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

97 points throw_1VJ51pMb | 1 comments | 08 Mar 25 08:57 UTC | HN request time: 0.232s | 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)

1. gamblor956 ◴[12 Mar 25 18:38 UTC] No.43346350[source]▶
I lead an internal tax department at a publicly traded company.

We do sales tax, VAT, and other indirect taxes in-house. At our scale, external providers are too expensive.

At my last job, we handled worldwide VAT and GST compliance in-house, and left sales compliance tax to Avalara. Most countries insist that you begin to file as soon as you have any sales to their country. As a practical matter, you don't need to register unless (a) you're doing at least $1000 in taxable sales quarterly or (b) the tax authority reaches out to you and tells you that you need to register.

VAT and GST compliance is very straightforward in most countries: it's a 1 screen form. Payment is also easy, but can be pricey: wire transfers. Best to have your accountant do them, but if he's terrified of the VATMOSS, you need a new accountant. The VATMOSS is an extremely simple form (and the VATOSS, for larger companies, isn't much more complex).

Sales tax compliance is hard, because the U.S. has over 10000 different sales tax districts and more than a hundred sales tax jurisdictions (but you probably won't have to file in most of them). Avalara is a bit pricey for the returns ($50/each) so you may want to do those in-house or have your accountant do them.

NOTE: I DO NOT RECOMMEND AVALARA. They were purchased by a PE company and the quality of service plummeted off a cliff even as prices tripled. Use literally any of their competitors instead.