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VIES Validation Service is down, affecting EU VAT number validation

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We have been informed that the VIES service used by our EU VAT Assistant to validate VAT numbers is currently inaccessible. Here is a screenshot from the European Commission website, taken today, 23rd January, at 11:30 GMT:

EU Commission - Website unavailable (screenshot)

EU Commission – Website unavailable

This downtime will affect the validation operations performed by our plugin, which will be unable to validate VAT numbers. Unfortunately, this is outside of our control. We will have to wait until the service is back online, then the EU VAT Assistant will start working correctly again.

Apologies for the inconvenience on behalf of the team managing the EU website.

The Aelia Team

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Happy new year! Time to update VAT rate for Romania

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Happy new year to you all! We hope you had some great Christmas time, and that you are ready for a great 2017. Considering how 2016 went, it can only get better!

The new year starts with a good news for our Romanian friends. As announced last year, the Romanian government reduced the standard VAT rate from 20% to 19%, from the 1st January 2017.

This means that your products will be slightly cheaper. It would be a good idea to update your tax settings as soon as possible.

How to update the tax rates

Updating tax rates is a simple operation:

  1. Go to WordPress Admin > WooCommerce > Settings > Tax.
  2. Click on the tax rate you would like to update (e.g. “Standard“), at the top of the page.
  3. Change the rate in the row with the country code “RO” to “19”.
  4. If needed, update the tax rate description.
  5. Save the changes.

Now all that’s left is double checking that all tax rates are correct. Our plugin updates the rates related to EU countries, therefore you will have to check the rates that refer to countries outside the European Union. If you don’t have any, then you’re done. WooCommerce will now use the new rates for orders placed from now on, and our plugin will collect the tax data automatically.

Again, best wishes for an incredible 2017 from the Aelia Team. May the new year be full of joy and, of course, business opportunities!

The Aelia Team

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EU VAT rate update – Greece

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We have recently been informed that the standard VAT rate for Greece was changed on the 1st June 2016, from 23% to 24%. Some changes were made to reduced VAT rates as well.

We would recommend to take the opportunity to update the VAT rates configured in your system, to make sure that you are using the correct ones.

How to update the tax rates

Updating tax rates is a simple operation:

  1. Go to WordPress Admin > WooCommerce > Settings > Tax.
  2. Click on the tax rate you would like to update (e.g. “Standard“), at the top of the page.
  3. Change the rate in the row with the country code “GR” to “24”.
  4. Save the changes.

If you are using our EU VAT Assistant plugin, you can update all EU tax rates with a single click. Simply select the rate type at the bottom of the page and click on Update EU VAT Rates. Make sure that you select the appropriate rates (Standard or Reduced), the plugin will do the rest.

WooCommerce Tax Rates Settings - Screenshot

With our EU VAT Assistant you can update all VAT rates with a single click

Once the operation is completed, review the tax rates, to ensure that they are correct, and click on Save Changes. WooCommerce will now use the new rates.

Quick and easy! 🙂

The Aelia Team

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Remember to update your EU VAT rates!

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If you didn’t do it already, it’s time to update the VAT rates on your system. From the 1st of January 2016, Romania cut its standard VAT rate from 24% to 20%. This quite good news, as the change will make your products cheaper to your Romanian customers, therefore we would recommend to update your tax settings as soon as possible.

How to update the tax rates

Updating tax rates is a simple operation:

  1. Go to WordPress Admin > WooCommerce > Settings > Tax.
  2. Click on the tax rate you would like to update (e.g. “Standard“), at the top of the page.
  3. Change the rate in the row with the country code “RO” to “20”.
  4. Save the changes.

If you are using our popular EU VAT Assistant, you can also refresh all EU tax rates with a single click. Simply select the rate type at the bottom of the page and click on Update EU VAT Rates.

WooCommerce Tax Rates Settings - Screenshot

With our EU VAT Assistant you can update all VAT rates with a single click

All tax rates will be updated automatically to their most recent value. No risk to forgetting any of them behind!

Now all that’s left is double checking that all tax rates are correct. Our plugin updates the rates related to EU countries, therefore you will have to review the rates that refer to countries outside the European Union. If you don’t have any, then you’re done. WooCommerce will now use the new rates for orders placed from now on, and our plugin will collect the tax data automatically.

It couldn’t be easier! 🙂

The Aelia Team

EU VAT Assistant for WooCommerce updated to version 0.10.5.141231

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EU VAT Assistant for WooCommerce – What’s new

EU VAT Assistant for WooCommerce has been updated to version 0.10.5.141231. This update brings the following improvements and fixes:

  • Added possibility to make the EU VAT Number field optional, required, required for EU countries or hidden. This feature will make it possible to accept only B2B or B2C sales.
  • Added exchange rates provider for Danish National Bank exhange rates feed.
  • Improved checks on of VAT validation responses. The new validation logic will prevent issues caused by corrupt cached responses.
  • Improved EU VAT by Country report. The report now loads VAT refunds dynamically.
  • Added recording, against each order, of the timestamp and provider of the VAT currency exchange rate used for reporting. These details will be useful in case of audit, to prove why a specific exchange rate was used.
  • Optimised loading of JavaScript parameters for Tax Settings admin pages.
  • Improved validation of VAT rates to be used on WooCommerce > Tax settings page.
  • Reorganised Admin user interface to make it tidier and more intuitive.
  • Fixed bug in VAT Number validation. The bug caused validation to fail when “odd” characters were returned by VIES service
  • Fixed incorrect reference to plugin class.
    Fixed bug in range calculation.
  • Fixed bug in handling of VIES response containing non-Latin UTF-8 characters
  • Fixed bug in handling of VAT rates for Isle of Man and Monaco

How to get the latest version

You can download the latest version of the EU VAT Assistant from the WordPress repository.

EU VAT Assistant for WooCommerce updated to version 0.9.14.141227

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EU VAT Assistant for WooCommerce – What’s new

EU VAT Assistant for WooCommerce has been updated to version 0.9.14.141227. This update brings the following improvements and fixes:

  • Added exchange rates provider for HMRC exchange rates feed. This will greatly simply VAT compliance for all the UK-based businesses
  • Added possibility to further customise the self-certification message. Now the message can include a country placeholder, which will be replaced by the billing country selected by the customer at checkout.
  • Added support for Monaco (VAT as France) and Isle of Man (VAT as United Kingdom), as well as their VAT rates.
  • Added possibility to specify if shipping country should be used as location evidence
  • Fixed call to WC_Aelia_EU_VAT_Assistant::get_eu_vat_countries().

How to get the latest version

You can download the latest version of the EU VAT Assistant plugin from its product page.