jezjones saidAppreciate your here to make a profit, but are you not making enough already? Its hard enough with all the web designers out there chopping their prices back.
prestahome saidYou ask how to avoid the tax that you have to pay, who’s trolling? You can move outside UE or register company.
Krystian, if you have some issues or today is not your day, I don’t care. Again you are not helping at all.
corcata saidprestahome saidYou ask how to avoid the tax that you have to pay, who’s trolling? You can move outside UE or register company.
Krystian, if you have some issues or today is not your day, I don’t care. Again you are not helping at all.
You need to pay VAT here and the only two options to avoid this tax is:
You need to pay VAT if you buy new TV, new PC, e-books etc. so in the same way you need to pay VAT here for items from EnvatoMarket.
Got it now?
This VAT thing is ridiculous. A company established for example here in Ireland or a self employed person is not required to register or pay for VAT if its turnover does not reach the appropriate threshold which is €75000 in sales per year. You will find similars laws in almost all EU countries. I’d say that most of the people here are under the threshold and are not require by law to pay VAT.
As an Author from EU, reading the Envato Guidelines seems I have no concern about VAT handling or other Financial responsibility.
My only concern is about my potentially buyers from EU which are almost 30-40% and which will think twice if will by from Envato or from another place. So, a drop of sales is the only think that should I be worry about and to find a solution to face with it.
Am I wrong?
I think you’re right azzaroco.
The main problem is probably people not knowing and then getting a shock when they get to their checkout. While it may have been discussed in the forums, what is the percentage of users that use the forums?
An email should have been sent out and not having it sent out makes you wonder if Envato didn’t want to scare people away and hope that the first time it is noticed is once an item has been selected, and then the user is more likely to pay for it.
azzaroco saidI had a lot of sales in the past days to EU companies, which are (judging by their websites) VAT registered companies and who did not bought in a B2B transaction. I'm assuming they use input tax deduction in their country.My only concern is about my potentially buyers from EU which are almost 30-40% and which will think twice if will by from Envato or from another place.
@azzaroco You are right on that one. I only found out about this today as I was about the buy a plugin. I had the exact amount of funds left then all of a sudden I saw the 21% price increase at the checkout and didn’t have sufficient funds. I didn’t buy the plug in an solved my problem manually instead.
I think in terms of topping up it’s going to be a pain for the client as the sums are now so awkward. Customers want to see clearly the price of what they buy, not the price - minus VAT.
Of course if you really need the item you are going to buy it, but I think impulse purchases (which I’m guilty of) are going to definitely drop. A 21% sudden price hike is quite steep.
celticdancer said@azzaroco You are right on that one. I only found out about this today as I was about the buy a plugin. I had the exact amount of funds left then all of a sudden I saw the 21% price increase at the checkout and didn’t have sufficient funds. I didn’t buy the plug in an solved my problem manually instead.
I think in terms of topping up it’s going to be a pain for the client as the sums are now so awkward. Customers want to see clearly the price of what they buy, not the price - minus VAT.
Of course if you really need the item you are going to buy it, but I think impulse purchases (which I’m guilty of) are going to definitely drop. A 21% sudden price hike is quite steep.
Indeed. I’ve pass trough the same situation yesterday. I’ve saw an item well made and even wasn’t needed on that moment I went to bought it but when I’ve saw +$10 I’ve decided to leave it.
So, to the end someone lost a sale.
I think and I HOPE, Envato will take in consideration a way to help buyers to pass trough this depressing cost changed at least until it will not be a “surprise” for them.
A solution can be to offer 50% free from buyer’s fee for the next 2 weeks for EU buyers. So EU buyers will pay more but less in the same time (like a limited offer) until the EU buyers will set their VAT number or they will get over easier for the additional cost.
It will be a win2win solution,
How about that?
Can someone please just explain why the entire tax burden is put on the customer at this time? Envato gotta be pretty confident then that this will not lead to a dramatic drop in demand. What’s the thought process behind this decision?
Hi again everyone, I didn’t get a chance to prepare answers to the latest round of questions today, but will get to them on Australian Monday along with any new questions that come in over the weekend. Thanks! 
jacobhed saidCan someone please just explain why the entire tax burden is put on the customer at this time? Envato gotta be pretty confident then that this will not lead to a dramatic drop in demand. What’s the thought process behind this decision?
This burden is put on customer because VAT is a customer tax. It is just the way how all european governments can take money from the most poor people.
Because of this tax governments can get money also from people that does not own anything, have no income, no property anything. This is the most immoral tax that someone could invent.
The worst on VAT is that it is hidden in each product price and normal people. It is even compulsory to display the price on price tag including VAT so people get used to the increased price and dont see the real product value.
Envato does not keep VAT, authors does not keep VAT. The whole tax is sent back to EU. Because of the leaders we have elected in EU we have to pay the whole VAT.
celticdancer saidThis VAT thing is ridiculous. A company established for example here in Ireland or a self employed person is not required to register or pay for VAT if its turnover does not reach the appropriate threshold which is €75000 in sales per year.
Minor correction: the threshold for VAT registration, in Ireland, is €37500 for services. Anything digital (software, photos, mp3, etc) is considered a service, so the lower threshold applies (I’m based in Ireland as well, that’s how I know).
Addendum: the new, insane VAT MOSS regulations have a threshold of… Zero. That is, if you are based in Ireland (or anywhere in Europe) and sell a digital product directly to any EU consumer, then you must account for VAT from the first cent you charge. Using a marketplace like Envato moves the burden on the marketplace itself, but it’s not always a viable option.
aelia_co saidThat is, if you are based in Ireland (or anywhere in Europe) and sell a digital product directly to any EU consumer, then you must account for VAT from the first cent you charge.
