Based on the information we received, and on our understanding, the EU VAT Assistant can already be used to comply with the OSS regulations, because the underlying system is basically the same.
?
The main difference is that, with the OSS, the regime applies to all services offered to EU consumers, not just automated, digital ones. That aspect doesn’t require any special configuration, apart from setting the correct VAT rates for each tax class. The VAT rates are handled by WooCommerce, it will just be a matter of entering them in the backend (see https://docs.woocommerce.com/document/setting-up-taxes-in-woocommerce/).
As of today, we haven’t received information about new OSS features that the EU VAT Assistant can’t already handle. If you are concerned about a specific aspect, please let us know and we will look into it.
Note
The EU VAT Assistant doesn’t implement features specific to the sales of physical goods. For example, it doesn’t offer an interface to implement a rule like applying an exemption when the sale is above or below a certain threshold (e.g. the 150 EUR or the 135 GBP threshold).
We’re planning to replace the EU VAT Assistant with a premium plugin, which will include features like the validation of UK VAT numbers. The configuration of VAT exemptions over certain thresholds is one of the features we’re looking into. In the meantime, that feature can be implemented by using custom code (it doesn’t depend on the EU VAT Assistant, after all).
Important
Please keep in mind that we are not accountants, nor tax advisors. We developed the the EU VAT Assistant, and will implement the upcoming VAT Assistant (without “EU”, because it will handle UK as well) following all the rules of due diligence, but they haven’t been tested, reviewed or supervised by a taxation expert, nor officially approved Revenue Offices. Due to that, we need to clarify that they the EU VAT Assistant and the upcoming VAT Assistant are tools to help with compliance, but they don’t offer a guarantee of compliance.
