Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Here is the new list Australia, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland, and the UK
They are saying also that we can try the system but also say that in the end it will be compulsory.
I was just wondering what anyone thinks about this, is it a good thing or is it just another way of cutting out earnings.
Any thoughts? Thank you.
Lexur says that we will need to be paying the VAT (is that right?) & swa66 says nothing will change
My understanding from a long and involved telephone conversation with the UK VAT office in 2006 is that for a UK-registered B2B business, sales to other UK businesses must include standard VAT (currently 15%); sales to EU businesses (non-UK) are zero-rated and sales to businesses outside the EU are out-of-scope.
If I understand correctly, this means that for UK-registered businesses no VAT is to be paid to Google Inc. (USA) because it's out of scope and no VAT is to be paid to Google Ireland because it's zero-rated.
Different category, same result.
Further, if I understand correctly, if your business is registered in any EU member state which isn't Ireland, sales to Google Ireland are zero-rated.
If your business is registered in Ireland, that's when you need to include VAT in your invoicing to Google Ireland.
I'm open to correction on any of the above points - they are merely a clarification of how I understand things at present.
Again, just my understanding - please feel free to correct me!
I checked my 'Payment history' and see a balance of £0.00 and a remaining US balance of $xyz.
When I click 'Show prior US Dollar earnings/payments' I then see the message:
'Any remaining US Dollar balance will be automatically transferred to your British Pound Sterling balance between the 12th and 15th day of the month. In the future, you'll be paid according to your British Pound Sterling balance.'
As it has passed the 15th day of the month and the USD amount has not been transferred to the GBP balance does this mean I will not be getting paid this month?
Apparently no cause for concern.
Whereas it would be much more troublesome to bring non-EU entities into the VAT fold - i.e. there would be a much greater lobby against.
Actually the EU is moving in the direction of getting more services onto the zero rate (all, not just an handful of exceptions), and the goods have been zero rated for a long time already.
Anyway for anybody who has a VAT number this hardly means anything anyway. If you're forced to collect VAT on behalf of your government, you need to give it to said government, it's always a null-operation in the end for the company involved.
The only tricky bit is when you paid foreign VAT and you need to get that back, it's a big hassle and that's what the EU is removing.
It's the consumer in the end who pays VAT, for businesses it's just an overly complex method of collecting it along the way.
This thread has more paranoia than I've seen for a long time.
I don't live in Ireland, I don't live in the UK, I don't live in EU
BUT I can promise one thing.
The sky will not fall in. Lighten up, your worst fears will never be realised.
For small publishers becoming VAT registered isn't always all that trivial, but taking that out on Google, the EU or anybody else is aside of the point: talk to the government you help elect every so often and get them to make it easier.
And then there's the big one: unlike the IRS in the US who can "own" you if you cheat, most Europeans will not have such a threat over their head if they get caught cheating on taxes. Creating an opportunity for those who like to take some risk.
Not declaring one's income from adsense means not paying taxes on it, easy. One just needs to be careful not to flash the money where the local taxman can see it.
Once Google isn't that US company -read: far out of reach of you local taxman- anymore but is a legal entity inside the EU doing the proper paperwork, things might change there and one might get caught not paying taxes on their income.
Thanks for the link, however I found the following paragraph on the Inside Adsense blog at [adsense.blogspot.com...]
Will there be a delay in receiving my unpaid earnings once I make this change?
No, making this change will not affect the timing of your payments. After you switch to Euro reports, your unpaid earnings in U.S. Dollars will be converted to Euros before the next upcoming payment selection deadline (typically the 15th of each month). For instance, if you make this switch on June 3rd, your unpaid earnings will be converted by June 15th; if you make this switch on June 20th, your unpaid earnings will be converted by July 15th.
That answer totally contradicts itself, ie it says there will be no delay, but then it says if you make the switch later in the month your earnings will be converted NEXT month.
My new terms to accept (USD>GBP) don't mention it and my localised terms also do not mention it.
I am dubious about proceeding until I'm clear on this (although I realise it will eventually be forced on me whatever!).
Thanks :)
However, the mention of the reverse charge mechanism seems only to serve to complicate the issue, so instead, and as swa66 stated, focus on the fact you are selling goods to a VAT registered company in another EU country. Google states in the terms that they "will only issue VAT refunds to publishers with an address in Ireland", meaning your earnings exclude VAT. You do not have to pay any VAT, but if you are VAT registered, these earnings (sales) must be entered on your VAT return form. As explained on HMRC's site:
If you're sending goods to someone who is genuinely registered for VAT in the destination EU country, you can zero-rate the supply for VAT purposes ...
You can read the full article at [hmrc.gov.uk...]
