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I don't earn enough... #EUVAT will not affect me. REALLY?

If small sole traders think the new EU Vat rules don't affect them, think again!


Just touching on this briefly. Links below to more details.

Do you sell any kind of digital downloads like jewellery making tutorials in pdf format, or your crochet / knitting patterns, or a downloadable "how to" video about sewing? 

And do you sell maybe one or two of these to someone in the EU? Then you ARE affected!

I hear you say "But I don't make the UK Vat threshold! I don't even make the tax threshold"

It DOES NOT matter!

After 1st January 2015 if you sell digital products & services to EU customers then you have to pay Vat as applicable in the country your customer resides.

Its as simple as that! It does not matter if you sell Only £5.00 worth of your downloadable bracelet design tutorial to jewellery hobbyist Stefanie in Holland. By virtue of the fact that you sold an e-book to someone living in Holland you have to pay the applicable Dutch VAT on Digital products in Holland. Its not Stefanie's fault and its not your fault.

Its what some "clever" people decided! The same highly "qualified" people who do not even know that thousands of micro businesses like mine exist all over Europe and UK by the sounds of it!

A HUGE amount of research and work has been carried out by several small business owners who are directly affected. Read it all here: http://euvataction.org/

Please read, please share, PLEASE Spread the word!

It affects all of us who sell or buy digital downloads of any kind. Yes that fab new ringtone for your phone from Dave in Burton Coggles... that cool game app from Igor in Ghent... that lovely new soundtrack by an upcoming artist in Porto... those little graphics for your website by Dino in Poznan... the list goes on!

If you are a business owner Take the survey: http://euvataction.org/take-action-now/complete-the-survey/

If you care about businesses in your local community selling digital downloads PLEASE help us by signing: http://euvataction.org/take-action-now/sign-the-petition/
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Comments

  1. Caroline17 December 2014 at 00:28

    Thanks so much for sharing the message Shalini. We really appreciate you getting the message out there. And we hope that everyone affected will come and take part in the survey and sign the petition. Thanks so much for helping us. Caroline (& the EU Vat Action Team).

    PS did you know you've reached no 6 in google when I search for 'EU VAT in the news'. I'm not sure if you'll be delighted or not... but congratulations anyway! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shalini Austin Metalsmith17 December 2014 at 07:37

      I am happy to be able to make a contribution, however small, to this campaign Caroline.
      Any support small businesses like mine can offer the excellent EU Vat team can only help to spread the word about what lies ahead. You all are doing such a wonderful job and taking up the fight on behalf of many small businesses like mine.
      I do hope there are lots more signatures on the petition and sincerely hope the effort everyone is making is getting the message out that this is not something that just affects a few small business owners. This affects customers who buy from small businesses, because some of us might completely disappear, and others may be forced to raise prices to be able to comply with these corporate level regulations!

      I guess I should put more of my thoughts in words! Glad Google took some notice :-)
      Note to self... must blog more!

      Delete

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