India localisation

seckpin

Our company has been using NAV (v4.0) for a few years and it was rolled out to different offices in the APAC region. We have our in-house built operation system, and NAV is used mainly as Financial system.

Recently it was implemented to our Indian office. We do use NAV for AP and AR, and hence we need the localisation on Service Tax to meet the Indian fiscal requirements (which i heard can be very complex).

We were informed by the local MS partner that we will have to purchase a few hundreds more objects (USD10K+) to cater for Indian localisation. However, the object list showed a whole lot of tables, forms, reports and codeunits that we shall never use in NAV, such as excise, LC, planning, workflow, subcontracting, distribution, inventory, etc.

Upon enquiry, we were told that we must either purchase the whole package as it is (and hence buying all the additional objects that we shall never use), or buy only what we need but pay 45 man days for re-aligning the objects number series in sequence.

I thought NAV being a granular based system has been one of the selling points, as customer only needs to buy what we need. Apparently, we are now in a situation that no matter which option we choose, we will have to pay for the cost of USD10K+.

Does anyone here happen to know that if this is the usual way to go when it comes to India localisation, or we are actually being forced into deadend because of the local partner that we had chosen?

ssingla

Indian localization is very complex and is interrelated. If you can provide me some details of your operation in India then probably I can recommend.
P.S. Do look in TDS functionality. You might require it in case you are using Service Tax.

David_Singleton

seckpin wrote:

We were informed by the local MS partner that we will have to purchase a few hundreds more objects (USD10K+) to cater for Indian localisation.

Actually that sounds very low. The Indian localizations are a nightmare, and the code is just a mish mash of spaghetti. I would make sure that is a fixed price, because it could easily go way over that.

Personally though I would forget the Indian localizations, and contact someone like ssingla to see if it would be feasible to write a custom module just to do the tax that you need. The cost might be the same, but the quality would be much better.

Even if you do apply the Indian localization, be prepared for updates and fixes very often.

seckpin

Thanks ssingla and David for the reply. Just as i thought, all objects are linked and hence it seems like we gotta buy them all...

Our company provides services to local companies/households on contractual or job basis. We do not produce or manufacture anything, and product sales is very minimal to almost none. We do not use NAV for services, planning, sub-contracting, manufacturing, logistics, etc. (which are in the object list). India office is a new setup with a few branches, but will be expanded in future.

Sales Invoices/Cr. Memos are generated in our operation system. Interface files will be produced and imported into NAV to auto-create Customer Card, Invoice Headers and Lines, Credit Memo Headers and Lines. The Sales Lines are of Type G/L Account with one lumpsum, and no Item is involved.

On purchase side, PO or Purch. Invoice (Type=G/L Account) will be created directly in NAV. Our purchases are not for resale but chemicals, equipment or tools used for providing the services. As mentioned, very minimal product sales may exist if the customers wish to buy the items (but hardly).

I do not know in details about the fiscal requirements in India (as the project is handled by our main vendor, who in turn works with a local partner), but understood from our Indian Finance, we only need the Service Tax portion and not other taxes.

Hence, we were taken aback when they informed us that we gotta pay for so much more objects that include so many more functionalities just to get the Service Tax to work. Now i'm starting to wonder if paying for the localisation is a worthwhile ROI... we can probably do it manually... :P

ssingla

seckpin wrote:

Our company provides services to local companies/households on contractual or job basis. We do not produce or manufacture anything, and product sales is very minimal to almost none. We do not use NAV for services, planning, sub-contracting, manufacturing, logistics, etc. (which are in the object list). India office is a new setup with a few branches, but will be expanded in future.

Sales Invoices/Cr. Memos are generated in our operation system. Interface files will be produced and imported into NAV to auto-create Customer Card, Invoice Headers and Lines, Credit Memo Headers and Lines. The Sales Lines are of Type G/L Account with one lumpsum, and no Item is involved.

Service tax will be applicable to the sales invoices which is calculated on the base price of the service cost and added in the invoice. This will require the incorporation of the service tax functionality in the system to generate the sales invoice.
The clients will deduct TDS (Tax deducted at source) from the invoice amount and will pay the balance amount. The feature is available in the localization to track these transaction but it can be manually managed. Further the service tax is paid to the government when the sales invoices has been realized.

seckpin wrote:

On purchase side, PO or Purch. Invoice (Type=G/L Account) will be created directly in NAV. Our purchases are not for resale but chemicals, equipment or tools used for providing the services. As mentioned, very minimal product sales may exist if the customers wish to buy the items (but hardly).

The items/services purchased can have the excise/service tax component which can be setoff against the service tax liability (Like VAT on input is adjusted against VAT payable on Sales). Further you will be required under the Indian laws to deduct TDS on the services purchased by your company.

Fringe Benefit Tax should be managed manually if you are using a common Chart of Accounts because it requires the opening of several new account codes.

TDS can be managed manually but I will recommend the incorporation of Service Tax functionality.