
   tax was applicable, in the admin area. It can also distinguish VAT from other
   taxes.
 * I also don’t want to outsource more stuff to a SaaS provider. That’s why I’ve
   been working hard on this plugin. I need it to be ready for 1st Jan, just like
   everyone else!
 * Personally I am in favour of providing a feature to handle conflicting data, 
   via asking the customer to resolve between the two options via self-certification.
   Probably this will be an option, as, as you can see from Diego, not everyone 
   likes the idea. But, since the law has subjective areas, not everyone’s tax officer
   is going to agree with Diego’s, so I will be working on the feature.
 * I definitely agree with Diego that there are a lot of badly-thought-through things
   in this law. It’s a nightmare. Did you know that people in the Canary Islands
   are exempt from VAT? Or that not VAT is chargeable to Swedish soccer clubs? We
   won’t be making handling that a priority. 🙂
 * Probably the main distinction between free and paid versions will be that the
   paid version will have extra reporting facilities to save time with filing reports.(
   As yet, the free version does not have any reporting facilities either – but 
   it has been begun). Support for Diego’s excellent “currency switcher” plugin 
   will also probably go in the paid version. And perhaps automatic checking that
   your VAT rates are up-to-date. Basically, as with UpdraftPlus, my aim is that
   the free version is genuinely useful and not annoying (in my opinion!) because
   of some glaring omission, and that the paid version will add value.
 * None of the above is final, or a promise. This is a free plugin, and so whingers
   will be ignored. 🙂 Patches from other developers are welcome!
 * Best wishes,
    David
 *  Plugin Author [David Anderson / Team Updraft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/davidanderson/)
 * (@davidanderson)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/features-25/#post-5548499)
 * > Will be there a feature to check a VAT number (if the customer provides it)
   > and exempt the sale from VAT, if it’s a valid number?
 * Yes. I have not yet decided which version this will go in. VAT exemptions imply
   you’re making business-to-business sales, so I’m leaning towards the premium 
   version for that.
 * David
 *  Thread Starter [quanto](https://wordpress.org/support/users/quanto/)
 * (@quanto)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/features-25/#post-5548594)
 * Hi David and Diego, thank you for your replies. I installed the plugin on a test
   configuration and follow its development. This is the first solution (at an early
   stage so far) for WooCommerce. I don’t mind paying for extra features 🙂 You 
   may also want to have a look at the VAT add-on for EDD to see how it handles 
   certain scenarios 😉
 *  [Diego](https://wordpress.org/support/users/daigo75/)
 * (@daigo75)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/features-25/#post-5548595)
 * [@quanto](https://wordpress.org/support/users/quanto/) Done already. I stumbled
   upon it while testing the Currency Switcher for EDD, that’s the addon that confirmed
   my idea of adding a self-certification field. However, EDD is a fairly different
   system and the VAT plugin is not coded particularly well, unfortunately, therefore
   it usefulness will be limited.
 *  Plugin Author [David Anderson / Team Updraft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/davidanderson/)
 * (@davidanderson)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/features-25/#post-5548642)
 * > How will this plugin deal with conflicting data – e.g. the customer’s billing
   > address is in a EU country but his/her IP is not (or vice versa)?
   > Will be there a feature to check a VAT number (if the customer provides it)
   > and exempt the sale from VAT, if it’s a valid number?
 * I’ve now finished coding + testing features for the Premium edition for this.
 * 1) The shop owner can now decide what to do if there’s a conflict: a) Ignore 
   it (use the billing or shipping address, according to his settings) b) Ask the
   customer to resolve it, or c) Ask the customer to self-certify anyway, even if
   there’s no conflict.
 * 2) The customer’s VAT number can be collected + checked online, and VAT removed
   from the sale if it is valid.
 * It’s been tested on WooCommerce 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2. Watch this space!
 * Next up, the plan is to work on reporting – some features hopefully for both 
   free and premium versions.
 * David
 *  Thread Starter [quanto](https://wordpress.org/support/users/quanto/)
 * (@quanto)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/features-25/#post-5548659)
 * Thanks, David, great work! About reporting: Have you found any documentation 
   about the VAT MOSS import/export file formats? The Pro version must export in
   a file that can be imported to EU MOSS to official reporting.
 *  Plugin Author [David Anderson / Team Updraft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/davidanderson/)
 * (@davidanderson)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/features-25/#post-5548660)
 * Hi,
 * Do you have any links that explain that more? I’ve not read anywhere about electronic
   reporting – I was working on the assumption that we just need to be able to produce
   a print-out that contains all the information, grouped in the right way, that
   an accountant would need.
 * David
 *  Thread Starter [quanto](https://wordpress.org/support/users/quanto/)
 * (@quanto)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/features-25/#post-5548661)
 * Also, so far your plugin adds settings to the WooCommerce Tax section. Do you
   consider to create its own section, tab, etc. where the shop owner can see and
   control all aspects of this EU Taxation?
 *  Plugin Author [David Anderson / Team Updraft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/davidanderson/)
 * (@davidanderson)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/features-25/#post-5548662)
 * > Do you consider to create its own section, tab, etc. where the shop owner can
   > see and control all aspects of this EU Taxation?
