eu vat action Archives

Important EU VAT Update: What Happens To VATMOSS & The New Thresholds After Brexit?

Remember the €10k threshold and sub-€100k simplifications we negotiated, which come into effect on 1st January 2019? Well, we’ve had confirmation from the EU Commission that UK microbusinesses will get to keep them for a whole 88 days. Here’s what will happen to VATMOSS and the new thresholds after Brexit.

This video is a really important update from the EU VAT Action Campaign team – one I had hoped I would never have to record.

Please spend a few minutes watching it and then follow the guidelines below this video to write to your MP. Please share this post far and wide in any microbusiness groups you’re part of.

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Guidelines For Writing To Your MP:

For the letter to your MP, please ask them to ensure we keep the current €10k threshold, the sub-€100k simplifications and the VATMOSS system during the transitional period, with a view to finding a permanent, workable solution.

The 3 Ps: please keep your letter:

Polite – even if they think Brexit is a fab idea, they have to help you and are more likely to do so if you keep it polite.
To the Point – one side of A4.
Personal – telling them how this affects you, your business and your family.

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Join Us On Facebook

EU VAT Action Campaign Group

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Please Help Spread The Word:

Thank you!

x Clare

Author of Dare To Dream Bigger | Mentor to Passionate World Changers

Proof That Passionate World-Changer CAN Achieve The Impossible: Outcome Of EU Vote On EUVAT Thresholds

Create, Take Inspired Action

Three years ago this week a small group of businesswomen met for the first time, having only previously chatted on social media. They were surrounded by some of the most senior people in the UK’s Treasury and HMRC and a government minister, who told them nothing could be done about the EU VAT law change that had accidentally closed down thousands of micro businesses.

Those women gave them hell over a change to EU VAT laws that all 28 Member State governments had voted in, which risked putting millions of microbusinesses out of business – or forcing them to trade illegally.

The law was a good idea – to make you pay VAT on digital stuff (think eBooks / MP3s / software downloads) based on where the CUSTOMER was, not the selling business. It was intended to stop the likes of Apple and Amazon avoiding tax by locating in low-VAT countries.

BUT We Needed EU VAT Thresholds

The sledgehammer that cracked the nut didn’t realise that most online businesses:

Are tiny, compared to Amazon, so don’t have an international tax team
Automatically sell internationally, because that’s how the internet works
Don’t have access to the data to prove where our customers are in the way the laws required, so we could’t comply with the new rules

Over the following two years, the volunteers who supported the EU VAT Action Campaign:

proved the disastrous unintended consequences of these laws with a 2000-business quantitative study
met with the UK government, including the UK Prime Minister and the most senior policy advisers at Downing Street
evidenced the need for EU VAT thresholds and proved to the finance ministries that they wouldn’t lose out by agreeing to them
got consultative status with the UK’s HMRC, HM Treasury and the European Commission, so we could represent the thousands of businesses who desperately needed their help
represented those businesses at the 2015 Fiscalis event, with representatives of all 28 Member States’ Finance Ministries – which was pivotal in proving the need for thresholds and convincing Finance Ministers to consider them
raised the profile of the problem with savvy social media campaigns, including a Twitter storm that got #EUVAT trending
got thousands of micro businesses taking positive action – writing to their MEPs, visiting their MPs, getting the word out there to create an unignorable case for the need for change
giving keynote speeches at the European Parliament, to motivate MEPs, the European Commission and business organisations to take action

I am honoured to have been a co-founder of that group, to have given those keynotes and to have spoken at the Fiscalis event. I am immensely grateful to the thousands of businesses who supported us over the past three years.

On 1st December last year, Pierre Moscovici announced proposals for EU VAT thresholds. This was a HUGE achievement from EVERYONE , but the proposals had to spend a year going through Tax Committee meetings, being debated and looked at from every angle. They could have been derailed at any point. Ironically, the work we did meant that there was no way to rush these changes through. The EU Commission took the impact assessment very seriously.

Over the summer, 26 of the 28 Member States had agreed to a €10k EU VAT threshold (for non-domestic digital B2C sales), below which domestic VAT rules would apply, and €100k EU VAT threshold below which simplifications to the rules would apply, allowing growing businesses to keep trading. We continued to work with the EU Commission and key Member States to help address the remaining objections.

And today was the Big Day – ECOFIN – the meeting of all 28 Finance Ministers – had to vote on the legislative changes. Here is what happened:

The new EU VAT thresholds won’t come into effect until 1st January 2019, so we are urging micro business owners to write to their tax authority and Finance Minister to ask what can be done to help them keep trading until they legally become exempt from these rules.

Thank you so much to everyone who helped us with this campaign. Over and over we have been told that the reason it succeeded is because it was positive, evidence-based and proactive, rather than looking to blame or sling mud. We couldn’t have done it without your support.

If you’re covering this news and want to interview me for comments, you can reach me here.

And if you’ve got questions, we’re continuing the discussion in our Facebook group: EU VAT Action Campaign Group.

Thank you!

P.S. Know anyone who was stressed about these rules? Are you part of any small business groups? Please share this update with them!

What Will Happen With EU Digital VAT If The UK Leaves The EU? [DTDB018]

Dare To Dream Bigger: Practical Inspiration For Passionate World Changers

What Will Happen With EU Digital VAT If The UK Leaves The EU? [DTDB018]

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We’re being asked daily what will happen with the EU Digital VAT / VATMOSS rules, if Britain votes to leave the EU on 23rd June.

We have worked hard to keep the EU VAT Action Campaign campaign true to its roots – being about micro businesses – and staying out of politics, but it’s a crazy bun-fight out there and we need to dispel some of the myths. So here’s a summary of what you need to know, as you decide how to vote in the EU referendum, when it comes to EUVAT.

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Reminder: What Are We Asking For?

The EU Commission has promised to propose legislation in the next few months, to bring in a threshold, but this could still take years to debate.

So in the meantime, we are asking Finance Ministers to bring digital sales under the existing Distance Selling Thresholds for physical goods, as an interim measure. Surely it’s a no-brainer?

The data from the public consultation the Commission ran in December has been published this month and our initial review of it shows that the biggest problem still faced by micro businesses is correctly establishing where their customer is based. 18 months into the legislation and there is still no tech magic wand – and we don’t expect to find one any time soon. That is why we need the thresholds for those for whom the cost of collecting this data would be disproportionate.

Thank you so much for your on-going support. Once the referendum is over, we can all make progress again! And if you want to be involved in the solution to the EUVAT problem, please come and join us over at our super-friendly Facebook group: EU VAT Action.

And if you have comments, questions, or more myths that need dispelling, please let me know, via the comments.

Clare

Clare Josa, Co-Founder Of EU VAT Action