Online retail: "I think there will be a big focus on this sector in the future." - Tax consultant Jürgen Schott in a fynax interview

From the law firm ETL Schmidt & Partner in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, tax consultant Jürgen Schott advises clients from a wide range of industries. Since 2019, he has had a particular focus on online retail. In our fynax interview, he tells us what fascinates him about this industry.

What role do you play in your law firm?

I am, so to speak, one fifth of our firm's management: we are five partners in total and specialize in a wide variety of industry systems - including the care, catering and hotel sectors. With Felix1 and fynax, we also have a strong focus on digital tax advice, where we exclusively handle e-commerce mandates. This is now also a main pillar for us, for which we now employ several people.

How many tax consultants or employees do you have?

In addition to our five managing tax consultants, we also have 30 employees and three trainees in the firm. And of course we have everything from financial accountants to year-end closing staff.

When did you and your law firm join fynax and why did you decide to do so?

Ultimately, this has grown historically in Lutherstadt Wittenberg: the firm's founder, Ms. Simone Vahle, and we have always been very close to ETL. And when fynax offered itself as a new sector specialization, we wanted to be part of it right from the start. So we started to implement the e-commerce sector in our company and manage the first mandates there. This is still fun today, especially as the sector continues to grow. I think that this sector will be a major focus in the future, and not just for us at the law firm.

What makes a good tax consultancy for you?

The word itself is a combination: Taxes and advice. This means that the focus should of course be on advice, not just on pure declarations and tax law. Tax law is always very diverse and changing in many different areas. It is constantly evolving and remains interesting due to legal requirements, case law and administration. At the same time, however, this also leads to special features and challenges, especially in consulting, in implementing these trends and innovations, bringing them to the client and then examining them.

What makes e-commerce so exciting? And what special features do online retailers have to consider compared to brick-and-mortar retailers?

E-commerce is one of the fastest growing markets we have. Ultimately, there are so many young companies and start-ups that are enriching the market, even if many disappear just as quickly. The special thing is that stationary retail is no longer needed. This has simplified retail many times over. To put it bluntly, I can run my store from my kitchen table. Dropshipping, for example, ultimately means that I no longer need to keep stock; I only fulfill my purchases after I have sold them over the Internet. It's a fast-moving and fast-growing market with many online stores and online portals offering a wide variety of products.

What are the special features of advising e-commerce companies?

Yes, I'm thinking in particular of VAT. VAT does not belong to the entrepreneur, but always to the tax authorities. The basic formula consists of a declaration that complies with the law. From our point of view, we have to make our clients aware of the fact that other tax authorities - possibly foreign ones - can also make claims, especially in the case of cross-border trade.

When advising our clients, we pay particular attention to what makes business sense for them and which innovations they need to respond to proactively, as the idea of competition is of course always a factor. From our point of view, the tax challenge for online retailers is simply always present because these markets are increasingly "cross-border". This means cross-border within the EU, but of course also towards third countries where applicable, which can be a challenge in terms of VAT. And it is precisely these points that we focus on: correctly identifying and managing domestic and international trade and cross-border processes. That is our task and our responsibility to our clients.