Design and implement

Design and implement

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Innovation and tax audits

Tax authorities, due to technological innovations, have become increasingly better in executing their tax audit. The probability that the Tax Authorities will issue additional assessments and penalties in the near future because errors in indirect tax are detected, increases by the day.

The OECD has issued in May 2005 a guidance note on the development of Standard Audit File –Tax (SAF-T) and recommends the use of SAF-T as a means of exporting accurate tax accounting data to tax authorities in such way that can it can be analyzed easily.

Mandatory data filing gives food for thought. Looking to the future The submission of the SAF-T file means that a taxpayer has to provide specific data to the tax authorities every month. From a tax controversy strategy it is common practice that before information is provided to the authorities, a company performs a risk assessment and determines the worst case scenario to avoid unforeseen tax risks.

Monday, October 17, 2016

Norway introduces SAF-T to improve tax inspections


Norway is introducing SAF-T reporting for corporate entities, either resident or with physical presence in Norway (VAT registered businesses). From 1st January 2017 onwards it is required to provide SAFT-NO files in XML format on request of the Norwegian Tax authorities.

Tax authorities, due to technological innovations, have become increasingly better in executing their tax audit. The probability that the Tax Authorities will issue additional assessments and penalties in the near future because errors in indirect tax are detected, increases by the day. The SAF-T standard, originally created by the OECD, is intended to give tax authorities easy access to the relevant data in an easily readable format.

This leads to much more efficient and effective tax inspections.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

A scalable SAP solution for countries implementing SAF-T


The SAP add-on is extendable to countries that uses the OECD framework as the basis for SAF-T reports. Note that countries might have their own specific local requirements but in case the basic required data are covered in the OECD framework it could be managed with country specific variants.

You can compare it with the EU VAT requirements: EU Directive as framework with some country specific rules based on the options in the EU Directive.

Our partner's core business is to develop SAP certified add-ons and many well-known multinationals companies have implemented it for the comparable submission of electronic data.

The SAF-T SAP add-on solution is now available for Poland, Lithuania and Norway. 

Our SAF-T solution is fully integrated in SAP without an external interface or use of external software and SAP release and upgrade independent. It is implemented without core modification and ABAP is the programming language. Installation done simply by external transport file. It contains user-friendly screens, own customized tables and own transaction codes and menus.

We provide 12 months of free maintenance service and yearly maintenance agreements (optional) for consecutive years. Maintenance services include version upgrades according to new regulations issued and bug-fixing:
  • Online Helpdesk
  • Dedicated Project Manager (SPOC -Single Point Of Contact)
  • 2 hours response time for first priority issues.
  • Mail tracking
  • Ticket Reporting

Scalable solution 

The solution is scalable.   The SAP add-on is extendable to countries that uses the OECD framework as the basis for SAF-T reports. Countries could be added quickly in an (cost) efficient and effective manner as the SAF-T add-on is designed in a way that it allows companies to extend SAF-T requirements for other countries:

Product consists of two main parts;
  1. Core Part : The data extraction and main functionalities.
  2. Localization part : Designed for further country adaptation requirements.


Country adaptations are as you can see quite straight forward after the core implementation.

Turn key solution

The solution is a turn key solution and that means:
  • Implementation (4-6 weeks)
  • Training
  • Support & Maintenance (one year free & yearly renewable)
More detail also including an overview of the requirements for Lithuania, Norway and Poland and the challenges companies need to overcome when SAP is run can be found in attached slide deck.

Strategic partnership

SNI and KEY Group have formed a strategic partnership to leverage the synergies between KEY Group's tax and SAP services and SNI’s SAP add-on solutions.

The partnership positions the KEY Group as a preferred partner of SNI. Through this strategic alliance, the two organizations will bring to market SAF-T SAP add-on and web based portal solutions. We work for some of the world’s biggest businesses in the areas of tax, ERP consulting and technology.

The service will be provided by our core team and supported by our operations in Poland, The Netherland and Turkey.

This team is led by experienced and highly regarded Tax and SAP professionals who will be actively involved in all stages of the work we undertake. Our senior team is supported by experienced and motivated professionals with backgrounds as tax lawyers, chartered accountants and SAP (technical architects and functional).

The team has enormous experience in this type of SAP work including having managed migration / on-boarding projects and on-going (tax) performance advisory services for a number of global businesses.

Case studies outlining similar projects could be provided.


Friday, October 7, 2016

Strategic partner alliance - leverage synergies

SNI and KEY Group have formed a strategic partnership to leverage the synergies between KEY Group's tax and SAP services and SNI’s SAP add-on solutions. The partnership positions the KEY Group as a preferred partner of SNI.

Integrated SAP solution for SAF-T


Besides recently Poland, SAF-T is introduced now also for Lithuania and Norway. A fully integrated solution in SAP without an external interface or use of external software is available for Lithuania, Poland and Norway.

Other countries will follow.

This integrated SAP solution is developed together with a certified Global SAP Application Partner. 

Thursday, August 25, 2016

SAP add-on for SAF-T Poland

In Europe SAF-T is now in force in Austria, France, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Poland. Germany, UK, Ireland, Norway and the Czech Republic are most likely next to introduce SAF-T. Lithuania is expanding its SAF-T.
Starting October 1, 2016 all VAT-registered taxable persons, - including foreign companies registered for VAT - will be required to submit a SAF-T file in XML format to the LT Tax authorities on a monthly basis.

SAF-T SAP solution: fully integrated in SAP

We now offer a SAP add-on solution for SAF-T Poland (ABAP) at a fixed all inclusive fee. It is fully integrated in SAP without an external interface or use of external software. All inclusive means implementation, training and 1 year of free support and maintenance for bug-fixes & legal updates.
Our IT solution can be reused for other countries.

SAF-T Poland

Besides the monthly SAF-T VAT file in Poland, companies have to be able to meet the SAF-T obligation 'on request' containing different legal requirements. This submission applies in case of a preliminary tax inquiry, a tax audit and tax proceedings where the SAF-T file should be provided to the PL tax authorities in a short timeframe.  To avoid disputes and or penalties it is therefore important that a company is ready.

To establish synergies we have setup a joint venture initiative with a global development partner of SAP and leading software company in the area of e-invoice, e-bookkeeping, e-archive, e-ticket and such SAP add-ons in Poland. This company provides SAP certified add-ons for legal compliance to a large number of global well-known companies.
  • Runs over SAP
  • User friendly with single user interface (SAP)
  • Easy to install by external SAP transport
  • Easy to maintain by upgrades via transport files
  • Has its own global SAP namespace so there is no effect on SAP standards and is not affected by SAP upgrades
  • Standard SAP authorizations used
  • Open source code as ABAP programming language
  • Vendor independent
  • One year free maintenance service including bug-fixes & upgrades according to legal compliance
Last Thursday - 25 August 2016 - was the deadline of the monthly VAT SAF-T PL submission.
Our generated SAF-T VAT file reconciles with the numbers of the Polish VAT return and have also been checked with the official tool of the Ministry of Finance.

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Norway might introduce SAF-T

Norway has now also proposed to introduce SAF-T reporting for VAT registered businesses with a go-live date of 1 January 2017.

Tax authorities, due to technological innovations, have become increasingly better in executing their tax audit. The probability that the Tax Authorities will issue additional assessments and penalties in the near future because errors in indirect tax are detected, increases by the day. The SAF-T standard, originally created by the OECD, is intended to give tax authorities easy access to the relevant data in an easily readable format. This leads to much more efficient and effective tax inspections.
  1. Mandatory e-filing
  2. Benchmark: SAP and SAF-T PL
  3. Innovation and tax authorities