Stripe Tax • Hacker News Board

Re: Stripe Tax

#281

Post by edwinwee » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 6:39 PM UTC

vvoyer wrote: post #191

GordonS wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I saw this announcement, I had fully expected these new features to be included as standard - I was a bit surprised when I saw they were charging for them. That said, I think the pricing is well worth it if you're selling B2C. EU VAT is complicated, and I presume state-level sales tax in the US is too. If you're selling B2B in the EU however, then all you really need to do it collect and validate VAT registratio…

Hey there, I believe validating VAT numbers is outside of the Stripe tax pricing and part of the Customer Tax IDs API, without any extra charge. Maybe someone from Stripe can confirm? https://stripe.com/docs/billing/customer/tax-ids And yes, if you sell only to B2B Europe and everyone inputs their VAT number you're fine (because you actually don't have to charge VAT, it's a reverse charge). Stripe tax do know this no…

Yep, that's correct! Tax ID validation is included with Checkout (outside of Stripe Tax pricing).

Re: Stripe Tax

#282

Post by pier25 » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 6:47 PM UTC

evangow wrote: post #245

I'm not seeing anything here about generating VAT-compliant invoices here or in the documentation. Different countries have different requirements for what must be included on the invoice and specific language to use (e.g. how a reverse-charge is supposed to be worded). There's a great overview on this here: https://github.com/wbond/vat_moss-python/blob/master/overvie...

I was wondering this too.

Different countries have different invoicing requirements.

This may not be obvious for people from the US since invoicing there is super easy.

Re: Stripe Tax

#283

Post by codehawke » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 6:49 PM UTC

It's quite obvious both PayPal and Stripe need to account for these terribly burdensome tax laws going into effect next month. The thresholds for most companies (UK excluded) was previously enough for most international sellers to not have to worry about filing for a VAT in multiple foreign countries. However, now they are making it even more burdensome by removing these thresholds entirely. No USA businesses selling small amounts of good are going to deal with that burden. If PayPal and Stripe can't deliver, that VAT ain't being paid by the majority of online shops. This is a case of them trying to go after the big guys and screwing the small. Good job on Stripe. PayPal needs to do the same. https://www.avalara.com/vatlive/en/vat-news/eu-2021-one-stop...

Re: Stripe Tax

#284

Post by rriepe » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 6:50 PM UTC

jjeaff wrote: post #224

rriepe wrote: post #207

Taxes are bad. Governments absorb wealth. They don't create wealth. No government has ever created wealth.

Governments don't save, they spend everything they earn and then some. Where exactly do you think all the tax money is going?

Governments save all the time in various ways but that's not what I'm talking about when I say "absorb": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Pension_Fund_of_Nor...

What they never do is "earn." You wouldn't use that verb for money I took under threat of force or imprisonment, right? So why would you use it here? Try "steal," "rob," or, if you're feeling particularly generous, "take."

As for where it's going: Into a hole in the ground? My argument is that governments are inherently inefficient, not that governments shouldn't exist.

Government is emergent. It has to exist. If you see someone having the "Should government exist?" debate they're probably an anarchist in high school. Or an HNer, I guess. It's not a serious intellectual discussion topic. Drop 10 people off on a deserted island and they'll have a government 30 minutes later. There's no "no government."

Re: Stripe Tax

#285

Post by ploffmaxys » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 6:51 PM UTC

tzs wrote: post #273

xxpor wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does Congress have that power? I suppose you could argue they're interstate commerce regulations, but idk if that'd fly. Edit: Obvious SD v Wayfair is relevant here, https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/17-494_j4el.pdf It's too complex to even take a stab at guessing what they'd say based on that though. Also, I'd forgotten what a wild lineup the votes were. GINSBURG, ALITO, and GORSUCH, JJ., joined. THOMAS, J…

It's kind of hinted at somewhere in Wayfair that this is really kind of about the defaults when Congress declines to speak. Congress has extremely broad powers to regulate interstate commerce which would let them decide if and how states can make sellers in other states collect for them. So far, Congress has declined to weigh in, and so we get the default. For some things the default is that states cannot do them unl…

