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irina_ganescu
Community Member

Upwork VAT approval & Wrong member date

Hello! 

 

I've recently opened an Agency account on Upwork and I'm having two problems, for which I submited tickets but nobody is replying, it's been 4 days. (tickets: 38580181 & 38571921) As I am currently in the process of bringing a new client contract to my Upwork Agency, these issues are specifically time sensitive.

 

The tickets are for the following: 

1. The Agency's VAT code is not approved, and until that happens, I cannot legally open any contract. 

I have submited with my ticket a screenshot from https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/#/vat-validation where is clearly visible that the VAT code is valid. Please approve the VAT code or tell me what papers you need to approve it.

 

2. For some reason, on my Agency profile is displayed that the company became an Upwork member in 1970. Could this please be corrected?

 

It's really important to me & the future of my Upwork Agency account that these issues get clarified asap. 

Please help! 

Thank you

 

 

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
irina_ganescu
Community Member

Hello! 

 

The VAT issue was finally solved, and the VAT code approved. 

 

For this to happen it was required I provide a proof of ownership or association for the company.
I've been offering to provide any needed documents from day one, however, it took 7 days and over 5 different customer support agents to finally get the job done. 

 

In a nutshell:
If the company you're asking VAT approval for has a different name than your personal name (as on your ID), then they will not approve it without the proof of ownership or association with the company you're requesting it for.   - regardless if the VAT code validates or not in VIES.

 

It would be really helpful if Upwork would state this specific information somewhere in FAQ at the related VAT information, not put the people in the position to open tickets & push for a clear answer for 7 days, for a matter that finally solved within an afternoon.

 

Thank you

View solution in original post

11 REPLIES 11
PradeepH
Moderator
Moderator

Hi Irina,

 

Thank you for your message. I have followed up with the support team and you should receive a response as soon as possible on both tickets.

 

Thank you,

Pradeep

Upwork

Thank you Pradeep for your answer.

 

I have received replies on both tickets, however the situation has not been solved yet on either of them. I understood that more agencies face the wrong member date issue.

 

On the VAT problem, I only received a message asking me to wait for updates. Is there anything else that can be done to speed up the resolve of this situation? And also, could you please let me know why is a simple procedure taking so long? Is there an issue I am not aware of or should I provide more documentation on it? 

Thank you

Hi Irina,

 

I’m sorry but we won’t be able to assist you here further. Your ticket is assigned to the correct team, and they should be able to help you with your concern. I would recommend adding these to the same ticket thread so that the team has the correct information to assist you more efficiently. Please don’t hesitate to update the same ticket thread if you have further questions or concerns. 


~ AJ
Upwork

Hi Annie,

 

Thank you for your reply.

The previous ticket I had open on this matter was closed with a solution of deleting my Tax Information from my profile for "name difference" reason, which does not apply. I reapplied my tax information and later got the "completed" label. 

Because the VAT validation was not solved yet, I opened another ticket yesterday, #38670053, which was closed without any reply?!?! 

 

What is happening? I have all the needed proof to validate my VAT code, it checks all the boxes Upwork requires in order to validate it, and yet I don't seem to get to the bottom of this? 

 

1) If you type my VAT code **Edited for Community Guidelines** in VIES website validation it will show you all the details about my company which match exactly what is in my Tax Information & on my profile.


2) In your FAQ it states that the VAT can be declined if:
- The country on VAT ID doesn’t match the country on your Upwork profile
- The name on VAT ID doesn’t match the name on your Upwork profile
- Your VAT ID is expired
- Your VAT information was entered in an invalid format (check correct format for your country)
NONE of the above applies to my case.
Below attached screenshot with the VIES validation.

 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

 

So it brings me to the question of how is this being validated by Upwork? What is the procedure used that brings Upwork to the decision of not approving my VAT code?

Please help me fix this problem and bring it to the attention of who can solve it, preferably today! 
I have opened another ticket regarding this: #38683226

 

I'm starting to think that this is just Upwork's way of squeezing additional money from its freelancers / agencies. Should I start looking for legal council in the US? 

 

Looking forward to your answer
Thank you

Hi Irina,

 

Thank you for your message. I am sorry to hear how you feel. I checked your account and noticed that there are multiple tickets created for the same issue. That said, all duplicate or new tickets will be closed and linked to your original ticket. I can see that you raised a support ticket (ticket #38650314) earlier regarding the same concern and one of our team members has already responded to you on this ticket. You can access your support tickets here. Please don't hesitate to follow up with them on the same support ticket if you have additional questions regarding your concern. Note that support requests are responded to in the order they are received. Kindly allow 24-48 hours for the team to follow up with you and assist you further.

Thank you,
Pradeep

Upwork

Hello Pradeep, thank you for your reply

 

Unfortunately your reply is just another answer that is completely off topic and referencing a ticket that is closed in hope prove something ? Should this make me feel more confident in your ways of working and supporting, by mentioning something that has nothing to do with my current ticket ? Do you even understand what is the issue here?

 

I am not sure how to explain it in simpler tearms.

VAT is not the same as Federal Tax Identification.
Upwork is not Validating my VAT for some reason, and there is absolutely no explanation why is this happening.

 

There is a ticket #38571921 that is open exactly on this topic. This ticket was created 7 days go, so it is very much overdue. This is the reason why I am opening multiple tickets hoping someone else will get assigned to help me, hopefully another team.

 

I don't mind at all if someone takes this original ticket, completes it and closes the other ones, as long as you provide support which you are supposebly supposed to do.

 

According to the FAQ, like I already mentioned, I don't have any mistakes. I have provided the screenshot and the VIES number to show you that mistake is on your end.

 

The lack of support and explanation on this is really really astonoshing.

 

If you are able to help me, please take some time to at least understand the query, and then look at all the facts and provide me with the real answer and a solution.

 

I would be really grateful.

Hi Irina,

 

I understand this is a frustrating situation for you. It looks like you received a response from our team today trying to help. If you're still experiencing the issue, the best course of action would be for you to reply directly to the team so they can continue assisting you. You should have received an email notification about the ticket and by replying to that email you will be able to reopen the ticket. 

Please avoid creating several tickets or posts for the same concern so that the team could assist you more efficiently. We seek your patience and utmost understanding while sorting this out for you. Thank you!

 

~Andrea
Upwork
25005175
Community Member

AFAIK, every agency has the 1970 issue.

Yes, I also got information from the ticket reply that several agencies face this issue. They said the technical team is working to fix it.

Don't hold your breath

irina_ganescu
Community Member

Hello! 

 

The VAT issue was finally solved, and the VAT code approved. 

 

For this to happen it was required I provide a proof of ownership or association for the company.
I've been offering to provide any needed documents from day one, however, it took 7 days and over 5 different customer support agents to finally get the job done. 

 

In a nutshell:
If the company you're asking VAT approval for has a different name than your personal name (as on your ID), then they will not approve it without the proof of ownership or association with the company you're requesting it for.   - regardless if the VAT code validates or not in VIES.

 

It would be really helpful if Upwork would state this specific information somewhere in FAQ at the related VAT information, not put the people in the position to open tickets & push for a clear answer for 7 days, for a matter that finally solved within an afternoon.

 

Thank you

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