Chambers of Commerce work with Certipost
for compulsory electronic VAT declaration
Aalst, 28 January 2008
For the VAT declaration which medium-sized businesses are obliged to submit electronically for the first time before the 21st of February, ten Chambers of Commerce have reached an agreement with Certipost, the joint venture of Belgacom and De Post specialised in the secure exchange of electronic documents. These Chambers of Commerce in Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels promote Certipost's digital certificates in their region. This certificate is needed for the electronic VAT declaration and is a computer file that proves the identity of the business and the person submitting the VAT declaration.
The network of Chambers of Commerce groups more than 25,000 businesses, most of which are small and medium-sized businesses.
For medium-sized businesses (businesses with an annual turnover less than 50 million euro but more than 500,000 euro) which need to submit their VAT declaration monthly, an electronic declaration to the Belgian Federal Treasury is compulsory from now on. For large businesses (with an annual turnover more than 50 million euro) the electronic declaration was already compulsory since July last year.
From April 2009 every business will need to submit its VAT declaration electronically. This also applies to small businesses (with an annual turnover less than 500,000 euro) which submit their VAT declaration on a quarterly basis.
Simple, cheap and multifunctional
The Chambers of Commerce are going to expand their service offer with Certipost's digital certificates. "Ordering and delivering a digital certificate is very simple, our certificates are well priced and apart from electronic VAT declarations, businesses can also use them for other electronic government declarations, electronic invoicing and electronic signatures. In other words, the digital certificate is a tool for companies which allows them to put administrative simplification into practice", says Stijn Vander Plaetse, CEO of Certipost.
Ordering digital certificates from Certipost is done online from the secure webstore (https://www.certipost.be/webshop).Via the websites of the Chambers and in the Certipost webstore, businesses can buy certificates with a validity of one, two or five years. The longer the validity, the lower the price per year. A certificate for five years costs less than sixty euro a year. Until 1 February companies receive a ten percent discount if they purchase their certificates via the website of the Chamber of Commerce.
Within a week after the online order the business receives its digital certificate by registered post. Customers can choose between three storage media: a secure USB stick, a smartcard or a CD-ROM. The purchaser of a certificate does not have to go anywhere to collect it.
Discount from the National Bank
When a business submits its annual accounts electronically to the National Bank of Belgium, for which a digital certificate is required, a certificate does not have to cost anything because a business receives a sixty euro discount from the National Bank of Belgium for the electronic deposition of its annual accounts. This is more than what the cheapest certificate costs at Certipost for a year.
For declarations, legal invoices and e-mail
Certipost has been a certified supplier of digital certificates since 1998 and is also checked by the Federal public service of Economic Affairs as a qualified certification authority. Certipost has built up considerable expertise concerning digital certificates and is able to offer a whole range of possible applications.
Apart from the electronic VAT declaration, the digital certificate can also be used for other electronic declarations to the social security department and the Belgian Federal Treasury, such as the declarations of a newly registered employee (Dimona), social security contributions, salary and working hour data, advance levy on professional income, corporation tax, and customs and excises.
A digital certificate is also required to send electronic invoices by e-mail in a legally valid way. Certipost has an online service whereby businesses first upload their invoices in Word, pdf or any other format, electronically sign the invoices using the digital certificate, and finally send the signed invoices by e-mail.
A digital certificate also allows you to sign e-mails or documents such as contracts, order forms or business letters. Certipost's e-Signing service guarantees that the signature has the same legal value as a handwritten signature. Moreover, the application is very user-friendly.
Information and sales channel
The Chambers of Commerce will inform the subscribed businesses through their magazines and information sessions about Certipost's digital certificates and its use for the electronic VAT declaration and other purposes.
"The Chambers of Commerce look after the interests of more than 25,000 businesses and one of our jobs is to make their lives easier", says Wouter Van Gulck, director of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of Belgium. "Administrative simplification is a priority for the Chambers of Commerce. We are great advocates of digitisation, because it saves businesses time and money. Certipost is on the same wavelength as us and allows us to considerably expand our service offer to businesses."
"We call on businesses to consider the introduction of the electronic declarations as a way to cut costs and to work more efficiently", concludes Stijn Vander Plaetse, CEO of Certipost. "The initiative of the Chambers of Commerce is worth following."
For more information about Certipost's certificates and its use for the electronic VAT declaration and other purposes please go to http://www.certipost.be.
About Certipost - "We facilitate and certify e-communications"
Certipost enables, automates and secures electronic billing and electronic document exchange via the Internet.
Certipost provides solutions for the delivery of invoices and electronic documents to the right person, company or organisation. These solutions allow companies to limit their costs, improve their customer service, as well as the environment and increase their efficiency. Certipost's CertiONE platform is an open platform that allows large numbers of users and companies to be connected very quickly and electronically exchange business documents. It can be integrated in any accounting software package or ERP system.
Certipost also provides electronic identification services for a secure usage of online applications. In Belgium, Certipost issues the electronic identity card (eID), comprising two certificates, to all citizens. This identity card gives access to various secured access management applications such as registered mail.
Certipost was established in 2002 in Belgium as a joint venture between De Post and Belgacom. It hosts more than 28,000 companies and 400,000 private individuals on its platform in Europe. The company is based in Aalst and has offices in the Netherlands and France. Stijn Vander Plaetse is Certipost's CEO.
For more information go to http://www.certipost.be
Also see http://www.quadrantcommunications.be/downloads/certipost
Certipost
Katrien Busschaert, Head of Marketing
Ninovesteenweg 196, B-9320 Erembodegem (Aalst)
T: +32 (0)53 601 134
E: katrien.busschaert@certipost.com
Contact for journalists:
Quadrant Communications
Bart Inslegers
Franklin Rooseveltlaan 348, B-9000 Gent
T: +32 (0)9 265 0258
M: +32 (0)472 480 186
E: bart@quadrantcommunications.be |
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