The AWB Helpdesk: immediate relief guaranteed!
Our "Helpdesk" provides assistance on tap. AWB will answer any questions arising in your daily business, by telephone or online, e-mail or face-to-face. The Helpdesk delivers uncomplicated expertise in our specialist areas. Averse to complex billing methods? We are too! Instead, we bill minute-by-minute and charge only for the service provided, thereby ensuring maximum transparency! Moreover, you are under no obligation to use our services.
Please feel free to contact us!
Status analysis (Health Check)
"No risk, no fun?" We views things differently, especially when it comes to advising you on process management. Status analysis is key to ensuring your foreign transactions are as secure as possible. How do we ensure this?
If you instruct us to perform a status analysis, we will take stock of your existing processes. We then compare the state of your existing processes with an appropriate model and recommend improvements, taking into account legal requirements and best practice solutions.
AWB's status analysis pursues the following objectives:
- Reveal the key risk factors lurking in your internal processes.
- Make practical recommendations: We explain how you can eliminate or reduce the biggest risk factors in accordance with legal requirements.
- Reduce your company’s and employees’ potential risk of liability whilst optimising existing processes.
Representation before the authorities AND COURTS
Legal violations usually attract the attention of the authorities and, in the worst case, can end in the courts. However, you may wish to claim potential tax relief or reimbursement, or apply for an export licence. For many companies, this is virgin territory. AWB has many years of experience in communicating with official bodies and can provide you with active support.
We provide support in tax matters (refund/discharge procedures or appeals) and export controls (applications or objections) and represent your interests before the authorities. If it is not possible to resolve disputes at administrative level, we can also represent you before the courts - all the way to the Federal Fiscal Court or the European Court of Justice, if necessary. Owing to our long experience, we can look back on many successful outcomes.
Criminal and administrative proceedings
AWB’s services are not limited to technical questions within our areas of expertise. We can also manage your defence to criminal charges and fines.
Such representation is not just a question of defending you against potential criminal charges or fines. It also involves future audit density, the assessment of reliability when applying for authorisations, simplifications and permits as well as the potential exclusion from public contracts.
Our advice is clear: you should not talk to a public authority without legal advice if the matter involves potential criminal charges or fines. Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law. Rather, you should obtain legal advice right from the outset.
Expert opinions and statements
What at first glance appears simple often conceals complex legal issues. Frequent amendments to underlying statutes or changes in the views and interpretations of the administration and courts often muddy the waters.
All of our consultancy areas deal with challenging subjects. The administration rarely issues binding clarifications and only after a considerable length of time. We can solve these challenges for you by preparing expert opinions and statements that clarify complex issues and contribute to legal certainty.
Audit preparation and support
High on the list of unwanted post is a letter from the customs administration informing you of an imminent company audit. That said, there should be no reason to panic because, with our assistance, you can ideally prepare for official audits. Moreover, the AWB team will be there to accompany you during the audit itself.
We will also support you at the official concluding meetings, produce opinions on the audit report or advise you during the follow-up phase. For example, you may decide to appeal against subsequent assessment notices or defend yourself in criminal or administrative proceedings.
Master data projects
The master data used in foreign trade must be of high quality. It is essential to have clean master data, not least when it comes to digitizing processes.
Customs tariff numbers are the starting point for determining customs and tax rates, preference calculations, export control classification or the application of prohibitions or restrictions. Allow the AWB team to roll up its collective sleeves and spring-clean your master data. We can also clean up large quantities of data for you, especially customs tariff numbers, goods descriptions or tax rates. In the process, we can identify potential prohibitions and restrictions or codes for customs declarations. Your company will work much more efficiently and compliantly using quality master data!
Support with applications and forms
Before you can claim advantages and benefits or use authorisations or licences for your cross-border movements, you will have to fill out and submit various application forms. These documents are anything but self-explanatory but we can assist you complete the process. The following provides some examples of our services in this area:
Customs
Where customs is concerned, nothing is possible without making an application first. We wil be at your side, providing advice and assistance when applying for AEO (Authorised Economic Operator), the authorisation of special customs procedures or other simplifications.
Export controls
For exports which require a licence, the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA) stipulates a number of actions, applications and notifications. You must first submit an end-use document then appoint a company export officer and finally submit an Internal Compliance Program (ICP). We will help you complete the BAFA application process and correctly apply global export licences.
Value added tax (VAT)
We have considerable expertise and experience in VAT matters and can assist you with e.g. advance VAT returns, annual VAT returns or recapitulative statements.
Excise
Are you a manufacturer wishing to obtain relief from energy or electricity tax? Perhaps you wish to operate a tax warehouse, apply for the status as registered consignee or use excise products for tax-free purposes? In any event, there is no escaping forms and applications.
Audit of Software and Compliance Management Systems
In co-operation with the auditing and tax consultancy firm HLB Schumacher GmbH, AWB offers its clients auditing services in the area of customs and foreign trade and in the area of value added tax.
Consulting
Our focus is firmly on ensuring legal certainty through process security. We provide comprehensive support, starting with advice on typical organisational issues, external project management, the introduction of IT systems designed for foreign trade and the establishment of risk management systems, internal control systems or compliance management systems.
Have you unexpectedly lost capacity in one of our consultancy areas? If capacities in your company are insufficient or you require additional technical know-how, we have the experience to provide effective support - as interim management, if necessary.
