E-commerce sales invoices

[Sean Tan]

Hi. For VAT-registered e-commerce companies selling on multiple channels e.g. on Amazon or own website, do they need to generate and send tax invoices to customers for every order? Is it a HMRC requirement to store all the invoices (tens of thousands of them) in an accessible folder?

 

[Scalloway]

Just keep a record of your sales eg Paypal statements and match the totals to your VAT records.

 

[pentel]

You should always issue a VAT invoice with every sale.

Unfortunately buying through amazon means that these are difficult to obtain and without a VAT invoice we cannot claim the VAT element back, so in effect buying from amazon cost 20% more than elsewhere....

 

[Scalloway]

I would only issue invoices for B2B sales. issuing them to private buyers is a waste of time.

 

[johndon68]

Unfortunately buying through amazon means that these are difficult to obtain and without a VAT invoice we cannot claim the VAT element back, so in effect buying from amazon cost 20% more than elsewhere....

Amazon have recently introduced a scheme for business sellers where Amazon themselves will automatically send a VAT Invoice on behalf of the seller.

John

 

[Sean Tan]

I would only issue invoices for B2B sales. issuing them to private buyers is a waste of time.

So it is legal to collect VAT without sending the tax invoice to customers, as long as we store the tax invoice in our system?

Any good automation available so that we can send to all buyers without additional effort? Otherwise corporate buyers will be manually requesting for tax invoices, and sellers need to spend time dealing with such emails ..

By the way, I am watching this thread, but I don't always get a notification for replies ..

 

[Sean Tan]

I recently incorporated a company in Malaysia to do some e-commerce. Any where else in the world like Malaysia requires the tax invoice number to be sequential? This is a headache for automation purposes, especially when selling on multiple channels ..

 

[Sean Tan]

I would only issue invoices for B2B sales. issuing them to private buyers is a waste of time.

By issuing, did you mean sending to buyers? I guess we still have to create the invoices and store then somewhere accessible, even if the buyers don't request for them?

 

[Scalloway]

So it is legal to collect VAT without sending the tax invoice to customers, as long as we store the tax invoice in our system?

That is how many bricks and mortar businesses work. They get sales data through their till but they only issue VAT invoices on request.

 

[Sean Tan]

That is how many bricks and mortar businesses work. They get sales data through their till but they only issue VAT invoices on request.

Are the tax invoices actually created and stored in a folder? Or are they invoices viewable only via the interface of the software they are using.

 

[Mr D]

You should always issue a VAT invoice with every sale.

Unfortunately buying through amazon means that these are difficult to obtain and without a VAT invoice we cannot claim the VAT element back, so in effect buying from amazon cost 20% more than elsewhere....

We just print off the amazon VAT invoice if its not in the parcel.
Amazon, like any VAT registered company, has to provide a VAT invoice. Amazon sellers may not be VAT registered and therefore cannot provide VAT invoices. Usually not 20% more than elsewhere, sometimes stuff is cheaper on amazon than elsewhere.
Just got to watch out for overseas stuff shipped to UK without VAT paid.... royal mail add on a admin fee when collecting it.

 

[Scalloway]

Are the tax invoices actually created and stored in a folder? Or are they invoices viewable only via the interface of the software they are using.

My experience of B&M operations is that they use cash registers that record every sale. At the end of the day the operator or supervisor presses a key that summarises the days takings, splitting between zero rated and standard rates VAT if applicable. The total is entered into the business's accounting system.

The till rolls from the cash register, showing each individual sale, are filed away in a safe place and are made available to HMRC if they ask to see them. No invoices are ever produced and HMRC are quite happy with this arrangement.

 

[Pish_Pash]

Unfortunately buying through amazon means that these are difficult to obtain and without a VAT invoice we cannot claim the VAT element back, so in effect buying from amazon cost 20% more than elsewhere....

Not really...click on the seller's detail page...if he has a VAT number it'll be there (if he isn't VAt registered, then there won't be a VAT ID there...& almost certainly you won't be able to claim back the VAT on an order). Alternatively only buy on Amazon's new Business marketplace - where it's clear whether the seller you are buying from is VAT registered. As John said earlier, if the seller has signed up for Amazon's relatively recent VAT invoicing scheme...all customers can access a VAT invoice under "My Orders".

To the OP, I issue a VAT receipt with every order...it's simply easier to do this (as I have no idea whether my buyer is VAT registered or not & to do it retrospectively is more time consuming than simply including one with the order in the first place).

 

[Sean Tan]

The till rolls from the cash register, showing each individual sale

For each record of the sale in the till, is an invoice number generated at point of sales? Or is an invoice number generated only later when the customer comes back to ask for a tax invoice? Just wondering if the sales records in the till are actually simplified tax invoices.

 

[Sean Tan]

To the OP, I issue a VAT receipt with every order...it's simply easier to do this (as I have no idea whether my buyer is VAT registered or not & to do it retrospectively is more time consuming than simply including one with the order in the first place).

For high-volume sellers i.e. 300+ sales a day, would it be a nightmare for accountants to have issued 100000+ invoices in a year? Or is it fine because it is in a digital form?

 

[Scalloway]

For each record of the sale in the till, is an invoice number generated at point of sales? Or is an invoice number generated only later when the customer comes back to ask for a tax invoice? Just wondering if the sales records in the till are actually simplified tax invoices.

I have never had to go into any detail on what is on the till roll. What appears there depends on how sophisticated the system. A full blown EPOS system will give a lot more detail than a machine that just prints a list of transaction as they happen.

Some tills produce customer receipts as a matter of course if they are requested. Some businesses hand-write a VAT receipt from a book of pre-numbered bought from a stationer.

 

[Pish_Pash]

For high-volume sellers i.e. 300+ sales a day, would it be a nightmare for accountants to have issued 100000+ invoices in a year? Or is it fine because it is in a digital form?

I sell online (not B&M with a till) ...I have approximately 100 orders per day - my accountant has never complained about each order having it's only VAT receipt (I doubt he does through everyone of them but rather looks at the aggregated figures that accounts software produces)