Does everyone know about EU VAT rules? And if you run a business do you obey the rules rigorously, even if outside the EU?

For example if you are a US-based company and sell goods/services to a customer in the EU do you add the correct VAT rate for your customer's country and then send that amount to the tax people in that country? 

Obviously it's just a protection racket by the EU to pump up the prices of imports. But I'm surprised no one seems to care, either because of the effect it has on sales or because of the paperwork burden.

Or maybe non-EU companies don't bother selling to the EU, just like many non-EU websites are no longer accessible from the EU. 

I'm not sure, but I think the general rules will remain the same (e.g. if you provide services from a non-EU country to an EU business/institution, the client pays VAT in their country - like with the reverse charge between the EU countries). Only the procedures may change (e.g. of claiming the VAT refunds). CMIIW, though.

There is a VAT threshold. If you sell below the minimum threshold in any given country in any given year, you don't care. GBP 85k or so in the UK currently.

Above the threshold, you have to register for VAT and pay it, even as a foreign entity. How they enforce it, who knows.

It is Evil.

https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/e ... les-vat_en

VAT A-Z.

• Identify which supplies are classed as digital services.

Obligations are all shifting to the sellers.   The trend is as a seller no matter where you sell, the authorities want you to collect and remit regardless of what geographical area you're doing business. This can be a major administrative burden, especially for smaller scale sellers that sell to many areas.

Car dealers importing vehicles from Japan post-Brexit

https://www.rte.ie/news/2021/0720/12362 ... rs-brexit/

However, since Brexit you now have to pay the UK VAT rate of 20% on cars being imported from there, on top of the Irish VAT rate of 23%.
Car dealers here say it now works out cheaper to import European cars from Japan, who like Ireland have right-hand drive vehicles, as they are not subject to the 20% VAT charge, unlike the British cars.

Car dealers importing vehicles from Japan post-Brexit

https://www.rte.ie/news/2021/0720/12362 ... rs-brexit/

However, since Brexit you now have to pay the UK VAT rate of 20% on cars being imported from there, on top of the Irish VAT rate of 23%.
Car dealers here say it now works out cheaper to import European cars from Japan, who like Ireland have right-hand drive vehicles, as they are not subject to the 20% VAT charge, unlike the British cars.

You have to look at it from the only point of view that matters in this context. Because used luxury cars from England (of course, not made in England, that would be silly) can no longer be profitably sold to the Irish, they will now remain in England and thus push down the prices of used luxury cars there, making them affordable for the masses. And the proud brexiteers who sell them to buy new ones were never in the game for the money anyway, so they don’t much care.

Good, for once we are all agreed, VAT is stupid! Wikipedia says it is a German and French invention.

"VAT is stupid!" or evil?

There are 16,000 tax jurisdictions in the US (state, county, city,...). On average there are about 15 changes to the rules every week. 

And you thought VAT was problematic…

I use VAT to mean any sales tax.

But yes, I don’t know why anyone would start a business in the US. Crazy paperwork, rabid lawyers, and no healthcare.

I totally agree with that. Obviously, you have a large common market with a common currency, language and a (mostly) uniform commercial code, but you do kind of bet your (and your family’s) health on making it. No wonder there are more “self-made” (silly phrase, I know) billionaires per capita in Norway than in the US.

Although, in all fairness, having recently been through some horrendous health problems myself, I can provide supporting testimony to the idea that the US has the best health care in the world, as long as you live in the right place and have the right insurance. Which is a very important part of the reason it will be so hard to fix the broken system.