VAT reclaim is available to American Express's largest corporate clients; typically those clients with more than $1 Million in international spend. There is no up-front expense for the client; fees are deducted from a percentage of the actual refund. VAT refunds are typically 2% to 6% of a client's international business travel-related spending. For example a large corporation that incurs $6 Million in international spend could save approximately $180,000 of that cost through participating in VAT reclaim.

“Our solution simplifies the VAT recovery process by using a targeted approach to identify potential reclaim opportunities,” Shane Berry, Vice President, Global Client Group, American Express Global Corporate Services. “This enables our clients to prioritize the collection of VAT-eligible invoices to focus on the top opportunities, so they can recover more VAT dollars with less effort.”

Every year US-based business travelers pay hundreds of millions of dollars in VAT when traveling overseas for business. VAT is a general consumption tax on goods and services levied in over 100 countries around the world. Most business expenses qualify for VAT refunds, including hotel accommodations, rental cars and larger non-travel related expenses including professional services, conferences, translation fees, business equipment and the cost of short-term office facilities. Yet most companies find that the time and effort involved in collecting the refund outweighs the potential benefit.

The challenge to VAT reclaim lies in the fact that foreign tax ministries require the original travel receipts be submitted with the tax reclaim application. Corporations fail to recover millions of dollars in available VAT refunds because they often underestimate the size of the opportunity and are deterred by the labor-intensive process required to collect the original invoices.

AutoVAT® is CVM's proprietary software that American Express uses to bring the benefits of data-driven VAT management to corporate clients. It is a comprehensive rules-based engine that calculates refundable VAT for transactions contained in corporate expense data and identifies these items for reporting or recovery. This enables document collection efforts to target the most valuable invoices and identify missing invoices. Vendors are contacted directly to request that missing receipts be re-issued to clients.

“Most recoverable VAT can be found on less than 25% of international invoices,” noted Berry. “Knowing which invoices are the most valuable and recoverable can greatly reduce the effort required to identify and collect expense documentation. By our estimate, companies qualify for two to five times more refund than they historically recover.”

Using AutoVAT American Express Corporate Card clients receive assessments of their total VAT recovery opportunity based on their card transaction data. Companies can analyze the gap between VAT incurred and VAT recovered, which enables a client to benchmark the success rate of their VAT reclaim program.

“We continuously strive to improve the ability of our customers to manage expenses globally and realize tangible savings,” said Berry. “No other solution allows a company to see the scope of the recovery opportunity. By increasing the rates of recovery and streamlining the VAT reclaim process; we are ultimately enabling our clients to make their international business trips more profitable.”

About American Express Corporate Services
Through its Global Corporate Services group, American Express provides expense management services to more than 100,000 firms worldwide through its Corporate Card program, Corporate Purchasing Solutions and Business Travel. It is both the leading issuer of commercial cards and the largest corporate travel management company in the U.S., serving nearly 70 percent of the Fortune 500, along with tens of thousands of mid-sized companies. More information on expense management tools from Corporate Services can be found at http://www.americanexpress.com/corporateservices.

The American Express Company is a diversified worldwide travel, financial and network services company founded in 1850. It is a leader in charge and credit cards, Travelers Cheques, travel, financial planning, investment products, insurance and international banking.

American Express Global Corporate Services provides expense management services to mid-size, large and multi-national companies worldwide through its Corporate Card program, Corporate Purchasing Solutions and Business Travel.

About Corporate VAT Management
Corporate VAT Management is an industry leader, providing innovative VAT recovery and reporting solutions to companies located worldwide. With its proprietary autoVAT® technology, CVM utilizes corporate expense data to drive the VAT recovery process, resulting in greater returns with less effort, and facilitating a global expense management strategy that is both more effective and efficient.

Through an extensive network of strategic business partners, CVM clients are provided access to enhanced VAT recovery services in over 700 locations in 140 countries. Some of these services include local document collection coordination, claim submission, appeal support, indirect tax advice and training on VAT issues. CVM affords global companies a comprehensive VAT service offering that is unmatched in the industry.

Corporate VAT Management was founded in 1994, and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington USA. More information on CVM can be found at: http://www.autovat.com.

Contacts:
Tracy Naylor
212.640.0647
Tracy.N.Naylor@aexp.com