Client story How a Global Finance Company Saved £3.9 Million when renewing its Microsoft Enterprise Agreement
By Insight UK / 17 Sep 2020
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By Insight UK / 17 Sep 2020
A multinational banking and financial services company was looking for ways to avoid overpaying tax when renewing its Microsoft Enterprise Agreement.
It chose to work with Insight as a Licensing Solutions Partner (LSP). As well as having the expertise, Insight has a big enough global footprint to provide local billing – enabling it to mitigate the risk of Withholding Tax and Double Taxation. Thanks to Insight’s License Consulting Service, the company was able to realise £3.9 million in savings over the contract term.
A UK-based multinational finance company needed to mitigate the costs of cross charging when renewing its Microsoft Enterprise Agreement.
Cross-charging between entities based in different countries can lead to Withholding Tax and Double Taxation – where income from the product or service being charged for is taxed twice – unless there is an agreement in place between the two countries involved.
The company needed to identify where agreements for reduction of Withholding Tax existed between one country and another. It also needed to find a supplier with a large enough global footprint to provide local billing, to mitigate the situation.
Insight’s solution focused on reducing the cost of cross charging from a Withholding Tax and Double Taxation perspective.
Insight worked with its partner, Cloud Optics, to identify agreements to reduce or eliminate Withholding Tax between one country and another. For example, by invoicing from Insight Austria to the customer’s entity in Egypt, Insight eliminated the need to pay Withholding Tax due to the tax treaty that exists between the two countries.
Insight’s billing optimisation solution was possible thanks to its global footprint, which includes Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, USA, Norway, Austria, France, Singapore and more.
By looking at all available opportunities and creating an invoicing ‘matrix’ for the Microsoft Enterprise License Agreement renewal, Insight presented significant cost savings to the Bank.