Payment technology provider Stripe has debuted Stripe Tax to help businesses automatically calculate and collect sales tax, value added tax, and goods and services tax in more than 30 countries.
Stripe made the move in response to calls for tax compliance capabilities from its customers, saying its one of the top requests it gets. The Supreme Court's Wayfair decision, followed by the pandemic forcing more companies than ever to move sales online, has made tax compliance more complex than ever.
Stripe Tax provides:
- Real-time tax calculation. By determining the end customer’s precise location, and matching that to the product or service being sold, Stripe Tax can calculate and collect the right amount of tax, and keep up to date with rate and rule changes.
- Location tracking. Stripe Tax uses location information to calculate and show taxes in the most familiar way to consumers when they buy items on site.
- Tax ID management. For B2B businesses, Stripe Tax collects the tax identification number from customers, and automatically validates VAT IDs for European customers, applying a reverse charge or zero VAT rate when necessary.
- Reconciliation. Stripe Tax creates comprehensive reports for each market a business is registered in to collect tax, with the goal of speeding up filing and remittance.
“No one leaps out of bed in the morning excited to deal with taxes,” said John Collison, co-founder and president of Stripe, in a statement. “For most businesses, managing tax compliance is a painful distraction. We simplify everything about calculating and collecting sales taxes, VAT, and GST, so our users can focus on building their businesses.”
