Tax holiday expiring, regulators move in.

It was fun while it lasted....

[georgeek]

Interesting and depressing :( article by an academic lawyer on government regulation of the Internet here [thestar.com]

[dmorison]

My problem with all this is not so much the situation now; it's the situation when other countries / economic unions implement a similar sales tax levy on foreign companies.

As an advance measure, I now collect the following information for _EVERY_ customer: (by the way I am a UK business)

- Country (was collecting that anyway)

- Is your business or organisation registered to collect VAT (Sales Tax)?

- If Yes, what is your VAT (Sales Tax) registration number?

That is the information that a non-EU company would need now in order to deal with the new EU legislation.

So, for example, in 2 years time, when Australia decides that non-Australian companies must charge VAT on e-services provided to their citizens, i'm ready - at least with the information on my customers if not how I actually go about submitting a return to Australia.

Ditto any other country at any other point in the future that decides to do the same thing.