Re:EU’s New VAT Rules Could Create a Mess for Startups
by AverageBanana on Thursday November 27, 2014 @04:10AM
(#8666519)
These rules only affect cross-border sales within the EU. Any non-EU business supplying digital services direct to a customer in the EU will be affected. B2B supplies do not come under the scope of these rules. There's a lot of chatter on Twitter (#VATMOSS) about the new rules (mostly micro-businesses). The thing to remember is that EU member states with a high number of digital service customers will see a boost in VAT take as the VAT is accountable at the place of consumption. EDIT: I've have noticed these guys mentioned in the conversation: https://www.taxamo.com/#solution - they have developed an EU VAT compliance solution. HMRC have also released further information about the new rule changes, more details here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-supplying-dig.... The UK, by the way, has estimated that they will gain a VAT windfall of £1.2 billion between 2015 and 2019. It is now in the interests of EU member states to enforce collection of this VAT, as they will be the ones to benefit. The old (2003) rules meant a non-EU business could just set up in a low-tax jurisdiction and route all supplies via that establishment. Not possible with new rules, that's the key change.
A question that occurs for me is how TTIP would affect this situation, though. If TTIP was established, would the EU then require US businesses to collect VAT in the same fashion? Because that would be really sucky for you.