Congratulations on your new German client! Importing into the European Union (EU) is a great opportunity. The European Market grows each year and promises a safe and stable base for ongoing future expansion and sales. The German economy, as the world’s third largest industrial power, represents a great market for industrial B2B suppliers.
If you’re based outside of the EU then you’re probably asking yourself a few legal and logistics questions. What do you need to do before you can import your products through the European market and into Germany? Well here’s some good news. CAPLINQ’s Order Fulfillment Services allows you to ship directly to your German clients. This also saves you the trouble of setting up your own legal European entity as well as the costs of using German agents or distributors.
CAPLINQ is your market partner for the EU market; helping foreign suppliers serve European Customers.
The Port of Rotterdam: Europe’s front door!
Based in the Netherlands, as part of our order fulfillment services, we import and warehouse for our foreign clients in Rotterdam. The Port of Rotterdam offers shorter over-land distances to Frankfurt, Munich, Augsburg, and Stuttgart than any German port. These are some of Germany’s most important industrial cities. Rotterdam also beats the German ports of Hamburg and Bremen-Bremerhaven in size to be the largest port in Europe, and the third largest port in the entire World!
VAT is a pain in the… Cash Flow!
Using CAPLINQ’s Order Fulfillment services to import into Europe through the Netherlands offers another unique and critical financial advantage: Fiscal Representation for a Dutch Article 23 license.
Even though Value Added Tax, or VAT, is normally refunded to companies that incur it, depending on which EU member state is involved, it can take months or even more than a year before the money is actually returned. This means that most foreign companies have to pre-pay import VAT before they can reclaim it through a VAT return or via a Refund Application. Needless to say, this has a major negative impact on the cash flow of a company – and that’s alongside the unfortunate loss or cost of potential interest on that money.
Dutch Article 23: VAT deferral license!
The Dutch Government has passed a unique piece of legislation called the “Dutch article 23 VAT deferral license”. This license allows Dutch fiscal representatives of foreign companies to defer payment of import VAT until the moment of filing the VAT return. So instead of having to pre-finance the import VAT and pay it at the border and wait months for a refund, with CAPLINQ as your fiscal representative, you simply no longer have to pay VAT. No more waiting for your money to come back no more filling in VAT Returns or Refund applications, and, most importantly, you don’t pay VAT!
VAT deferral: Germany doesn’t have it!
This opportunity for this kind of postponed accounting is unique to the Netherlands. Germany doesn’t have it or anything like it! CAPLINQ offers our fiscal representation service as standard as part of our Order Fulfillment Services. We apply for the Article 23 VAT deferral license on your behalf so that you can enjoy the huge fiscal advantages of the deferred VAT, and no longer have pay for VAT or wait for it to be refunded.
The Article 23 deferral license permits you to import your goods and only pay duty against the cost-of-goods (COGS) sold: the manufacturing cost, rather than the sales price. This means that your German clients won’t have to pay VAT either: leveling the playing field so that you can directly compete with domestic German competitors who do have to pay VAT.
In conclusion, exporting to Germany through Rotterdam with our Order Fulfillment Service for Germany is the only smart option. To learn more about Article 23 and CAPLINQ’s Fiscal representation services or our Order Fulfillment prices visit www.caplinq.com. Alternatively, you can also contact us if you have any questions regarding fiscal representation or order fulfillment.
