Developers give up on euro invoicing

UK software developers have given up their attempts to persuade Customs & Excise authorities to accept tax invoices in the new euro currency.

But rather than start developing complex dual-currency systems, they have decided to leave their sterling systems untouched, despite the problems this could cause international companies on 1 January.

Dennis Keeling, chief executive of Basda (Business and Accounting Software Developers' Association), who headed the campaign against Customs, told Silicon.com: "We as software developers cannot do any more. We have put forward several proposals to Customs, and nothing has come of it, although discussions have now escalated to a ministerial level."

He said one or two developers do support the euro, but claimed the majority have decided not to support it alongside sterling, as it is "incredibly difficult to put in the functionality".

John Moscrop, head of euro preparations at Customs, yesterday confirmed to Basda that its request to submit VAT invoices in euros will not be granted.

Keeling said: "This means businesses in the UK will not be able to use the euro as their base currency. It will particularly affect UK subsidiaries of multinational companies, such as BMW and Siemens. Until now, we have had very little support from end users, but in two weeks they will see that their software does not support the euro."

Customs will review the situation in February, once it has seen how many UK businesses adopt the euro. But Keeling said it will be up to business to put pressure on government from now on.