European VAT & digital goods - vat moss

[dotbloup]

I have asked a french attorney to tell me what was the VAT law for an Italian company that would sell Ebooks to French citizens through the Internet.

She told me that up to 35000 euros there is no VAT to charge. Then, if on a particular day, i sell more than 35000 euros (Tax excluded) of goods then, i had to pay for VAT. She told me that i had to pay for the following years from 1 euros of sells to France, if i exceeded the threshold on a particular year. For those who don't know the EU vat system, there is a VAT threshold for every country.

Consequently, in the VAT moss of Italy, i would not pay the French VAT if i don't reach the 35000 euros of sales to France.

It would have been the same if the Ebooks came from Cyprus, any EU member or any country in the world.

The threshold in the UK is 70000 GBP. so i would have to sell at least 70000 GBP to pay VAT to UK through VAT moss and the following years.

reference:

VAT registration thresholds - GOV.UK
Distance Sales in EU
Code général des impôts - Article 258 B | Legifrance

 

[JohnLocke]

It would have been the same if the Ebooks came from Cyprus, any EU member or any country in the world.

Yes second that. It is widely misunderstood that people have to charge VAT not matter what if they do business within a EU company i.e. Cyprus, UK etc.

There can be an advantage to register the company for VAT if you trade a lot and high amounts with other EU companies so you can claim the VAT at your tax office and don't have to pay it.

 

[negon]

If you are doing things right you don't need to charge VAT. You can simply register a offshore company and use some of the common e-currency payment processors to avoid to charge VAT!

 

[dotbloup]

If you are doing things right you don't need to charge VAT. You can simply register a offshore company and use some of the common e-currency payment processors to avoid to charge VAT!

It looks like it works like this with Google play when you sell apps on your google play store. Google gathers and remit the VAT for you !
So, you just need an invoice without VAT for the Google payout.

The examples look complicated at first sight but in fact, it is not complicated after you read it slowly.
Tax rates & value-added tax (VAT) - Developer Console Help

 

[ivoo]

Your attorney is wrong. Her answer would be correct if you were selling tangible products, but you´re selling digital products. In this case you have to comply with European rules on the sale of digital products no matter where your company is based.

Have a look at this post for more info: What You Must Know About VAT If You Have Customers In Europe - Inside Quaderno

 

[myoffshoreliving]

Your attorney is wrong. Her answer would be correct if you were selling tangible products, but you´re selling digital products. In this case you have to comply with European rules on the sale of digital products no matter where your company is based.

Have a look at this post for more info: What You Must Know About VAT If You Have Customers In Europe - Inside Quaderno

This is for 2015 much has changed since ever then!!

 

[suzy]

There is no authority or government body that is actually doing any checksup on this!