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)
I know that sounds glib but I firmly believe that the rise of “merchant of record” startups like Paddle with large outbound sales teams has scared the bejeezus out of a whole generation of founders.
This is highly dangerous. Like you made 500k in sales you are still liable for those 100k taxes it doesnt matter if you didnt get it from your customers. In EU this is pretty automated check - if you sell to any bussiness they will have to have it in their tax return.
I do not give a single fuck that some foreign jurisdiction decided to pass some law that insists I collect and remit money on their behalf, just because one of their citizens decided to come to my server, in my country, and give me money. If the EU doesn't want its citizens coming to my website and buying things, they can take it up with their citizens. Or they can block my website, or come up with some kind of trade agreement with my country to enforce it. Until then, it has fuck all to do with me, despite your protestations to the contrary.
I'm going to continue ignoring random laws from random countries that have no enforceable jurisdiction over me, and it's incredibly wishful thinking to imagine anyone will (or even can) do anything about it.
Its not the visit thats the issue but by accepting their cards you actively get into contract with them. You are doing business in that country. As a bussines owner i am sure you know that.
You do you but it would be quite sily defense. Playing dumb claiming its the peoples fault instead of changing that supported countries list in Stripe.
What I'm saying might be a silly defense to you or an EU attorney, but again, I don’t need to care unless you have some way of enforcing your inane ideas that declaring jurisdiction over me makes it so.