Customer Success Story: How Electrolux increases VAT recovery with Concur Expense and Taxback International
Electrolux shapes living for the better by reinventing taste, care, and wellbeing experiences, making life more enjoyable and sustainable for millions of people. As a leading global appliance company, it places the consumer at the heart of everything they do. Through its brands, including Electrolux, AEG, and Frigidaire, Electrolux sells more than 60 million household and professional products in more than 150 markets every year.
With employees in 42 countries supporting more than 150 global markets, international travel is a way of life at Electrolux. To support traveling employees, the company uses SAP Concur for both travel and expense.
“We are using Concur Expense in 42 countries,” says Dan Cole, Electrolux’s global travel director. “With roughly 9,000 business travelers, it is truly a global program.”
With Concur Expense, Electrolux travelers and managers can manage the entire T&E process, from booking and managing itineraries to capturing receipts and submitting and approving expense reports – all from the SAP Concur mobile app. Not only does the solution make travel simpler and more convenient, it also helps Electrolux save big on travel costs by enabling better spending behaviors, ensuring accurate reporting, and mitigating fraud.
At SAP Concur Fusion 2014, Cole learned that the savings opportunities with Concur Expense were far greater than he realized. That is where he found out about Taxback International, an SAP Concur App Center partner.
With more than 160 countries applying a value-added tax (VAT) to products and services, the costs from a business travel perspective really add up. It is possible to reclaim much of those costs, but the process is complicated. As a leading VAT recovery provider, Taxback International uses advanced technology to simplify VAT refunds on business travel.
“Taxback International offered us a free analysis of our Concur Expense data for a number of countries and was able to identify that we were only reclaiming around 8% of the VAT we were paying worldwide,” explains Cole, “which was around €30,000.”
Cole and his team at Electrolux were convinced – and the savings gained from Taxback International were immediate. “In the first year alone, we were able to triple our VAT reclaim to nearly €100,000,” he says.
When he activated the app to connect Taxback International with Concur Expense, the process improved even further. Electrolux could now take advantage of automated data and image collection captures for every transaction; instant reclaim validation; near real-time analytics into VAT potential, recovery, and submissions; and expert multilingual support around the globe.
“Taxback International with Concur Expense makes VAT reclaim an absolutely seamless process,” says Cole. “We can share all of our data with experts from across the world to maximize reclaims and minimize risk. We’re approaching €400,000 per year in reclaims. We couldn't have done it without them.”
Going forward, Electrolux is looking at expanding the use of Taxback International with Concur Expense to its Asia-Pacific and Latin American operations. It is also exploring analytics to report on traveler behaviors and help ensure employees are submitting VAT-compliant receipts.
Watch the video to hear the full story on how Electrolux is saving big with Concur Expense and Taxback International. Then head over to the SAP Concur App Center to download the app for yourself.
Heading to the GBTA Convention in Chicago? Visit Taxback International at booth 4132.
To learn more about how SAP Concur solutions can simplify T&E management for your business, visit concur.com.