Skip to main content

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/
Labels:

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

Post a Comment

I would love to hear from you so please do leave a comment :-)
Sorry comment moderation is ON because I have been getting too many spam comments from bots. I get notification for each comment left and I will publish all genuine messages.
Thanks! Shalini

Popular posts from this blog

7th Bead Soup Party: Shalini's Sparkly Serving Revealed!

So the day is finally here! Its PARTY TIME! My parties are always "Bring a Bottle" kinds so help yourself to your favourite tipple and enjoy! Part 1: This is my first entry into the world of Bead Soups. Be gentle lovely people... It all started when I signed up for the Pretty Things 7th Bead Soup Blog party on 26 January. I have since blogged a bit about it. My Partner Sarah Goode from Pookledo sent me a lovely stash of shiny things! A handful of Swarovski disc crystals / Some metal glitterballs in various sizes / A length of silver plated chain / Some Swarovski glass pearls / a magnetic glitterball clasp  Yummy I hear you say! It is! But apart from the silver chain these are things I have NEVER worked with before! My pieces tend to have a lot of colour in them! And here I am looking at lots of grey (OK shiny silvery grey but it is shades of grey, maybe not quite 50 but near enough!) HELP! This is totally out of my comfort zone! You set me a chal...
71 comments
Read more

Beadsoup Blog Party: Shalini's Soup is Served! Finally!

The chef is a lazy sod but I do hope the servings have been worth waiting for? For a while it was Will she, Won't she, Can She?  Yes she can! :-) I didn't get to use any fancy tools like the torch, saw, drill or add ingredients like solder but I did what I could with the lovely ingredients and I think they did not need any extra embellishments to be honest! The fantastic Bead soup from my partner  Susan McClelland  had enough ingredients in it to just add a bit of wire, a few findings to create this! The main piece! Sari Silk Ribbon, Ceramic Pendant Focal, Hand etched Copper Clasp, handmade glazed ceramic beads and plenty of copper wire. All joined together with my trademark spiral links. YES Fabric! Not really my friend! But it was too beautiful not to use! Thanks for the challenge Susan, I quite enjoyed playing with the sari silk to make it part of the pendant. Tools: My hands, Flat and round nose pliers and dodgy eyes....
52 comments
Read more

UK Inspiration Challenge... "Walk On..."

I came across ArtisanWhimsy on Facebook through MyBeadTherpay ’s Page (I follow Heidi’s work with a passion because she has inspired me to try so many new things and its great to see how wonderfully her work has progressed in the 2 odd years we've been talking bling with each other!) And right there on the front page of the forum was this little banner which took me to a page which said: “Can you create a piece of jewellery or a jewellery component inspired by where the UK Blog team live?” The choices were Dorset / Edinburgh / Bath / The Isle of Wight / Liverpool / Southampton and this is what the description said about Liverpool : image courtesy Wikipedia “ Liverpool  is world-famous as the home of The Beatles, but is also well known for football, the Scouse (now there's a term for you non-Brits to look up!) sense of humour and of course, the shipping port and the River Mersey” The description and for various other reasons Liverpool it had t...
21 comments
Read more

Oakham Festival 2012

Guest Post: Oakham Festival 2012 on Stamford Artisans Guild : Dave & I will be at the Crafts show at Oakham Castle which is part of Oakham Festival 2012 on 23 June. We had a great day last year at this event which was held on Gaol Street and really looking forward to this one at one of my favourite venues of all - Oakham Castle. Sarah who is the chief organiser for this has been working really hard to get everything in place and I think she is doing a brilliant job! Hope to see you there! 'via Blog this'
Post a Comment
Read more

#DHLchain Crafty Blogger Challenge: Don't Call Me Cute!

Or else... This fluffy pink tail is really a lethal weapon! I mentioned last week that I had signed up for another creative challenge and was sent an adorable bunny by Vintage Magpie Bears as my inspiration. "The aim of this campaign is for you to share your creative craft skills with another craft blogger, by creating an item for them and sending it via a prepaid DHL courier box." So when Nicky sent me this little chap I thought wire sculpture instead of a piece of jewellery would do this "cute" creature justice. Out came the aluminium wire I have used before for trees and the Wire Sculpture Fairy I made in July. Aluminium wire is not very good for most of my jewellery but the qualities that don't work for jewellery are ideal for sculptures! Its so soft and manageable that I can bend, wind and wrap it in so many different ways. This Rabbit (Or if you think he looks more like a hare then Hare) was wrapped free hand. I had no template from a...
4 comments
Read more