Sorry Ot and won't sound offensive, but i am reading each 'commerce' interpreted with 'ads' -so my two cents... (-;

comic #646 are you in a partisan state ?: > //abload.de/img/646_en_areyouinapartisxjts.png

Re: Stripe Tax

#286

Post by ludamad » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 6:59 PM UTC

spiralganglion wrote: post #195

nickpp wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I heard that (couldn't test it myself). The integration for Avangate for example was a proof-of-concept PHP file and a couple of docs explaining the CGI parameters. Not great but not that horrible either. But were those so incredible that it made up for the missing features? I mean if it was me I wouldn't implement the sales tax myself in a million years, no matter how nice the experience and integration was...

Stripe came up in an era when nobody in the US worried about taxes, generally speaking. That's changing now.

Any good references on this? Curious

Re: Stripe Tax

#287

Post by codehawke » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 7:00 PM UTC

bsimpson wrote: post #274

xxpor wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does Congress have that power? I suppose you could argue they're interstate commerce regulations, but idk if that'd fly. Edit: Obvious SD v Wayfair is relevant here, https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/17-494_j4el.pdf It's too complex to even take a stab at guessing what they'd say based on that though. Also, I'd forgotten what a wild lineup the votes were. GINSBURG, ALITO, and GORSUCH, JJ., joined. THOMAS, J…

TIL states can now force out-of-state companies to collect and remit taxes.

Yeah, it sucks. However, not all goods, not all states even have an existence of a nexus. Virginia specifically exempts sales taxes of digital products delivered electronically, such as software, downloaded music, ringtones, and reading materials.

The basic rule for collecting sales tax from online sales is: If your business has a physical presence, or “nexus”, in a state, you must collect applicable sales taxes from online customers in that state. If you do not have a physical presence, you generally do not have to collect sales tax for online sales. In the court ruling that allowed this, it was determined that Wayfair did have a nexus in those states. Not all businesses operate that way and there are a lot of gray areas.

Re: Stripe Tax

#288

Post by Sebguer » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 7:04 PM UTC

ludamad wrote: post #286

spiralganglion wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stripe came up in an era when nobody in the US worried about taxes, generally speaking. That's changing now.

Any good references on this? Curious

Specifically on the SaaS front, taxability has been murky and there's not a single standard across the US: https://blog.taxjar.com/saas-sales-tax/

Re: Stripe Tax

#289

Post by velcrovan » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 7:09 PM UTC

KingMachiavelli wrote: post #205

tzs wrote: post #144

Note that if you are just interested in US sales taxes, and only need to collect tax in the ~1/2 of the states that are part of the Streamlines Sales Tax (SST) project, you can have your tax rate calculation, registration, reporting, and filing all done for free . The member states of SST have agreed to pay for those services from several tax SaaS companies. (There is one catch: to avail yourself of this, you must co…

Interesting. Why is CO not participating? Looks like every other state is involved to some extent.

Because Colorado has the most garbage sales tax regime in probably the world.

Re: Stripe Tax

#290

Post by Naga » Thu, Jun 10, 2021, 7:14 PM UTC

franciscop wrote: post #160

eloisant wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Let me tell you I know why you don't see an "Amazon of Japan", apparently in here I'd have to calculate the sales taxes for every country where my products are sold through agreements of Japan-{said country}. Some countries don't even have agreements like Brazil so they are in a gray area. AFAIK this is true for any other country, not just Japan. If you're in US, and you want to sell and ship products outside of US…

Apparently it's either not a requirement or not so strongly enforced in the US and EU as it is in Japan, or that was my understanding from the conversation. Update: searching a bit and reading about the EU sales taxes, there are few rules but overall it's pretty clear you either don't pay or pay local sales taxes even for international sales for low-volume B2C sales (sorry it's Spanish): https://www.carrilloasesores.…

In Canada, it is a requirement to self-assess GST on purchases you make online. When you buy something online, you're supposed to fill out a form and mail a cheque to the government for the GST you should have paid on it. That being said, this is completely unenforced as well as unenforceable. Also, if you ask basically anyone in Canada they probably would have no idea this was a rule, but the rules are the rules.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publi...