EU VAT taking effect on Jan 1, 2015

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periwinkleimp's avatar
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Copy pasta from: Read this!

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EDIT: Confused as hell about all this? Don't understand big scary business words and laws and shit? (Don't worry, me neither) READ THIS. It's the best way to explain EXACTLY what is going on right now if you don't understand business. If you sell certain types of art online this concerns YOU (nomatter where you live). Even if the art you sell through a marketplace is only worth $1 and it ends up being bought by someone in the EU.
hannahkate.net/hannahs-bananas…

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It -seriously- concerns me why very few people on DA are not freaking out about the new EU VAT law that is starting on Jan 1st. I'm an artist, not particularly biz minded but I do make my living from selling my art as a freelancer/sole trader of creative services and goods. Many of you here will do so too. Some of you sell prints through DA. Some of you sell PSD templates. Stock. Photography liscences. Brushes. Textures. Webcomics on your websites or through platforms. Website advertising. Craft patterns. Digital goods. (not that it matters because its rolling out to physical goods in 2017).

What is VATMOSS? Only the biggest scariest headache of your life if you plan on getting funding for your art online now. This isn't something that is 'maybe' happening. This is something THAT IS HAPPENING FROM 1st JANUARY.Please read about the noise on Twitter and find out how it will effect you directly as a buyer and seller. twitter.com/search?q=%23EUVAT&…

Also, this is a worldwide problem and completely broken for everyone involved except the hugest platforms like Amazon and iTunes. These VAT changes were brought in so they could be taxed fairly but instead its going to kill off all little solo creative guys like us and drive us to only sell through them. Can you afford to register for VAT in every EU country you sell to (can you even speak their language)? Can you deal with the legal paperwork and hire an accountant 4 times a year? Just for accidentally selling a single MP3 to someone from Italy who honestly didn't know about this? Did you know that blocking EU sales to your items may be against anti-discrimination laws? Did you know we may have to register as official data controllers or break the information protection act? Did you know that the government is saying that we shouldn't worry because our selling platforms like Etsy / Patreon /Folksy /Bandcamp etc are the ones who are supposed to sort this for us - BUT THEY ARE REFUSING (or just taking their time to communicate with their users on their stance). Bandcamp is now going to cause you massive legal probs if you sell your music to someone in the EU. Even if it's like only $1. The mess is in your hands as a small creative.

Don't want to scare anyone here but this is scary and will kill off  lots of our plans as artists - especially web comics and automated digital sales like MP3's and art websites selling stock/patterns/ etc.

Please get involved with educating yourself about VATMOSS / EUVAT / VATMESS because all of us are going to end up in trouble with the law or have to pay much higher prices from now on. This effects indi computer games too and phone apps. So much stuff the law is screwing and trying to sweep under the rug. Like we don't exist or don't matter.

Post all resources in here that you find to help eachother. This will effect DA's prints to the EU in 2017 if this isn't stopped. (Unless DA handle profit VAT reporting/data storage for users?)

It would really help if someone way more legal/detail savvy would write in depth about this on DA and make a sitewide news warning article about it URGENTLY because I don't want any poor artist ending up being deemed a criminal for not complying with a quiet law they knew nothing about :( (Sad)

Here is a GREAT FB support group for micro biz: www.facebook.com/groups/Digita…
Here's the petition that everyone should sign:
www.change.org/p/pierre-moscov…

One thing i'll mention is that if you do digital custom art commissions that you specifically do for one person and you email it to them manually (or just to be safe also mail a copy on CD) you will be safe from this (... i think?). This counts as 'human intervention' and non automated sales. (BUT PLEASE CHECK WITH YOUR LEGAL ADVISOR/HMRC) (I am not offering legal advice here) Physical art is ok (for a year) but auto downloads are not. This also goes for things like if you make marketplace sales worldwide on places like IMVU or SecondLife. We are all waiting to hear their plans roll out to save our asses. Until then, please be safe, tell all your friends to research how EUVAT will effect them as a buyer and seller of online items. 2015 is going to be a very bad year for online creatives if nothing can be changed. We need a micro business min VAT threshold re-instated. EUVAT makes it 0% so it catches EVERYONE. It's bad. Get talking.


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More on Tumblr! nonaptime.tumblr.com/post/1067…
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I5Spiders's avatar
I signed the petition a few weeks ago. This is pretty terrible and I also hope it doesn't stick.