SEK 1.5 million per year. That’s how much VAT is refunded to Statoil Sweden every year thanks to monitoring of invoices from EU countries. “That’s a lot of money,” says Sara Oldenburg at Statoil.
Statoil has always been aware of the potential to receive VAT refunds on invoices from other EU countries. The main problem has been one of administration.
“We judged it too time consuming to check every single invoice of EU origin. So we just concentrated on certain types of transaction,” says Oldenburg, who specializes in VAT and other complex tax issues at the oil company.
What made you change your mind?
“When we realized we could outsource the entire administration in an easy way and get lots of money back, it became a pretty obvious decision.”
How does it work?
“Each quarter, two people come up to us from Intrum Justitia and go through all our foreign invoices and evaluate what possibilities we have to get a refund. It’s all fairly routine.”
How’s the cooperation working out?
“It’s working really smoothly. There have been some really useful discussions with the people who collect the invoices and other specialists within Intrum Justitia.”
What are the main issues you discuss?
“Often Intrum’s specialists come across invoices that have been handled incorrectly without us having spotted it. We may have missed registering VAT, or a supplier, without thinking about it, has invoiced VAT in dollars. That means we can claim additional VAT.”
Have any issues proved particularly thorny?
“We have a subsidiary that is VAT-registered in a large number of countries. Intrum Justitia spotted that we had forgotten to register ingoing VAT in a number of those countries, which we were able to correct.”
And the biggest lessons learnt from the collaboration?
“It isn’t just about VAT refunds, but also incorrectly handled invoices. It’s really valuable having an external set of eyes monitoring things.”
Facts/Sara Oldenburg
Age: 45.
Profession: Responsible for indirect taxes at Statoil in Sweden.
Background: Has worked for 22 years with economy and accounting in the oil business.
Interests: Film, music, reading.
Get in touch with us now to get your money back!
Applications for VAT refunds must be submitted separately to the tax authorities in each country. They can be filed 1-4 times a year for periods of at least three months. Since the application period for the previous calendar year expires on June 30, we recommend you contact Intrum Justitia before the end of April to ensure a refund. To learn more, please email: vatrefund@intrum.com or call +46 8 616 77 00.
Source: Fair Pay Magazine, 1/2007, page 10
Download: Get your free electronic copy (PDF)
Print: Get your free printed copy
Statoil has always been aware of the potential to receive VAT refunds on invoices from other EU countries. The main problem has been one of administration.
“We judged it too time consuming to check every single invoice of EU origin. So we just concentrated on certain types of transaction,” says Oldenburg, who specializes in VAT and other complex tax issues at the oil company.
What made you change your mind?
“When we realized we could outsource the entire administration in an easy way and get lots of money back, it became a pretty obvious decision.”
How does it work?
“Each quarter, two people come up to us from Intrum Justitia and go through all our foreign invoices and evaluate what possibilities we have to get a refund. It’s all fairly routine.”
How’s the cooperation working out?
“It’s working really smoothly. There have been some really useful discussions with the people who collect the invoices and other specialists within Intrum Justitia.”
What are the main issues you discuss?
“Often Intrum’s specialists come across invoices that have been handled incorrectly without us having spotted it. We may have missed registering VAT, or a supplier, without thinking about it, has invoiced VAT in dollars. That means we can claim additional VAT.”
Have any issues proved particularly thorny?
“We have a subsidiary that is VAT-registered in a large number of countries. Intrum Justitia spotted that we had forgotten to register ingoing VAT in a number of those countries, which we were able to correct.”
And the biggest lessons learnt from the collaboration?
“It isn’t just about VAT refunds, but also incorrectly handled invoices. It’s really valuable having an external set of eyes monitoring things.”
Facts/Sara Oldenburg
Age: 45.
Profession: Responsible for indirect taxes at Statoil in Sweden.
Background: Has worked for 22 years with economy and accounting in the oil business.
Interests: Film, music, reading.
Get in touch with us now to get your money back!
Applications for VAT refunds must be submitted separately to the tax authorities in each country. They can be filed 1-4 times a year for periods of at least three months. Since the application period for the previous calendar year expires on June 30, we recommend you contact Intrum Justitia before the end of April to ensure a refund. To learn more, please email: vatrefund@intrum.com or call +46 8 616 77 00.
Source: Fair Pay Magazine, 1/2007, page 10
Download: Get your free electronic copy (PDF)
Print: Get your free printed copy
Your Opinion
Let us know your experience: public-relations.epi@intrum.com
