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EU Plans to Tax Internet Sales

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the daddy-what's-a-spoils-system dept.

Arctic Fox writes: "In a bid to help European online sales, the EU is planning to tax online transactions. The article on Yahoo, says that the taxes will apply only to products downloaded from the internet, such as software,videos and music. They may elect to tax physical items (books, hardware,etc) at a later date. American companies will be forced to charge European customers the appropriate VAT in their home country. No details on how this will be enforced."

3 of 358 comments (clear)

  1. Already Happening by gagravarr · · Score: 5, Informative
    I ordered some CDs from amazon.com a few weeks back. Two days ago I received a notice that I needed to go to my local postal depot to pay a customs charge before I could collect my package

    So, I found a map, located the depot, and trapsed over there. I handed over my card, and the guy said "So, you've been buying from Amazon have you? They're cracking down on all internet purchases you know?". I had to pay the VAT (sales tax) on my CDs bought in the states before I could collect them.

    Apparently, almost all internet based purchases from major US sites are now already attacting VAT charges in the UK. I know a friend who bought from Think Geek got stung a few weeks before for the VAT on his purchase.

    --
    This post will enter the public domain 70 years after my death, unless Disney buys another extension.
  2. Re:Method of Enforcement? by Alan+Cox · · Score: 3, Informative

    The last version of the proposal I saw (which is a while back now) set a minimal ceiling below which they didn't consider the hassle of collecting the tax justified nor the practicality of forcing small businesses to collect it.

    Within the EU there are similar VAT floors below which VAT is optional (there are cases that it makes sense to charge it when doing business to business work).

    This also leads to such fun as people who run two companies, a VAT registered one that paints buildings for businesses (who can claim it back) and a non VAT one that does smaller amounts of business keeps below the VAT limit and paints houses for individuals (who cant)

  3. FYI: UK joined the EU in 1973 by MS · · Score: 3, Informative
    When did the UK join the EU?

    Steps towards UK membership (from the EC-UK website):
    • 1961 Four years after the Treaty of Rome had been signed by the original six members, the United Kingdom applied to join. Ireland and Denmark also submitted applications, followed in 1962 by Norway.
    • 1963 Negotiations went on until 1963 when President de Gaulle of France vetoed the United Kingdom application. This caused negotiations with all the applicants to be stopped.
    • 1967 The four countries applied again but the French refused to allow negotiations.
    • 1973 Following further successful negotiations the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark joined the Community on 1 January. Norway did not join because a majority of its people voted against it in a referendum.
    • 1975 In 1975 a referendum was held in the United Kingdom which confirmed the membership.