Intrastat 301 – Intrastat and Plants Abroad/Foreign Plant

Co-author: https://people.sap.com/waldemar.kramer

In this blog, we look at how Plants Abroad and Foreign Plants influence Intrastat reporting.

This is the third blog in a mini-series on Intrastat. The first blog was a generic introduction to Intrastat, and the second one walked us through a number of logistical scenarios.

SAP S/4HANA OP and Private edition vs. SAP S/4HANA Public edition

SAP S/4HANA Private and Public editions have different approaches to the handling of VAT registration numbers in more than one country.

In SAP S/4HANA on-premises or Private edition, the solution is referred to as Plants Abroad.

In SAP S/4HANA Public edition, RITA and Foreign Plant is the solution enabling a single legal entity to perform indirect tax calculation in multiple countries.

Plants Abroad

What is a Plants Abroad scenario?

A sales organization assigned to company code A (e.g., XYZ Germany) sells goods to a customer. The goods, however, are delivered not from the country of the company code but from a plant in another country (e.g., Austria). To put it differently, the country of the delivering plant is not equal to the country of the company code to which the plant is assigned.

How to recognize a Plants Abroad scenario?

Generally, it is sufficient to compare the departure country of the F2 invoice (i.e., the country of the delivering plant: field VBRP-ALAND) with the country of the company code (field T001-LAND1). However, it could also be a cross-company scenario, namely a case where the plant is not assigned to this company code but to a different one. To be able to tell for sure, a check must be performed on the cross-company case.

Foreign Plant/RITA

RITA stands for Registration for Indirect Tax Abroad and is the solution in SAP S/4HANA Public edition, enabling a single legal entity to perform indirect tax calculations in multiple countries without setting up a local business unit or creating a new legal entity or sub-company. These units, referred to as foreign plants, might be sales units, plants, or warehouses, which can be registered with the tax authorities. This registration helps to link taxable transactions in foreign countries for indirect tax reporting and comply with the local tax and reporting regulations.

Sales Processes

We begin by looking at three sales scenarios.

Selling Company Code and Customer in the Same Country

In our first scenario, both the customer and the selling company (Company A) are located in the same country. The fulfillment is done by Company A´s plant in Country B.

In this scenario, Company A must report dispatch in the country of its plant (Country B). The customer is responsible for reporting arrival. In case of a physical return, the responsibilities are switched.

Plants Abroad/Foreign Plants and the Customer in the Same Country

If the Plants Abroad/Foreign Plants and the Customer is in the same country, there will be no goods crossing any border, hence no Intrastat reporting.

Plants Abroad and Foreign Plant – 3 Different Countries – Sales

In a situation where Company is located in Country A, the customer is located in Country B, and the goods are fulfilled from a plant owned by Company A in Country C, we will have the following roles; Company A reports dispatch in Country C, customer report arrival in country B.

Procurement Processes

We will now look at the same scenarios, from a procurement perspective.

Procurement Company and External Supplier in the Same Country

First, we have a scenario where the Procurement Company and the External Supplier are located in the same country (Country A), however, the goods are shipped to the company’s plant in Country B.

The External Supplier reports dispatch in Country A. Company A, in country A, reports arrival in Country B. In case of a physical return, the responsibilities are turned.

External Supplier and Plants Abroad/Foreign Plant  in the Same Country

In case the external supplier is located in the same country as our Foreign Plant/Plants abroad, we again have a situation without goods crossing the border, hence no Intrastat reporting.

3 Different Countries – Procurement

And finally, we will look at a scenario where the Procurement Company, the External Supplier, and the Foreign Plant/Plants abroad are located in three different countries. The goods are shipped from the External Supplier to the Foreign Plant.

The responsibilities are as follows. Company A reports arrival in Country C. External Supplier reports dispatch in Country B.

Other Scenarios

We have now described the concept of Plant Abroad and Foreign Plant and how it influenced Intrastat Reporting in basic scenarios. Plant Abroad and Foreign Plant can, of course, also apply to most of the scenarios covered in our earlier blog on logistical scenarios.

Credits

This blog would never have been made without the previous work of

Rohit Trivedi

Szilvia Hilken

and many more.