Preparing for VAT as an E-Commerce SME

Advice and Guidance from Amanda Powell, CFO of the ME Digital Group
The ME Digital Group operate a growing portfolio of brands and web properties across the Middle East, including global expat community site, ExpatWoman.com, the region's leading deal site, Cobone.com and the new marketplace for gifts called Croutique.com.

ME Digital Group has managed all its VAT implementation planning internally, drawing on the expertise of its in-house accountants and other knowledgeable staff members. Beginning with a workshop to delve deeper into the laws governing VAT, the team then separated into different working groups for each company under ME Digital’s ambit. Another critical step was compiling checklists for areas that required further qualification, areas that would be covered in the Executive Regulation, and areas of their systems that needed to change.

“In fact, for one of the companies, we’re going to be completely changing the way we do accounting next year on the back of VAT coming out,” explains Ms Powell.

Pierre Arman, MENA Market Lead for Tax and Accounting at Thomson Reuters, speaks to Amanda Powell, CFO of the ME Digital Group, about getting ready for VAT as an SME in the e-commerce space, her views on how VAT will re-shape the way small digital businesses operate in the GCC, as well as her thoughts on establishing an e-commerce working group for VAT related issues in the region.