Welcome to Gelato!
In this guide, you will find a brief overview of how to set up your Gelato account from a billing perspective.
In this article:
- Introduction to billing setup
- Setting up Gelato as a supplier
- Setting up billing entities
- Cost centers and project codes (or PO numbers)
- Invoicing process
- VAT and taxes
Tip: We recommend to have at least one Gelato Finance Admin, who can take care of finance-related aspects of your Gelato account.
Introduction to billing setup
One of the first steps to set up your account is to save the billing information that we can use to invoice you for your orders.
Note: It is mandatory to create at least one billing entity, regardless of the payment method you choose for your account.
The maximum number of billing entities you can create is stated in your contract and this limit will be reflected in your account. Should you wish to add more billing entities, please contact us.
Tip: We recommend to keep the total number of billing entities at a bare minimum to ensure ease of maintenance and reduced risk of the users selecting the wrong billing entity at check-out.
Setting up Gelato as a supplier
Before you start placing orders, it is important that Gelato is set up and approved as a supplier, this will prevent any issues with processing the invoices when you start using the platform.
Setting up billing entities
You can set up a new billing entity by clicking on Billing > Billing entities menu on the left after login and selecting the Add new button on the top right corner. If you wish to upload several billing entities at the same time, we offer a bulk upload functionality using an Excel template. Please see below for a list of the information required.
Note: Only users with a role that has Manage billing entities permission enabled, can set up new billing entities and edit existing ones.
Tip: We recommend to give Manage billing entities permission to the account and finance Admins only, in order to prevent other users from inputting incorrect billing information.
Important information to include
When you create a new billing entity, some information is essential to ensure that invoices are processed in a timely and smooth manner, reducing your accounting department’s workload. The mandatory information depends on the country for which you wish to have local billing.
Currently, Gelato offers billing entities in 50+ countries and in 30+ currencies. Because of limitation by local governance rules, Brazil, India, China, Chile, Japan and Russia need locally-managed invoicing when items are produced and shipped within these countries.
The most important information you will have to provide includes:
- Legal entity: Should include the full and complete legal entity name (e.g. ‘Gelato AS’ instead of just ‘Gelato’)
- VAT number: Should match the country of the legal entity. It is needed in order to provide you with the accurate VAT information in case you have an internal process to follow for managing your tax payments.
- Organization number: In some countries (e.g. Norway), this is a government registration number required for operation. It may or may not be different than the VAT number. This field is optional.
- Billing address: Should be the mailing address, which may be different from the delivery address. This should be the address that is registered to the legal entity that we are billing.
- Invoice recipient: The contact name should be the person receiving the invoice (e.g. John Smith), preferably not a generic department.
- Invoice recipient email: The contact email should be the main invoice mailbox, preferably not a personal email (e.g. invoice@gelato.com)
Note: Billing entities in China and Russia need to be entered in Chinese or Russian. For China, bank information should also be included.
Cost centers and project codes (or PO numbers)
Cost centers are used to help you allocate costs e.g. to different regions or company departments, using the same billing entity. You can add as many cost centers as needed and link them to specific billing entities. Users will then be able to choose between these cost centers at checkout.
See also: Customer Case Study: Cost Centers
Project codes are relevant for your company if users have a budget for each project and want to control costs separately. These cannot be preloaded but are defined as free text fields that users can populate during the checkout.
With cost centers and project codes, you can easily identify and assign the invoice payment to the appropriate user group.
Note: You cannot use both cost centers and project codes at the same time. Also, you can decide to opt-out of both. Please contact us for more information.
Related articles:
Invoicing process
Gelato issues invoices on the 20th day of each month for all orders placed in the previous month to the billing email saved in the billing address. These can be grouped by billing entity, cost center, or person who placed the order. Note that there is always a 30-day payment period.
The invoices for your orders are also available in your Gelato account from the Invoices menu on the left side. Read more...
Note: The invoices will be sent from the following email address: noreply@xledger.net - Please be sure that it is included to the safe sender list.
Important: Because of limitations by local governance rules USA, Brazil, India, China, Chile, Japan and Russia need locally-managed invoicing (meaning the invoice will not come from Gelato AS Norway) when items are produced and shipped within these countries and/or in the event that a company has a local subsidiary or local registration. For a list of Gelato local entities please see here.
Invoice consolidation
As part of the billing features Gelato offers, you have the option to receive your billing in two different ways. You can choose to have one invoice per order or a monthly consolidated invoice [RECOMMENDED] based on:
- Billing Entity
- Project Code / Cost Center
- User placing the orders
VAT and taxes
Gelato is legally obligated to pay VAT and sales taxes on some customer orders. Gelato AS is a Norwegian entity engaged in sales of printed materials to business customers located in multiple jurisdictions across the EU and non-EU. The Gelato Group also has local legal entities in USA, Brazil, India, China, Chile, Japan and Russia. VAT regulations in the different jurisdictions are complex. If you are uncertain about the tax treatment in your jurisdiction, please also contact your Finance department.
Whether or not tax is due depends on the item purchased, the shipping destination, the buyer's location, the production (printing) location and the actual tax rate determined by the applicable state/country and/or local tax rates. Gelato uses the billing address and shipping address you used for your order to determine the applicable tax. If you are in a jurisdiction where tax is due you will see the tax as a line item on your invoices and receipts.
Note: Because Gelato is producing items locally in 30+ countries the invoices for said locally produced items will contain VAT.
Related articles: