They are probably getting a 50 page long blog post to answer this crap in the most diplomatic matter, probably that would introduce more ambiguity than clarify the issues at hand !
off-course not , you are power elite and still i am not sure if you will be able to cover it if you pay 30% extra tax !
Unfortunately itās undebatable and non-negotiable (i know it sucks, i had a really bad day today). Itās just how the US system work, this is an older tax and because Envato is expanding to US, itās simply take it or leave it. No argument will change this. Maybe, but only maybe, if Envato decides to have different pricing structure on US, which iām not sure it would happen.
From: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p515/ar02.html
[quote]Payments for the following purposes are examples of payments that are not withholdable payments.
Software licenses.
[/quote]
Just wondering, why donāt WordPress themes and plugins fall under this category? Did someone evaluate moving away from actually using a software licensing model rather than considering everything digital stock?
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Hi @hogash,
I think itās very debatable to ask Envato why we should pay taxes if we are not US citizens. Double taxation.
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Why not? The US taxes should be remitted to US buyers, and not to people living overseas. Why should I report myself to the IRS and pay taxes to the United States? Thatās ridiculous.
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Yea, Iām from MĆ©xico and is very similar here. bureaucratic nightmare Kafka levels and the tax authorities refund nothing, even when they have to. I always though Envato system was greedy, but there was the fact that they own the market and get you sales, which have value. To me, 50% was too much of a comission, but well, selling by mayself would not be much better, not at the beginning at least. Now Iām sure they are greedy.
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Iām afraid this question can only be replied by US government when they decided to add this very, very stupid tax. Because Envato is expanding into US, they have no other choice than to follow US law.
Double taxation is the reason why there are these country treaties with the US. Unfortunately not all countries have such treaties and this is what it actually sucks most.
PS: Iām just stating the facts.
Hi @themezkitchen, I answered this one here. In summary, weāll have someone from Australia HQ reviewing and responding to all pertinent questions on a daily basis and as quickly as possible. Please bear in mind that itās 6am there right now so it will be several hours from now before the first responses come in. Thanks for your patience.
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Unfortunately this is the anger, shock and disgust, talking about such a stupid and abusive tax. But the thing is the tax isnāt the problem, the problem is whether all these changes are really worthy for Envato to expand to US.
Because the expansion isnāt transparent at all for authors, iām in between thinking itās just profits & tax optimisation for Envato, but also growth opportunities, that theoretically should increase our sales with immediate effect. To be honest i have no idea but i really hope to find out these upcoming days.
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Iāve said it before and Iāll say it again:
All this talk about Envato āexpandingā into the US is just semantic nonsense. Noise.
Envato is very simply maximizing profits by taking advantage of the financial incentives available to it.
Unfortunately, it is we the authors who are ultimately paying the price for Envatoās increased profitability.
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Hi friends, thanks for all your points.
Can someone explain me how this all going to increase sales?
Simply, where is the difference?
For me, itās very clear; itās all about the first thing you mentioned, āprofits & tax optimization for Envatoā, and doesnāt have anything to do with true growth opportunities. Envato is already a global company selling to many parts of the world, so I just donāt see how this move can make such a big impact, to counteract the fact that we have to pay taxes to the United States.
Partnerships are dying, small authors are getting screwed, people are packing their stuff and leavingā¦remind me how this is good again? Besides, nobody even asked us how we feel about this whole move. Practically what they just said is: āHey, now you have to pay taxes to the US, lol. Sorry guys, itās just a new thing you have to do, bye bye :hangs up phone:ā.
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There is a pattern in every new change Envato has been made. Always affect authors for bad, always. Beyond the US tax laws, I donāt trust in this marketplace.
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I think today many people lost their sleep tired_face: like me
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they will keep the company in Australia, created a company in USA, you know that? triangulation, in economics this is called triangulation!
and shamelessly charged the tax they have to pay the buyers, they pay the authors, they tell you You work it to get it back your country (if tienens luck), but if increase sales, this would be equal to or worse than now, actually you win coins to win only cents before, who wins?: envato, which takes its clean portion of us (and also all structure for triangulation created), that says to split the tax in 3 (30% divided 3 between envato, authors and customers) that it hurts not only all the authors who are the ones who give life to this circus, this would be bad, but a little more just,
I agree and until Envato is truly transparent and explains the true reasons behind this, iām afraid i believe this too. For the moment a growth is just theoretical, no true backed up data was shared why this would be beneficial for authors too.
This ^. Unfortunately in the last years announcements were dropped like bombs. It was all just about informing what they will do and we just have to take it or leave it. Too corporateāish attitude over authors.
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You are completely right but its more about their profits and tax optimization than to growth opportunities. This is the internet and you surely know about other startups and ventures which are not based in the US and they still work solely for the US market. For the Envato, the average US buyer doesnāt care if they are in the US or elsewhere, they are on the first page on Google for almost every keyword related to their (ours) business. So their explanation sounds really naive and its irrelevant to the right cause. Iāve used to work in large internet based companies, and IMHO the reasons are more stakeholder and tax related. Opening a company in the US if you are an internet venture is the best thing you can do for the company. But we are not part of the company in their eyes (even though the authors are creditable for the Envatoās success) And Iām 100% sure that they are aware that some percentage of authors will leave. In the other hand, Iām also sure that this percentage they calculated is not real, and that they will be severely damaged by this decision. You know why? In every company like this, there is always some wannabe manager with bad colored tie who thinks he is the smartest guy on earth, a next business management guru. Maybe Iām wrong but the sentence from their announcement, quote: Please speak to your tax advisor to understand how this works in your country - gives me a biggest LOL on my face. Cāmon guys, 90% of the authors here do not know until now that tax advisors even exists. To tell you the truth, I think there is no one in my country either. We are all a bunch of freelancers trying to make a living and Envato was great marketplace to make our dreams come true. Sadly, this dream comes to an endā¦ And they didnāt calculated this in their equation because itās business, and in the business there is no emotions. In the end they will have a decent number of authors who will work for them, and a larger number of those who will left Envato for good. Iām sorry for the long post 
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I doubt that! If they really just wanted to optimize tax and income they wouldāve moved to Cayman Islands or Luxembourg and show the middle finger. Donāt be naive, thereās something else going on here.
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So I should move to one of those countries that have 0%? Because 0% is like nothing changed right?
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