Value Added Tax (VAT) is a tax levied on the supply of goods and services in almost every country outside the U.S. Companies with operations outside the U.S. need to understand how VAT works, how to comply with the diverse VAT rules and how to ensure that VAT does not become a cost of doing business.

This webinar focused on how U.S. companies should address VAT. The discussion started with VAT basics, highlighted the importance of strategic VAT management and addressed solutions to some typical VAT pitfalls.

Presentation Objectives

The objectives of this webinar included providing participants with a conceptual understanding and practical application of the following:

1. The basics of Value Added Tax

2. The importance of VAT for operations outside the U.S.

3. Simple techniques for optimizing your VAT position

4. Recent developments in the VAT world, including a brief primer on the potential of VAT in the U.S.

Upon completion of this program, participants were able to:

1. Understand the concept of VAT, and how VAT impacts on your organization

2. Start to identify potential VAT sensitivities and opportunities within your company's operations and billing/accounting systems

3. Understand that VAT exemptions may be costly, and that recent simplifications in the VAT rules are not necessarily cost-effective

Mark Houtzager