When Christoph Göttel set up his own business 10 years ago with his Ledershop24, an online store for leather goods, his entry into eCommerce began like that of many online sellers: a promising product range was found and sales were made via eBay. This was followed by his own online store and sales via Amazon. After five years, the volume was around 1,000 orders per month with around 500 different items in the store. The previous order processing and accounting system using Microsoft Excel was no longer efficient. Göttel was therefore looking for a new software solution.
The big push: rationalization and internationalization with JTL-Wawi
With the introduction of JTL-Wawi in 2012, the leather store really took off. Today, the entrepreneur runs a flourishing multi-channel mail order business with around 60,000 orders per year. The listing includes around 1,000 items, which are sold via the company’s own online store, eBay and Amazon. JTL-Wawi not only made the enormous growth and internationalization possible – what was also decisive for the entrepreneur was the reliability and security in terms of financial accounting that JTL brings with it. “Many merchants don’t realize how important the topic of taxes is. They then get a rude awakening during tax audits with back payments that can sometimes jeopardize their entire existence. With 60,000 business transactions per year, I want to make sure that everything is recorded properly and can be handed over to the tax advisor in an orderly manner. JTL makes this possible perfectly and with a high degree of automation, which has reduced my accounting workload from a full-time employee to a €450 employee,” says Göttel.
New challenges: Growing tax consultant costs and EU delivery thresholds
60,000 goods orders also means a corresponding amount of work for the tax consultant. Although JTL enables a correct and DATEV-compatible data export, GoB-compliant accounting means breaking down the overall file into 60,000 traceable individual postings and assigning 60,000 incoming payments – and this via three payment systems, some of which only contain a transaction ID to identify the payer.
With sales via the Amazon EU marketplaces, the entrepreneur was increasingly confronted with another challenge: the complex issue of VAT in cross-border online trade. Christoph Göttel comments: “My biggest concern is not having everything under control at all times and immediately becoming liable for tax abroad if the delivery thresholds are exceeded without having it on the radar.”
In 2016, Göttel found the solution to both problems in the “JTL 2 DATEV” financial accounting interface from JTL technology partner JERA GmbH.
The solution: JTL 2 DATEV - efficiency and security with the perfect financial accounting interface
The JTL 2 DATEV interface connects JTL with the world of accounting. One of its main functions is the automated creation of finished posting records for revenue. For Christoph Göttel, this means importing the account statements from Amazon and PayPal at the end of the month. The interface takes care of everything else. It translates information such as the transaction ID into data that the accounting department needs, assigns these to the customer and invoice numbers from JTL-Wawi and creates finished posting records. “When I do the month-end closing today, it takes me a maximum of 2 hours. My tax advisor receives ready-made booking batches in DATEV format, which he only has to import via batch processing. And with my volume of documents, I have been able to reduce my tax consultant costs to around €400 per month,” says Christoph Göttel happily.
With JTL 2 DATEV, VAT problems with sales abroad are also a thing of the past. By posting the threshold sales to separate revenue accounts, an up-to-date status can be called up at any time and correct taxation can be ensured. “Now I can see at any time of the day exactly which sales have already accrued and act accordingly. A traffic light system also gives me a warning if I am approaching certain values,” reports the entrepreneur.
The bottom line: simple operation, additional evaluations and first-class support
“Handing over my data to software was already an issue for me. It was important to me to have a professional and trustworthy provider, which I absolutely found in JERA,” says Göttel. He praises the comprehensive support and the cooperation. The user-friendly operation of the software does the rest. Another plus is the software update service, which conscientiously updates all adjustments made by JTL, Amazon and PayPal. “This investment has not only paid for itself financially in a very short time, it also provides me with valuable information for my sales management. I finally have time to concentrate on the essentials again: The further expansion of the business, which has already taken concrete shape with a completely new online store that will go live shortly.”
JERA Managing Director Johannes Seidel draws his personal conclusion: “We are pleased that we can offer online retailers a great benefit. Success stories like this encourage us to continue advancing the important topic of accounting and cost accounting in eCommerce with the expansion of professional interfaces.”
Published on Friday, July 14th, 2017, in the category:
