Scottish accountancy firm to assist traders on Amazon

Scottish accountancy firm French Duncan has been appointed to help businesses trade effectively on Amazon.

French Duncan, which has offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling, Hamilton and Dumbarton, has been selected by global professional services body, HLB International, to assist businesses which store goods in warehouses owned in the UK by the online retail giant through a new initiative called Amavat.

The accountancy firm which was established in 1902 and has over 200 members of staff, will help online Amazon sellers to manage their VAT compliance needs across Europe while ensuring they understand how VAT on cross-border transactions operates.

The firm anticipates it will help dozens of clients in the first year of the operation.

HLB International is a network of professional accountancy firms operating across 130 countries with 2,100 partners and 19,000 staff in over 600 offices worldwide. French Duncan is a member of HLB International in the UK.

Maria McConnell, VAT manager at French Duncan, who will be assisting with the Amavat scheme, said: “The purpose of the Amavat is to help online sellers manage their VAT compliance needs across Europe. VAT compliance rules differ in each country and it can be expensive for businesses to have a VAT representative in each member state – hence the reason for this new initiative.

“French Duncan has been appointed to lead Amavat in the UK which means we will be the first port of call for all referrals from other EU member firms that have clients requiring a UK VAT registration to be put in place. We will provide these traders with a simple ‘one stop shop’ solution to their European VAT compliance issues.”

Claus Frank, member of the leading team of Amavat Europe and the HLB International Business Services Group, said: “We are delighted to have appointed French Duncan as the HLB UK member firm of the Amavat Europe initiative.”