Removing barriers to global ecommerce growth. Your 10-step guide to compliant commerce.

Why global ecommerce growth demands a compliance strategy

Cross-border ecommerce is growing fast. Nearly 71.8 million US consumers made international online purchases in 2024, and Europe’s top five economies are projected to post €2.5 trillion in retail sales by 2027. The opportunity is real, but so is the complexity.

Expanding into new markets means navigating unfamiliar tax systems, invoicing requirements, and registration thresholds. Companies that enter without a plan often find themselves scrambling to catch up. Non-compliance can trigger audits, financial penalties, and damage to your brand reputation.

US sales tax vs European VAT: two very different systems

The US and Europe take fundamentally different approaches to taxing goods and services. In the US, sales tax is a one-time charge applied at the point of sale, with rules set independently by each state, county, and city. That means thousands of jurisdictions, each with its own rates, exemptions, and filing deadlines.

In Europe, Value Added Tax (VAT) applies at every stage of the supply chain, from producer to end consumer. Each country sets its own VAT rates and registration thresholds. EU Member States must charge a minimum 15% VAT rate, and many are rolling out new real-time reporting obligations that go beyond traditional VAT returns. Getting these calculations right matters: collecting too little or too much tax carries serious financial and legal consequences in both regions.

Invoicing compliance adds another layer

As your business expands across borders, invoicing requirements become more complex. Digital invoices must meet jurisdiction-specific formatting rules. Electronic invoices (eInvoicing) must be transmitted as structured, machine-readable data files in near real time. Requirements vary significantly by country, and failure to comply can result in lost business and penalties.

Your 10-step checklist for compliant global expansion

This eBook walks you through ten essential steps: understanding your tax obligations in each market, determining registration requirements, identifying product restrictions, tailoring the shopping experience for local customers, personalising the buying journey, ensuring accurate tax calculations, understanding customs and import rules, respecting consumer protection laws, maintaining consistency across all sales channels, and keeping detailed records for audit readiness.

How Vertex and Adobe Commerce help you scale confidently

Vertex and Adobe Commerce work together to help businesses remove barriers to global growth. The integrated solution streamlines tax compliance for both B2B and B2C sellers, delivers more accurate sales tax, use tax, and VAT calculations, supports invoicing compliance across jurisdictions, and helps eliminate manual processes that slow teams down. The result is a frictionless commerce experience that lets you focus on growth, not tax complexity.