EU VAT Mechanics
Discussions clarify how VAT works in the EU, including who pays it (consumers vs. businesses), deductions for businesses, comparisons to sales tax, and challenges for international and online sales.
Activity Over Time
Top Contributors
Keywords
Sample Comments
Apple is not paying VAT, it's collecting it. VAT is explicitely paid by the end user...
You forget that european VAT is cancelled with businesses upstream, that is, you can deduct the VAT charged to consumers with the VAT of your purchases so you only owe the net amount. Also there is no unified european tax rate, there are some tax havens inside the EU.
Maybe because they would need to pay VAT?
Wouldn't somebody somewhere in this kind of transaction have to pay the VAT, thus rendering this impossible?
Yes, the tax is the VAT, which is designed to be only paid by customers. It's roughly analogous to a sales tax in the US
Consumers pay VAT, not business.Similar to the sales tax in the US/Canada
All of Europe (or at least the EU) has VAT.
VAT should be added for EU. This would make importing less of a headache.
I was thinking of sales tax / VAT.
Wouldn't this be a business-to-business deal and hence no VAT is applied?