Quote:
Originally Posted by SGx
all this vat thing is something i can't get
when a european company is selling to an american company, there s no vat, and vice verca
when a european customer buys from amazon us, then he has to pay VAT to get what he bought in his country post office (because of the customs)
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That part is how it works generally I believe. In the UK, Spain and Eire at least.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SGx
but if the same customer buys a virtual service, then it would be to the selling company to pay that VAT ? why ? it should be the customer which should pay the vat, like when he is buying physical stuff...no ?
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Ultimately the seller is supposed to charge the customer the VAT on the purchase, he then pays that back to the government. The seller is just acting as a collector if you like.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SGx
also, i m not sure it would go 5 years back, because vat stuff has been moving a lot lately, but it was not working that same way even 3 years ago
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Not sure how far back they would go either. I know the UK used to be able to get unpaid VAT upto 7 years back at least. Maybe that has changed.
The reason I think MaDalton mentioned 5 years is because I think it was 2003 that George W. signed the US up to this agreement.
If US companies haven't been charging the VAT in the first place to EU customers then they could potentially lose upwards of 25% of their income made from EU sales. 25% is the current highest VAT rate of any EU member country.