The 3rd Annual Conference for VAT Compliance Control in SAP®

Securing tax compliance by aligning IT, finance and VAT 

14th-16th May 2012

 

We all, as SAP users, want to speed up SAP project implementation times. We all want our businesses to get the maximum return from this system-investment.

Particularly with VAT compliance, business requirements are often lost in translation as VAT and SAP/IT rarely speak the same language. The result: more unwanted re-work and resources required for endless configurations. So, what are companies doing to fully understand the total capabilities of SAP and how it supports current VAT demands?

Like a well-oiled VAT and SAP/IT project team, our 3rd annual SAP Control for VAT Compliance conference has been carefully customised to accurately reflect your current issues concerning VAT and SAP.

We are solving these issues by sharing, in an even more interactive and practical nature than previous years, best practices for some of the most pressing problems VAT and SAP/IT professionals are facing right now in 2012.

With incredible insight from end users and SAP simulation exercises with world-leading consultants, the rumoured utopia of 100% VAT compliance can start to become a reality.

Here are just five of the many ways that this event can really help you secure VAT compliance:

• Know how to practically achieve intrastat compliance
• Be able to map out complex EU VAT flows such as triangulation or reverse charges
• Deal with the complexities of implementing SAP in BRICs countries
• Automate the VAT determination for AP invoices
• Take control of VAT of your travel and entertainment (T&E) expenses.

For the third year running, sharedserviceslink.com and Meridian International VAT Consulting are bringing you this incredible three-day conference and have a limited number of places to ensure our personal, intimate and boutique style enables as much mindsharing and valuable peer networking as possible.

Bring your team: each additional colleague receives 50% off our standard prices! So contact me on +44 (0)203 176 2627 or susie.west@sharedserviceslink.com to reserve your place as this always sells out early.

I am looking forward to welcoming you to join your peers in London this May for what is now regarded as the go-to event for any VAT professional on SAP and their colleagues to attend.

The 3rd Annual Conference for VAT Compliance Control in SAP®

Securing tax compliance by aligning IT, finance and VAT 

14th-16th May 2012

DAY 1: Tuesday 15th May 2012

08.00 - 08.45 Registration and networking

08.45  - 09.30 Opening address and benchmarking

In this opening session, Susie West and Ryan Ostilly will share the findings from your pre-conference benchmarking survey. Discover how unique your challenges are and what common issues you and your fellow delegates are facing.

Susie West
CEO
sharedserviceslink.com

Ryan Ostilly
Commercial Director
Meridian International VAT Consulting

09.30 – 10.15 Keynote: Update from SAP

Following delegate feedback from their session at last year’s event, this year SAP are launching the new online user forum ‘Idea Place’, collecting your needs around VAT to feed into prioritising future SAP developments. In this session, Dr Arif Esa will share what are the top issues they have identified and which of those they plan to make developments for, so you can plan on whether to upgrade your system in the future or work on customising your system today:

• Results of attendee poll / survey and SAP reaction
• Official SAP "wish list": Idea Place
• Update on  SAP developments and mid-long term plan

Dr. Arif Esa
Solution Expert Finance Solutions
SAP

10.15 – 10:45 Coffee

10.45 – 11.45 Achieving Intrastat compliance: a technical insight

Kill the manual process and become a ‘best-in-class’ company for Intrastat reporting. Paul Matthé from Philips will deliver a session drawing from over 15 years experience as a SAP logistics expert, with a deep understanding of foreign trade and VAT issues. Learn how to design and implement robust processes in SAP to ensure automated and compliant Intrastat reporting.

• Outlining the basics
• Standard configuration approach
• Identify and explain complexities and how to overcome these
• Present how to customize and modify SAP to be compliant
• Designing a suitable reconciliation report for Intrastat and VAT return

Paul Matthé
Senior Lead Business Analyst Competence Group SCM
Philips IT Applications

11.45 – 13.00 Interactive discussions and exercises: mapping out complex EU VAT flows

Get involved in a set of challenging round-table discussions covering some of the most fundamental complexities associated with EU VAT. Use this session to discuss how these scenarios (or variations thereof) apply to your business, what the correct VAT treatment should be and how this is dealt with in SAP.

