29.4.2004
For more than 8 months, a specialized finance task force dealing with readiness for the accession to the EU has been active in VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a.s. Under the leadership of Radim Valas, the Finance Director of the company, the task force comprising of experts from the financial accounting department, IT department, purchasing and sale department was dealing not only with solution of an entirely new custom statistics (INTRASTAT) but the group was dealing also with tax issues after the accession to the EU (mainly VAT).
The main task for the team was to transfer all new requirements of statistical monitoring and tax legislation to the integrated IT system of VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a.s. The original mandate currently continues mainly due to unclear legislation. The VAT Act was not passed in the House of Parliament until the last week and its form does not provide for an unambiguous interpretation of all paragraphs.
After the accession to the EU, VAT payment will be simplified. A precondition for a problem-free transition was a registration of the European VAT number. Tax advisors and auditors have not recommended registration of VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a.s. as a VAT payer in another country with lower tax burden. The company management welcomes introduction of intra communitarian transactions, i.e., international business transactions without complicated VAT payment in case the supplier and the client are VAT payers in one of the EU member states. The format of the VAT number of VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a.s. was sent to all suppliers and clients and at the same time we are verifying VAT numbers of our customers registered in other countries. To all suppliers and clients we also sent the format of IBAN (INTERNATIONAL BANK ACCOUNT NUMBER), which is used for unambiguous identification of the client’s account, country in which the client’s account is kept and the bank institution.
Our trade people must get used to a new nomenclature: imports we shall call procurement and the term of export will be replaced by delivery of the goods. Within the framework of trading with the EU member states, trading transactions will cease to be called import and export as of May 2004. A significant change for VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a.s. will be also trading transactions with third, i.e., non-member states of the EU. They will continue to be called import and export of goods and they will be subject to custom clearance. Here, the European custom regulation with the national adjustment will be applied. Custom Code has been changed also and EU TARIC comes into force.
The scope of the company reporting will be larger as of May 2004. This will include that the VAT tax return will be amended by new information regarding delivery and procurement of goods from another member country (summary statement), including special regimens applied to three lateral trading etc. Accounting books of VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a.s. are kept as per the Czech GAAP. In case the company shares become listed shares, the company is ready to report all requested data also as per IFRS.
The new obligations in terms of data reporting after the accession to the EU include: The INTRASTAT statistic report. This is a statistic system used for collection of information on circulation of goods inside the EU. In its basic principles the report is the same in all EU states, the report is mandatory and in the Czech Republic the report is regulated by the custom legislation and by the corresponding practice regulation. The data in this report is reported for each month, separately for dispatch and separately for receipt of goods.
The summary report is a report used for checking the title for exempting the transactions from VAT by virtue of delivering the goods to another member state and the payers are obliged to file this report to the local tax administrator for the previous quarter.
The new obligations in terms of data reporting after the accession to the EU include: The INTRASTAT statistic report. This is a statistic system used for collection of information on circulation of goods inside the EU. In its basic principles the report is the same in all EU states, the report is mandatory and in the Czech Republic the report is regulated by the custom legislation and by the corresponding practice regulation. The data in this report is reported for each month, separately for dispatch and separately for receipt of goods. The summary report is a report used for checking the title for exempting the transactions from VAT by virtue of delivering the goods to another member state and the payers are obliged to file this report to the local tax administrator for the previous quarter.
