Australians travelling or shopping abroad have had an unpleasantly expensive time of it, of late. Our dollar is at a low ebb – buying just USD.63 and 0.60 Euros at the time of writing – and that means we’re paying more than once we did, for goods and services that aren’t manufactured or generated on home soil.
With the greenback on the up, that’s unlikely to change any time soon.
But every cloud has a silver lining, or perhaps even a golden one, in this instance. For local businesses, the devalued Aussie dollar means there’s never been a better time to start selling overseas and the US market is an excellent place to begin.
Blessed with a GDP of close to $US30 trillion and home to a population more than 10 times greater than our own, it represents an extraordinarily large and lucrative opportunity, for Australian organisations with a quality offering that can be sold and shipped internationally.
A small but growing roll call of local businesses have already shown how it’s done – shout-out to the likes of Ugg, Zimmerman and new Insta-success pyjamas brand Night Sweet Thing – and there’s room for other leading players to join their ranks.
Setting yourself up for US success
But supercharging your sales by encouraging Americans to bag a bargain from Down Under isn’t as easy as it might appear at first blush, even in today’s digital times, when shoppers all over the planet can access your offering online within seconds.
Before you convert your listings to $USD and start waiting for the orders to roll in, you’ll need to ensure your distribution and customer support are up to scratch. You’ll also do well to invest in marketing that hits the mark in what can be a very different and extremely demanding market.
In the absence of this solid foundation, gaining the market awareness and positive reviews that drive sales and growth is likely to be an uphill slog, however compelling your prices may be for our pals across the Pacific.
Getting to grips with compliance complexity
You’ll also need to register your enterprise correctly and start collecting the appropriate US taxes and charges, from the time your first stateside customer completes their cart.
This is a far from simple exercise and one that it’s all too easy for out-of-state sellers to get badly wrong. That’s because the US sales tax system is complicated with a capital C.
Currently, there are more than 13,000 sales and use tax jurisdictions in the US. Some states have different laws for locally based and remote sellers. Others require sellers to apply a fee to orders that contain items of personal property which are delivered by vehicle, and impose additional charges on deliveries over a certain value.
Paying a high price for administrative errors
It’s up to state and local authorities to administer this complex array of taxes. Some adopt a zero-tolerance approach to sellers that fall short on the compliance front – and that includes overseas operators that inadvertently fail to meet their obligations.
Correcting compliance errors can be a complicated, expensive and time-consuming process, particularly for Australian businesses that don’t have ready access to local advisers who can help them navigate the system and make good their mistakes.
You’ll save yourself a bunch of headaches and hassle by getting it right from the outset and that’s where automated tax compliance software has a vital role to play. It’s designed to make it easy for overseas businesses to start selling in the US, by simplifying and streamlining all the tasks associated with tax compliance. These include registration, licensing, calculation, document management, reporting and e-invoicing.
Once this technology is deployed in your back office, you’ll be able to apply the sales and use taxes for every US state and local jurisdictions, correctly and in real time.
Cashing in on the currency crash
A lower Australian dollar may give your products and services a competitive edge in the US. An automated tax compliance platform will reduce your risk of entry into the market by enabling you to manage compliance efficiently and accurately from the get-go. If taking advantage of a golden opportunity to amp up your export activity is on your agenda for 2025, it’s mission critical technology that needs to be in your stack.
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With our dollar in the doldrums, it could be an opportune moment to try your luck in the North American market. Expert, News, Aussie businesses Dynamic Business
