How SPACEPANDA consolidated global sales tax and VAT compliance with Numeral

SPACEPANDA handles the business side of being a working artist. 

The company partners with creators to help them run ecommerce brands, providing operational and strategic support so artists can focus on their work. From product manufacturing to shipping to accounting, SPACEPANDA handles the tedious tasks that make ecommerce businesses work behind the scenes. 

SPACEPANDA's artist partners span the globe, as does their audience of potential customers. So supporting global sales is a key feature of SPACEPANDA's services, but doing business in dozens of countries makes tax compliance a major challenge.

"We were often shipping releases to 50-plus countries, each with its own filing requirements and ever-changing rules," said Tom Rowlandson, SPACEPANDA's co-founder and director. SPACEPANDA was juggling dozens of filing services and processes in each geographic area, using a system that Rowlandson described as "overpriced and overcomplicated."

When the company, which had been based in Canada, decided to establish a new U.S. entity in early 2025, in response to changing international trade rules and policies, Rowlandson determined that the status quo was simply untenable. "I knew we needed help with maintaining compliance and filings in the United States," he said. 

Given the complexity of their operations, he was absolutely right. 

Why SPACEPANDA needed help

SPACEPANDA supports leading artists in their business operations, as well as collaborating with entertainment, fashion, and retail brands. Because it manages product manufacturing and shipping, it faces complex tax compliance issues. Specifically, SPACEPANDA must: 

• Register to collect sales tax or VAT (value-added tax) in multiple U.S. states and countries worldwide. Many countries that collect VAT require registration from the first sale, while U.S. states can set their own economic nexus thresholds that sellers must meet before registration is required. SPACEPANDA has to understand what triggers registration under the rules in each location where it ships products and must manage dozens of different registration portals and deadlines. 
• Collect the appropriate tax. States and countries have their own individual rules regarding what items are taxed and at what rates. Keeping track of it all can be complicated, especially when digital products are included in an artist's catalog, because not all locations tax digitally delivered goods. SPACEPANDA must charge the correct rate, often determined by the customer's location, on each sale 
• File and remit tax payments on schedule. Depending on local rules and sales volume, VAT and sales tax returns and payments may need to be submitted monthly, quarterly, biannually, or annually. SPACEPANDA must track deadlines for dozens of different jurisdictions where nexus has been established. 

These obligations resulted in SPACEPANDA working with multiple partners and vendors to manage all of their sales tax and VAT compliance, including SimplyVAT for the UK and the EU, and its own accountants for Canada, where it was based at the time. 

While these individual services offered adequate support for certain aspects of compliance, the SPACEPANDA team had to ensure that the different providers were working effectively, and they had to fill some gaps themselves since there was no end-to-end solution. Plus, there was no overall strategic plan for sales tax and VAT management. 

As a result, Rowlandson felt he was spending too much time "reading international tax forms information or trying to get a straight answer out of a company that doesn’t communicate well."

He needed a solution, and with SPACEPANDA's growth and expansion into the United States, he needed one fast. 

Numeral provided a seamless solution

According to Rowlandson, SPACEPANDA needed a way to consolidate all of their tax filings in one place, as well as a team and systems “designed to make it all as easy as possible." 

He added that they were looking for a provider that met certain criteria: “simple, efficient, good service, and help when we needed it."

The company found all of that and more with Numeral. That’s because Numeral can:

• Monitor sales across all of the different channels SPACEPANDA uses to sell products for its artist partners, and alert the company when it is approaching a nexus threshold. 
• Autoregister for sales tax or VAT when required in more than 12,000 different jurisdictions worldwide.
• Collect the correct tax on all taxable sales.
• Submit required exemption certificates.
• Track purchases that are eligible for input VAT credits and properly account for them on VAT returns.
• Submit VAT and sales tax returns.
• Remit tax payments globally through Settle — a Numeral service Rowlandson described as one of his favorites. He explained that, before Settle, making international tax payments meant "sending manual wire payments and then forwarding proof of payment records." In his words, it was a "diabolical" process.

"The real key with Numeral is that it’s seamless and hands-off, with really easy-to-check reporting when I need an answer to something," Rowlandson said. While he feels confident in allowing Numeral to handle many compliance tasks independently, Rowlandson explained that he also appreciates the fact that he can "talk to a dedicated contact when I need it."

In fact, Rowlandson believes he's found more than just another software tool to help manage the company's tax obligations. He's found a true partner. 

"I've honestly never had such responsive and helpful service from a company as I do with Dosbal at Numeral,” he said. “From the onboarding to reminding me if I’m forgetting to do something, to always being super quick to help and reply to emails, and getting on a call if needed.

Because of Numeral's global reach, SPACEPANDA no longer needs to work with multiple vendors, and its in-house accounting team has been relieved of the hands-on obligations associated with sales tax and VAT compliance. And Rowlandson also no longer spends hours logging into tax websites, contacting foreign revenue departments, and uploading wire transfer receipts.

When speaking about Settle specifically, Rowlandson said, "My whole team is lounging, celebrating an easier life with Numeral taking care of things we used to have to spend time on."

Rowlandson's assessment of the transformation says it all. When asked to sum up his experience with Numeral in just one word, he didn't hesitate: "magic."