• Intra EU delivery – EU VAT ID not in country of delivery
• Triangulation & chain transactions
• Extended reverse-charge
• Consignment stock/call-off stock
• Temporary relief/exemptions

Esther Schmidt
VAT Compliance Manager
GE

13.00 – 14.15 Lunch

14.15 – 16.15 Focus on BRIC countries

Hear from experts on BRIC countries tax systems, and how companies have successfully designed and implemented their SAP systems to cope with complexities in these countries.

• Outline of VAT system in place
• Outlook on changes
• Specific issues, common pitfalls
• Reporting requirements
• SAP solutions for these countries, looking at strengths and weaknesses
• How to overcome weaknesses including external tools

STREAMED SESSIONS 14.15 – 15.00
STREAM A: Brazil & China Brazil Karel van Duijvenbode Senior Tax analyst Air Product s   China Vanecia Severino EU SAP Applications Delivery Tenneco	OR	STREAM B: India & Russia India Wayne Hughes EU Logistics, Customs & VAT Manager The Nuance Group AG   Russia Gunter Humpf Manager, Financial Man. Services SCA Hygiene Products SE

15.00 – 15.30 Coffee

STREAMED SESSIONS 15.30 – 16.15 (repeat of session 1)
STREAM A: Brazil & China	OR	STREAM B: India & Russia

16.15 – 17.15  Managing currency issues in SAP

Transactions recorded in a currency other than the VAT reporting currency, presents a big challenge for many companies. In this session, we identify the main reasons for currency issues, and why this leads to non-compliance for VAT purposes. We then explain solutions to overcome these.

• Overview of the causes of currency issues affecting VAT reporting/compliance
• Examples of scenarios and explanation of the compliance risks
• Manual tasks to manage this
• Present automated solutions to overcome problems, that can be implemented in SAP

 

Roger Lindelauf
Director – SAP/VAT Consulting
Meridian International VAT Consulting

17.15 – 17.30 Chair close

17.30 – 18.00 Speaker clinic

19.00 Evening event

After an intense day of learning, continue your conversations with your newly formed peers and reflect on the insights gained from the first day in a relaxed, informal environment.

 

DAY 2: Wednesday 16th May 2012

 

08.30 – 09.00 Top tips from Day 1

Recap the first day’s learnings in this opening session as Ryan Ostilly summarises all the best tips that were revealed, laying the foundations for further ideas to be shared on day two.

Ryan Ostilly
Commercial Director
Meridian International VAT Consulting

09.00 – 10.15 Automated VAT determination on AP invoices

In last year’s Masterclass, we discussed three approaches to managing VAT determination on incoming AP invoices: (i) manual tax code selection, (ii) condition-record technique (iii) and external VAT engine. Based on feedback from past delegates, we are leaving the theory behind, and getting technical in this session. John Deere Europe achieves automated tax determination for 95% for all incoming AP invoices via the pricing condition in Purchase Orders. During this session, Franz will explain from simple to more complicated transactions how such condition tables are designed at John Deere. Discover the possibilities and the limits of Standard SAP and some workarounds that you could implement in your business.
 

Franz Pauer
Manager VAT, Tax Department
John Deere

10.15 – 10.45 Coffee

10.45 – 11.30 Managing VAT on T&E in your SAP system

The large volume associated with travel and entertainment expenses (T&E), coupled with relatively small values per transaction, means that many companies face a constant struggle to ensure compliance to company policy as well as the correct accounting VAT. Considering that most of the of the T&E data entered relies on the traveller - who is neither concerned with VAT nor with accounting procedures - the requirement to have robust controls and processes is vital. In this session, learn Tom de Groot will explain with practical clarity how Merck has utilised SAP Travel Management and other bolt-on services to ensure compliance across their whole T&E system in an efficient and automated way:

• Understanding the legal requirements for VAT deductibility on T&E expenses
• T&E compliance to company policy - a controllable cost and how best to manage this
• Pitfalls of SAP Travel Management and other XMS solutions and bolt ons, and how to overcome
• Best practice case study to manage T&E compliance

11.30 – 12.30   Click. Submit. – Generating Electronic VAT Reports directly from SAP 

