I’m looking to buy a new company laptop and need advice on handling VAT.
One option is to order the laptop to the country I’m currently in, which would mean paying 19% VAT here. I’d then have to go through the process of claiming it back, which is complicated but possible. However, customer service informed me that this process isn’t typically supported for any Xolo Leap plan.
Alternatively, I could have the laptop shipped to the company address in Estonia. I’ve heard from two providers that this allows for a reverse charge 0% VAT invoice, but only if the hardware is delivered to the company address—apparently, the delivery address is what determines this. I know Xolo forwards some mail, but I’m not sure how you deal with parcels/packages.
Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? Any advice on how to handle this would be greatly appreciated, especially since it’s a significant amount of money, and I’d like to avoid paying VAT unnecessarily.
Hi Toby, I understand that our customer success team has already clarified this for you but in case anyone else has the same question I’ll ad a few details here below.
Unfortunately, the current rule is: Xolo’s service does not include handling and receiving packages, nor does it facilitate the receipt of documents or packages through a courier service.
We sometimes suggest using a different country’s Amazon or other platforms but you would have to first make sure whether the reverse charge can apply as the VAT rules depend on the country (supplier location) from where the goods are being shipped out. If the platform has a warehouse in your country as well and the goods are shipped out from there, then still the local VAT is applied.
It’s not the simplest thing to manoeuvre but there are a few workarounds. I hope this helped answer your question.
Buy the hardware as an actual business customer, for example as a DELL business customer, and receive an invoice with 0% VAT - you’re then responsible on paying VAT on it in the country where you pay your taxes.