Accounting and tax for e-commerce businesses

Overview

VAT, marketplaces, inventory, cross-border sales and group structure for e-commerce operators.

Common situations we address

• UK brand holding inventory in UAE fulfilment centre for GCC sales
• Marketplace facilitator VAT obligations in UK and UAE
• Returns, refunds and gift cards complicating revenue and VAT reporting
• Direct-to-consumer shipments triggering import VAT in destination country
• Advertising spend recharged between UK and UAE entities
• Platform payouts in multiple currencies needing reconciliation

Our approach

E-commerce operators face fast transaction volumes, marketplace rules and cross-border VAT complexity. We implement systems and processes that reconcile platform data to accounts, treat UK and UAE VAT correctly and support inventory and margin reporting by channel.

Typical deliverables

• Marketplace and payment reconciliation process
• VAT treatment matrix by sales channel
• Inventory and COGS reporting by warehouse
• Advertising and fulfilment intercompany policy
• Monthly channel profitability report
• Year-end cut-off testing for high-volume sales