REWE is one of the largest retail companies in Germany. With over 2,000 company codes on their SAP system, preparing and submitting VAT returns needs to be a slick, efficient and highly automated process. During this technical session, Mike Freund will demonstrate step-by-step how to customize standard SAP functionality, to create VAT declarations automatically, down to the box number of the VAT return. The session overview includes:

• Overview of e-filing, country rules and requirements
• Native SAP functionality for electronic submission of VAT returns

- Configuration and settings in SAP
- Technical case study: detailed step-by-step demonstration on how to achieve this using a specific country
 

Mike Freund
SAP Finance Process Manager
REWE Deutscher Supermarkt KGAA

12.30 – 13.00 Archiving & Legal Requirements

When do you need to have an invoice and what exactly defines an invoice? There are so many different country practices for paper invoices. Then you have email, PDF and other electronic forms. What is acceptable and what is not acceptable? In this session, Nora Grymova from SABMiller sets out the legal requirements with crisp clarity and provides insight as to how SABMiller balances these requirements with the technical challenges these pose, assessing the impact of new technologies for scanning and invoicing:

• Legal requirements country by country
• Archive solutions available , tax and system implications
• E-invoices, self-billing, scanned invoices

Nora Grymova
Global Design Authority
Business Process Expert
Tax at SABMiller

13.00 – 14.15 Networking Lunch

14.15 – 15.00 Best-in-class tax code structure with 2-digit limitation – a case study

The number one complaint from all SAP users is the limitation in the number of tax codes available. With every change to tax rates over the last 18 months, many businesses are now experiencing this problem more and more acutely, creating more pressure to take action. In this session, one company will explain how they are making best use of the two-digit limitation in order to help you avoid running out of tax codes.

15.00 – 15.30 Coffee

15.30 – 16.30 Solutions to Automate VAT determination on complex VAT flows within SAP

During Day 1, we discussed a number of complex EU VAT flows that are typical for large businesses, and how the VAT determination cannot be handled in standard SAP. In this session, we explain how to implement a solution to overcome these limitations - using best practice techniques. During this session, Roger Lindelauf from Meridian will explain how to develop and implement a solution directly into your SAP system that enhances functionality for these complex flows, in order to ensure compliant and automated VAT determination.
 

Roger Lindelauf
Director – SAP/VAT Consulting
Meridian International VAT Consulting

16.30 – 16.45 Top tips from Day 2

Round off the final day’s learnings in this closing session with our conference co-chair Ryan Ostilly.

Ryan Ostilly
Commercial Director
Meridian International VAT Consulting

16.45 – 17.00 Chair Close

The 3rd Annual Conference for VAT Compliance Control in SAP®

Securing tax compliance by aligning IT, finance and VAT 

14th-16th May 2012

PRE-CONFERENCE LEARNING LABS DAY 1:

Monday 14th May 2012

Working Lunch sessions: 11.30 - 14.30

STREAMED SESSIONS
A: New SAP implementation and migrations: design and build a best-in-class VAT configuration If you are implementing or migrating to SAP, or are involved in a supply chain restructure then this learning lab provides an essential toolkit to help you plan and design a compliant and automated VAT process in SAP so that implementation achieves best-in-class performance from day one. Some of the topics discussed will include:  How to gather legal requirements and business flows Best practice set-up of GL VAT account settings Structuring partner roles and VAT ID maintenance Tax code structure Tax determination pitfalls in standard SAP and what to watch out for Tax reporting pitfalls in standard SAP and what to watch out for How to overcome pitfalls What modifications / customising is required Designing an optimal invoice layout template(s) Case study including lessons learnt Tips and tricks Facilitated by:  Roger Lindelauf Director – SAP/VAT Consulting Meridian Global Services Who should attend: Those implementing SAP Those migrating from other ERPs Those implementing new supply-chain structures	OR	B: Understanding how to manage customs, duties, export licensing requirements and other trade regulatory requirements in SAP In this session, Carol Lynch & Michael Cannell from Crannagh & Co – international trade and customs experts - co-facilitate a round-table workshop focusing on Customs Duties, Trade Regulatory Requirements and Excise taxes, and how to ensure you are compliant. With over 1 million product SKU’s sold across 14 countries, Wayne Hughes from The Nuance Group provides insightful and practical experience on the technical and legal complexities, how they are applied and how to configure SAP for optimal recording and reporting. The Session overview includes: Understanding Customs, Duties and Excise Taxes Maximize the use of SAP, developing tables and configuring reporting requirements A closer look at managing ‘origin’ Building part-master classification and tariff tables How to build value for customs purposes Building deferral reports Export controls, deemed use, verification of customers and vendors, export licences Facilitated by: Carol Lynch Managing Director Crannagh & Co   Wayne Hughes EU Logistics, Customs & VAT Manager The Nuance Group AG Who should attend: All business who import and/or export goods from the EU

