Viable for VAT? Blue dot on Domestic and Foreign Tax Compliance
A SAP Concur podcast conversation with Dr. Mark Stirling of Blue dot discusses the complexity of domestic and foreign VAT reclaim. Blue dot finds 23% of expense reports have incorrect tax information, and about 100 VAT rule changes occurred across multiple countries. The discussion also covers the post-pandemic rise of non-trip spend from under 5% to 25%, and the tax treatment of taxable employee benefits and bleisure travel.
Impact and considerations
With 23% of expense reports containing incorrect tax information and about 100 VAT rule changes, multinational companies face significant compliance and financial-loss risk in VAT reclaim and taxable benefits. The rise of non-trip spend from under 5% to 25% further increases the difficulty of manual review.
Key points
- Blue dot finds 23% of expense reports have tax information that is wrong or potentially wrong.
- About 100 VAT rule changes occurred across multiple countries, requiring everyone in the process to be trained and take action.
- Domestic VAT reclaim is a deduction; governments typically do not remit money directly, but authorities can audit and impose fines.
- Foreign VAT reclaim involves complex submission processes, and errors can result in lost money.
- Post-pandemic, non-trip spend rose from under 5% to 25%, increasing the complexity of expense review.
- Personal spend during bleisure travel should not be claimed for VAT purposes and may constitute a taxable employee benefit.
Sources and time
- Primary source
- SAP Concur
- Other sources
- 0
- First source publication
- 18 Jul 2022, 17:04
- Page published
- 14 Aug 2026, 08:33
- Last updated
- 18 Jul 2022, 17:04
- Original links
- SAP Concur Blog：Viable for VAT? Verifying the Ins and Outs of Domestic and Foreign Tax Compliance with Blue dot (opens in a new tab)Primary source · en · Published 18 Jul 2022, 17:04