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Ask HN: How do you handle VAT / Sales Tax accounting as B2C SaaS?

97 points throw_1VJ51pMb | 2 comments | 08 Mar 25 08:57 UTC | HN request time: 0.419s | source

Hey! I run a B2C SaaS and I use Stripe for all of my sales (subscriptions).

I am looking to learn how others handle their VAT / Sales Tax filing.

I know that the standard answer would be to use Paddle / LemonSqueezy / Polar.sh, but I already have a lot of subscribers on Stripe which makes quick migration non-trivial.

I am especially looking for some reliable accounting companies / accountants that can register and file Sales Tax across US, UK, Canada, Australia, etc. (It does not have to be a global solution).

It's my understanding that solutions like Stripe Tax, Alavara, Quaderno, etc. only help collect the necessary data (which I consider the easier part, at least for digital goods), but do not handle the registration & filing (though I've learned that Quaderno will support filing Sales Tax in the US on your behalf soon).

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Some jurisdictions are relatively easy to handle (for example, one can handle whole EU by uploading a simple CSV [1] once a quarter and the CSV is easy to generate from Stripe's records).

But unfortunately there are tons of others that are much more complicated and scattered -- for example, due to the economic nexus laws in the US, I now have to file Sales Tax in each individual state where I am over the threshold (and many states have thresholds in low hundreds of transactions, so it's not hard to reach).

[1]: https://www.elster.de/bportal/helpGlobal?themaGlobal=osseust_import

[2]: If you do not feel comfortable commenting here, you can also reach out at z2qmk@pekoi.com (temporary email)

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papaver-somnamb ◴[12 Mar 25 00:22 UTC] No.43338636[source]▶
At risk of high-jacking this thread, some Merchants of Record (i.e. Paddle) require biometric authentication of company majority owners, which I find too invasive. Are there any Merchants of Record that don't?

Sure, they handle taxation amongst many other conveniences. But despite their assertions of security and safety, we identified dumps for sale on the darknet of such biometric DB data exfiltrated from (continuing the Paddle example) Onfido. It left a sour note in our mouths and a lingering feeling of distrust, especially after we were recently the target of a spearfishing campaign using data obviously sourced from such auth providers.

replies(1): >>43338791 #
1. snide ◴[12 Mar 25 00:44 UTC] No.43338791[source]▶
I don't remember seeing anything like this with Lemon Squeezy.
replies(1): >>43340971 #
2. omnimus ◴[12 Mar 25 08:30 UTC] No.43340971[source]▶
Because they were (are) small and dont have to care now.