 * Currently I’m thinking that a) yes, a separate menu entry will be created that
   will lead to a page that is a kind of “control panel” for everything, but b) 
   the tax *settings* will remain in the “Tax” settings section of WooCommerce (
   so, the new page will point you to those settings). This seems to me to avoid
   having tax settings which aren’t in WooCommerce’s tax settings tab, as well as
   having the “home” where all compliance issues can be dealt with from.
 * David
 *  Thread Starter [quanto](https://wordpress.org/support/users/quanto/)
 * (@quanto)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/features-25/#post-5548663)
 * Hi David, here is an aggregation of articles online concerning EU VAT 2015 changes:
   [http://rachelandrew.github.io/eu-vat/implementation.html](http://rachelandrew.github.io/eu-vat/implementation.html)
 * In order to facilitate EU VAT reporting and payment to each EU member state where
   the customers are located, each national government creates an online Mini One-
   Stop Shop (MOSS) where the seller registers and enters his EU sales at quarterly
   basis. Here’s info for the UK MOSS: [https://www.gov.uk/register-and-use-the-vat-mini-one-stop-shop](https://www.gov.uk/register-and-use-the-vat-mini-one-stop-shop)
   and here’s for Ireland: [http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vat/moss/index.html](http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vat/moss/index.html)
 * Such MOSSes exist in every EU country as of October 2014 and they will be functional
   from 1 January 2014
 * Taxamo also has some nice explanatory blog posts on MOSS: [http://www.taxamo.com/tag/mini-one-stop-shop/](http://www.taxamo.com/tag/mini-one-stop-shop/)
 * Basically, the seller must provide VAT MOSS returns ([https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-supplying-digital-services-and-the-vat-mini-one-stop-shop/vat-supplying-digital-services-and-the-vat-mini-one-stop-shop#vat-moss-returns](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-supplying-digital-services-and-the-vat-mini-one-stop-shop/vat-supplying-digital-services-and-the-vat-mini-one-stop-shop#vat-moss-returns)).
 * I cannot find any info on their data format. I haven’t registered with my country
   MOSS so far and I don’t know what it’s like. Maybe there’s an inside info somewhare
 *  Thread Starter [quanto](https://wordpress.org/support/users/quanto/)
 * (@quanto)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/features-25/#post-5548664)
 * Here’s some pointer for the reporting data:
 * Article 63c of the EU VAT Directive refers to the information required to be 
   retained by the eMerchant. It includes the following:
 * The Member State of consumption to which the service is supplied
 * Type of service supplied
 * Date of the supply of service
 * Taxable amount indicating the currency used
 * Any subsequent increase or reduction of the taxable amount
 * VAT rate applied
 * Amount of VAT payable indicating the currency used
 * Date and amount of payments received;
 * Any payments on account received before the supply of service
 * Where an invoice is issued, the information contained on the invoice
 * Name of the customer, where known to the taxable person
 * Information used to determine the place where the customer is established or 
   has his permanent address or usually resides
 * (Source: [http://www.taxamo.com/moss-audit/](http://www.taxamo.com/moss-audit/))
 *  Thread Starter [quanto](https://wordpress.org/support/users/quanto/)
 * (@quanto)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/features-25/#post-5548665)
 * [http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vat/leaflets/mini-one-stop-shop.html#section10.3](http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vat/leaflets/mini-one-stop-shop.html#section10.3)
 *  Plugin Author [David Anderson / Team Updraft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/davidanderson/)
 * (@davidanderson)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/features-25/#post-5548666)
 * Hi,
 * Thanks. I misunderstood you – I thought you were talking about some on-disk file
   format for data export – e.g. some XML variant.
 * I’m aware of the above. But always grateful for more people adding their own 
   understanding of the situation, as there’s a lot of confusion around this law.(
   I have an accountant, of course! And he’s been on a course dedicated to explaining
   this new law).
 * Best wishes,
    David
 *  [Diego](https://wordpress.org/support/users/daigo75/)
 * (@daigo75)
 * [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/features-25/#post-5548667)
 * [@quanto](https://wordpress.org/support/users/quanto/) As an Irish based developer
   and merchant, I found the information on the Revenue site confusing at best. 
   It doesn’t mention that all the VAT information should also be reported in revenue’s
   currency (i.e. if you sell in USD you should provide data in EUR).
 * For reference, my accountant has no idea of how this new system will work, so,
   if anybody feels “ignorant”, you are not alone. 😀

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 * ![](https://ps.w.org/woocommerce-eu-vat-compliance/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev
   =1106140)
 * [European VAT Compliance Assistant for WooCommerce](https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce-eu-vat-compliance/)
 * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce-eu-vat-compliance/#faq)
 * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/woocommerce-eu-vat-compliance/)
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 * 29 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [David Anderson / Team Updraft](https://wordpress.org/support/users/davidanderson/)
 * Last activity: [11 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/features-25/page/2/#post-5548712)
 * Status: resolved