41–50 of 69 posts
Patreon is the U.S. and not subject to European laws. Patreon is also really just a distributor of money, they don't provide the person with a service. Why is a person with a web design business looking to use a site used to help artists who have trouble connecting art and normal business income? Finally she tweeted about how many people saw that blog post and said she should have included a tip jar. It really seems…
Patreon is the U.S. and not subject to European laws. Patreon is also really just a distributor of money, they don't provide the person with a service. Why is a person with a web design business looking to use a site used to help artists who have trouble connecting art and normal business income? Finally she tweeted about how many people saw that blog post and said she should have included a tip jar. It really seems…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Simply keep abreast of all tax laws and jurisdictions on planet Earth and pay accordingly. It couldn't be simpler..."
It truly is complicated. If only there were some kind of service, to whom one would pay a service fee perhaps, and who in return could promote your work, then collect and aggregate small, recurring payments from international payers while properly computing the tax liability. Some kind of intermediary which enabled people to patronize artists, such that millions of artists around the world can simply pick up a check…
Incidentally, the Google Play store does not do this. Each developer is the merchant of record. I can only imagine that nearly every smaller business selling through Google has neglected to pay at least some sales taxes that they owe.
Patreon is the U.S. and not subject to European laws. Patreon is also really just a distributor of money, they don't provide the person with a service. Why is a person with a web design business looking to use a site used to help artists who have trouble connecting art and normal business income? Finally she tweeted about how many people saw that blog post and said she should have included a tip jar. It really seems…
What makes you think this is true?
Why can't Americans play poker online? Why does Amazon have to collect state taxes for states they don't have a physical presence in? Google is forced to censor French and German search results. Facebook is forced to follow EU privacy laws. And on, and on. Having customers in a country means you're doing business in that country in this modern world.
IANAL. But you may want to check with one.
I thought patreon was a donation based service, as in "I give you money so you can continue to create" rather than "I give you money in exchange of services or goods". Is patreon one of them or both, and how do I know when looking at someones patreon page?
Even their own tax page (linked to below) says that donations are considered earned income. HMRC does not care where it comes from or what it's called. It's income.
Good question actually. What's Paypal doing about VAT?
"Aside from the hideous administrative burden Patreon has now forced onto their European users..." Hyperbolic much? Way to blame Patreon for the arduous EU tax policy.
It may be a bit of hyperbole, but they are basically abandoning their EU users. It's a lot more arduous for individual content creators to track down and store VAT information for hundreds of $5 purchases than it is for the marketplace enabling those purchases to do so. Why not just cut-off EU users?
I say "arguably" because of course I've no idea how that borderline-crazy rule is supposed to be enforced. (And I may be misunderstanding it too.)
I'm based in the EU (in London) and I recently registered my business for VAT because of this regulation. Now I get to raise an eyebrow, metaphorical or literal, every time I account for a digital purchase I make from a US company and mark it down as "zero-rated" for VAT. It's not zero-rated as far as my government is concerned; the seller just didn't bother to charge the VAT and as the buyer it's not my problem.
(Edit: I hope.)
(Further edit: Thinking about it again, if a Patreon patron really doesn't receive a digital good in return, surely they don't have a case to answer after all?)
If you're using Stripe or Paypal, you can use Quaderno ( https://quaderno.io ). We're #VATMOSS complaint and help you to calculate VAT rates and track all the customer location evidences. Let me know if you have any questions.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It truly is complicated. If only there were some kind of service, to whom one would pay a service fee perhaps, and who in return could promote your work, then collect and aggregate small, recurring payments from international payers while properly computing the tax liability. Some kind of intermediary which enabled people to patronize artists, such that millions of artists around the world can simply pick up a check…
Heh. Seriously, this is (at least for me, and presumably for every other tiny indie developer) one of the huge attractions of storefronts like Steam and the iOS App Store: I'll just give you a license to sell my works, and you send me the royalties. I'll gladly give them a 30% cut to avoid all that bullshit. Incidentally, the Google Play store does not do this. Each developer is the merchant of record. I can only ima…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even their own tax page (linked to below) says that donations are considered earned income. HMRC does not care where it comes from or what it's called. It's income.
I agree it's income, but it's also a tip. Like if I sent $5 to your Paypal account directly. You need to declare that, but does Paypal care whether I owed you $5 or it's income? Good question actually. What's Paypal doing about VAT?
(HMRC answered the same question that way in an online chat - lost the link to the transcript, but it's out there.)