There are only two working solutions to idiotic EU VAT rules and only one is legal:

1)  Dont give a * about the customer, simply sell it and if somebody asks, then tell all your customers were outside EU. This is risky and illegal way but I bet many ppl will do it this way.

2) Start a company in some offshore country or somewhere without VAT and well outside potential reach of EU stupid ideas. Then for example LLC on Seychelles has separate bookkeeping and you put only real personal income from that company into your tax papers. As long as it is outside EU and you do not go into thousands of euros monthly, nobody cares.

Real legal solution of being registered VAT tax payer will result in so many programing problems and so much paperwork, that each photo would cost a fortune. It is simply not possible to fullfill all stupid requirements...

As I am unlikely (unfortunately) to reach �79,000 this year or next year there is no requirement yet, as I understand the UK  site to register for VAT

75000 euro in Ireland. I think you are correct, as I think the same. I will be doing my first tax report this year and I will be double checking with the tax man about this.

Really relax just ask your local tax office it's in their own interest to help you, after all you bring money into your/their country. 

Well okay that would be much more complicated but is it really necessary? Just follow the VAT-Rules for your country (inside and foreign exchange) should be enough in my opinion.

Voted down for stating facts and / or pointing to information which requires further research. What ho!

The simple fact remains that US and other non EU sites are required to charge VAT if your customer is in an EU country. Your customer is normally going to need to submit proper receipts at the end of the tax year.

It is exactly the same for software developers.

Surely the easiest way of addressing this is to build a universally compliant shopping cart.

Ok, I know this is an old thread, but it's still relevant.

We're running in to similar issues you've all been posting, but getting this tax thing sorted out is a necessity for us, as it's required by law. (as it's required for all symbiostock site owners within the EU, who also have a business registration and VAT number!)

We've done the ground work, and worked out what information is required EU wide, together with our tax guy, and are willing to invest in developing a plugin, that enables this.

Here's the rough breakdown of the rules (see also at the end of this thread:

1. When registering, a EU customer needs to be able to register with his/her full company details:
- Company Name
- Company Address
- Country
- Contact information
- VAT number (can be verified during registration for EU customers)

2. The above information will also need to be stored for the site owner, if the Symbiostock site is registered to a company within the EU. (But this is also good practice for anyone else!)

3. A settings page, containing three (!) different VAT percentages, only applicable for EU symbiostock sites.. Although this is not quite relevant for 2014, the rules are likely to change in 2015, which'll make three VAT percentages necessary.

4. When a purchase is made, the system needs to run through the following script:
a. Is the customer a company? If no, then VAT %1. (regardless of location). If yes, then:
b. Is the customer from the same country as the site owner? If yes, then VAT %1. Else:
c. Is the customer from another country within the EU as the site owner? If yes, then VAT %2. Else:
d. The company is from outside the EU. Then VAT %3.

5. After payment is made, both EU site owner as well as all (EU) customers need to be able to access a PDF invoice / receipt. (either via download, or via email) This PDF invoice needs to display:

Transaction date
Full Sellers information
Full Buyers' information
Transaction statement: Item, Item type
Sales price, excluding VAT
Appropriate VAT %
The addition of Sales price + (sales price * VAT%)
Transaction statement: Paid

We're looking to cooperate with anyone for whom this is also relevant, and is willing to help out. Please send me a PM, or reply to this email in case you're interested!
- Can you code? We can co-develop.
- Do you know someone who would be interested in developing such a plugin or child theme? We're willing to pay (within reason, of course )
- Can you attribute in any other way?
- Would you be willing to purchase a plugin that enables this feature?

I'll be away on vacation until early march, but will check in from time to time, and reply when necessary.

Cheers,

Hugo

Looks like Leo has started to address this over at symbiostock.org. Not much detail. I doubt it will be part of the theme though. Probably some sort of paid plugin.

Thanks. I really love this project. I had some success with it which is nice but I really see it as a step in the right direction. Contributors need to step up and take some control of their own futures. There are a lot of ways to do it but Symbiostock is definitely a good start. It is also refreshing to see other people like yourself taking an interest and actually making something happen. This will be good for a lot of people.

Quote from: chromaco on February 18, 2014, 20:27

Thanks. I really love this project. I had some success with it which is nice but I really see it as a step in the right direction. Contributors need to step up and take some control of their own futures. There are a lot of ways to do it but Symbiostock is definitely a good start. It is also refreshing to see other people like yourself taking an interest and actually making something happen. This will be good for a lot of people.

That's the attitude, and I fully concur

Reading back to bunill's comment, it seems the issue is even more global, as it also applies (to a certain extend) to non-EU based sites dealing with EU customers. Can anyone confirm this?

I am Canadian. I don't see why I should charge VAT from EU customers. After all, what am I supposed to do with that money? I don't have any tax dues over in Europe.

However, I can see that an European customer of my site would like me to send a proper sale's receipt that clearly states that no VAT has been paid so that it is easier for them dealing with their tax authorities.

But I am no tax expert, either   

does this hold for the other EU countries?  if there is a minimum amount for each before VAT becomes a requirement, then this would simplify setup for many sym sites.  and for the co-op sites i'm setting up, I doubt anyone making that much in sales would be jong the co-op since this is designed more for smaller sites that don't want the hassle of setting up paypal, etc

The co-op's accountant is going to be the best person to talk to.  Though presumably the total income of the business (i.e. the co-op) will be the issue. Not the total income of the individual partners.