This may differ from country to country. In Germany I am free to opt out of collecting VAT as a “small business”, meaning my turnover is not more than 17,500 or in some cases 50,000 in a year.
Not under VAT MOSS regime, I’m afraid. The threshold only applies to the sales within the country (i.e. German merchant to German customer), but any sale to an EU customer outside of Germany, from the first cent, falls under VAT MOSS and VAT must be charged. I know that for sure because I developed a solution for WooCommerce to handle VAT MOSS and I discussed the topic extensively with revenue offices all around Europe.
Thats incredible
Hi everyone, hope you all had a good weekend 
A couple of new questions came in since my last round up and I’ve pasted these along with answers below. I’m going to un-sticky the thread today but I’ll loop back tomorrow one last time to check for any new questions. After that, please email taxinfo@envato.com. Thanks!
randomnoise saidIs there any update on how past VAT issues will be handled? (By ‘past’ I mean transactions before January 1st 2015).
Hi randomnoise, we don’t have any updates since our last announcement, but we’ll let you know as soon as we do. We expect this to take some time as dealing with an authority is generally not a fast process unfortunately. As Collis explained previously, we are working to resolve historic issues with the relevant EU Member States, we aren’t seeking recourse from authors, and we will work to support authors in the event they are audited or need documentation about the past. Hope this helps!
bqworks said@randomnoise, you raise a very important issue and I’ve posted on the topic of who is the actual seller/supplier a few pages back, but my post was ignored so far. I’ll post my message again:
I’ve seen it mentioned several times that this is a 2015 change in the EU law, which I don’t think is quite correct. The actual 2015 change in the EU law refers to the place of supply: whether the supplier’s location is considered to be the place of supply or the buyer’s location is considered to be the place of supply. Before 2015, the supplier’s place was considered to be the place of supply, so VAT had to be charged at the rate of the country where the supplier is registered, but, as of 2015, the buyer’s place is considered to be the place of supply, so VAT has to be charged at the rate of the country where the buyer resides.
<p>Who is considered to be the actual supplier is not changed by the new law, there are only some new clarifications. Article 28 from <a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32006L0112" rel="nofollow">Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006</a> states this: <em>“Where a taxable person acting in his own name but on behalf of another person takes part in a supply of services, he shall be deemed to have received and supplied those services himself.”</em> So, from my understanding, even according to the old law, Envato is considered the supplier. In the new law, there are some additions that elaborate on Article 28 from the old law:</p> <p><em>“<strong>For the application of Article 28 of Directive 2006/112/EC</strong>, where electronically supplied services are supplied through a telecommunications network, an interface or a portal such as a marketplace for applications, a taxable person taking part in that supply shall be presumed to be acting in his own name but on behalf of the provider of those services unless that provider is explicitly indicated as the supplier by that taxable person and that is reflected in the contractual arrangements between the parties.In order to regard the provider of electronically supplied services as being explicitly indicated as the supplier of those services by the taxable person, the following conditions shall be met:
<p><em>(a) the invoice issued or made available by each taxable person taking part in the supply of the electronically supplied services must identify such services and the supplier thereof;</em></p> <p><em>(b) the bill or receipt issued or made available to the customer must identify the electronically supplied services and the supplier thereof.</em></p> <p><em><strong>For the purposes of this paragraph, a taxable person who, with regard to a supply of electronically supplied services, authorises the charge to the customer or the delivery of the services, or sets the general terms and conditions of the supply, shall not be permitted to explicitly indicate another person as the supplier of those services.</strong>“</em></p> <p>The text can be found <a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32013R1042" rel="nofollow">here</a>, in Article 1 > Article 9a.</p>The current invoices don’t follow the law, in my opinion, because they still indicate (in a very confusing way) that the author is the seller/supplier, which the law explicitly prohibits in the passage I posted above.
Hi bqworks, I think you’re mainly asking two questions - one about the changes to the law, and the other about the invoice structure.
With respect to the changes introduced this year, yes it’s probably a bit more complex and nuanced than a forum thread is going to capture. There are a number of changes (or clarifications), some of which impact non-EU sellers, some for EU sellers, some for platforms, mostly focusing on place of supply and involvement in the supply. We’ve used some fairly broad language in some of our forum posts for simplicity.
In terms of the invoice language, Envato is marked as supplier for EU VAT purposes and EU VAT is being collected and remitted by Envato.
Our government is already ripping us off with income taxes, see for yourself here: [Link removed. Please refrain from political commentary on the forums. Thanks!]
So as a buyer:
Will the remittance of all collected EU VAT on Envato Market be private and not itemized/detailed?
I do mind if my government knows that I for example bought sound A, photo B, plugin C, etc and that they are also offered an opportunity to sell on that information in bulk to marketing bureaus. Combined with all the demographics they have of every citizen. Give the devil an inch and he will take a yard.
Are all freebies exempt of VAT, as in do you also have to report gifts?
(There will be no surcharges on freebies locally by EU governments?)
InToGraphics saidOur government is already ripping us off with income taxes, see for yourself here: [Link removed. Please refrain from political commentary on the forums. Thanks!]
snip
I’m sorry but I linked to an income tax table with just 4 rows and 2 columns containing amounts and percentages.
This thread discusses collecting Value Added Tax or Sales Tax.
Which makes this whole thread contain political commentary.
Because of the duality, I can’t be bothered with a response to my 2 questions.
It is possible to print set of all invoices by few clicks? This is waste of time by downloading invoices one by one… What with authors who have 1000 sales per month?