Afternoon tea sessions: 15.00 - 17.30

STREAMED SESSIONS
C: SAP  101 : everything a VAT or TAX professional needs to know about how VAT works in SAP Understand SAP-talk: essential up-skill for VAT / tax professionals, covering:   Tax procedures Tax codes GL account settings Customer tax classifications Material tax classifications VAT logic in SAP and how to determine a tax code in sales documents How to determine a tax code in purchase documents EDI invoices Plants abroad VAT and ECSL reporting, including basic selections, foreign VAT registrations and currencies Facilitated by: Roger Lindelauf Director – SAP/VAT Consulting Meridian Global Services   Who should attend: VAT, PMO professionals Anyone wanting to get a solid foundation on European VAT and some of the complex requirements	OR	D: VAT 101: everything a SAP system’s professional needs to know about VAT  Understand VAT-talk: essential up-skill for SAP / IT professionals, covering: Legal framework Inputs vs outputs Good vs services Place of supply rules Intra-community flows Acquisition and reverse-charge VAT Import and export flows Triangulation flows Distance selling VAT deduction & partial exemption VAT returns EC Sales Lists & Intrastats Facilitated by: Paul Quigley Director – VAT Consulting Meridian Global Services   Nazar Zaidi Senior Manager – SAP/VAT Consulting Meridian Global Services Who should attend: SAP, IT, PMO professionals Anyone wanting to get a solid foundation on European VAT and some of the complex requirements

The 3rd Annual Conference for VAT Compliance Control in SAP®

Securing tax compliance by aligning IT, finance and VAT 

14th-16th May 2012

 

 

Package	Really really early bird Registered & paid by 17 Feb 12	Really early bird Registered & paid by 16th Mar12	Early bird Registered & paid by 20th Apr 12	Standard prices
Premium Conference + 2 Learning Labs	Save £600 £1597 + VAT	Save £400 £1797 + VAT	Save £200 £1997 + VAT	£2197 + VAT
Standard Plus Conference + 1 Learning Lab	Save £450 £1348 + VAT	Save £200 £1598 + VAT	Save £100 £1698 + VAT	£1798 + VAT
Standard Conference Only	Save £400 £999 + VAT	Save £100 £1299 + VAT	£1399 + VAT	£1399 + VAT

Limited places are available for vendors. Vendor passes are chargeable at £1818.
No discounts apply. Learning labs are priced at £399 + VAT each.
Only one discount is applicable per registration. In order to qualify for the early bird discounts, bookings must be received with payment before stated date.

Venue: Click here to view the special rates we have negotiated with the The Royal Garden Hotel.

 

Bring your team! sharedserviceslink.com understands the value of team knowledge sharing. Groups booking at the same time from the same company receive the following discounts (discounts apply to the full price only and cannot be applied retrospectively). Only one discount is applicable per non-member. In order to qualify for the early bird discounts, bookings must be received with payment before stated date. UK VAT is charged at 20% - (Events held outside the UK - France VAT is 19.6%). We do not combine discounts but we will honour the discount that is better for you. To make a group booking call +44 (0)20 3176 2623

Bring your team! Each additional colleague receives 50% off our standard prices!

Satisfaction Guarantee At sharedserviceslink.com We are absolutely confident that you will receive value for money. To give this belief credence we are offering a money-back guarantee if you feel you have not experienced value for money from attending our events. There is no catch. To qualify for this you need to ensure you liaise with Susie West directly before the end of the conference, and that you attend all conference sessions over the two days. Learning Labs are not included in this guarantee. All refunds will deduct a 10% administration fee.