EU tax on products

[Jon Allen]

Can anyone explain how a UID Nr. works for EU tax purposes? Someone has asked me to deduct the English VAT tax of the price of a product they are buying from me. I have never heard of that from any european magicians who have bought from me in the past.

Would they claim back the VAT off the full price or would I use their number to claim it back after deducting it... or am I being scammed?

Jon

[Ray Eden]

The UK is part of the EU so how can one avoid paying VAT?

I'm living in Finland, and I recently made a purchase from Germany and had to pay 19% VAT/MwSt. As far as I know, the VAT must be paid due to the Union of the Nations known as EU.

If anyone knows different than this, please let me know. I love to avoid paying taxes whenever legally possible. :-)

[Jon Allen]

There's a difference bewtween avoiding and claiming back. THis guy seems to want to avoid paying the tax using this UID number which I have never heard of before.

[Dustin Stinett]

Im just guessing, but perhaps its sort of the same thing we have here in the State of California: A resale license that allows people with retail businesses to purchase goods without paying sales tax since those goods are intended for resale. The theory being that the end userthe final customerpays the tax on the stuff (even for the cost of packaging and other supplies which is calculated into the retail price). Of course, its greatly abused by some in this state who buy stuff using their resale number with no intention of ever reselling the item(s). (In which case, you are supposed to remove the item from inventory and pay sales tax on it.) Of course, that doesnt fit into the VAT model as I understand it (and as Ray pointed out).

If you paid a VAT on the stuff you used to create your product, and/or are required to pay a tax on any sales you make, then you should pass all that cost on to your customers.

Dustin

[Ian Kendall]

If you are VAT registered you are able to claim back any VAT that you have paid on items related to your VAT registered company (still with me?)

So, if your magic business has a turnover of over 50K (the threshold may have been increased, I don't know for sure) you are required to register for VAT. If you buy a magic trick from another VAT registered company (one that _has_ to add VAT) then you put that VAT reciept in with your quarterly VAT return and deduct the amount from the amount you pay the Revenue. If, however, you claim back the VAT on a fridge, you may get busted.

Jon, you are required to keep the VAT in place, and the person at the other end should claim things back at their end. To be safe.

Take care, Ian

(who is _so_ happy not to have to deal with VAT returns anymore)