Bandcamp to collect tax on EU sales?

[jdh]

I read about this today.Though it does not affect me (for now) as I am in Canada, my understanding is that any music sold on BC including downloads will be subject to tax for the buyer.Seems it depends on where the buyer is located,not the seller.I am not sure how I feel that tax is to be collected on something like digital downloads when I am in another country.Nothing physical being transferred.More expensive for everyone involved.Plus you already have to deal with currency conversation.For myself,when I pay in pounds or Euro,it is way more.This will not stop me from purchasing on BC,love the site as they do not rip off the consumer by charging more for lossless and you can stream full tracks,both a huge plus.

http://www.factmag.com/2014/12/29/bandcamp-sellers-vat-tax-digital-downloads-from-january-2015/

[Antdude]

I received this e-mail this morning from How To Disappear Completely's BandCamp page. My apologies if this seems a bit spammy, but it pretty much encapsulates the upcoming issues if buying music from the EU: 

Due to the new 2015 EU VAT regulation law we decided to take down all digital sales from Bandcamp on December 31st, until further notice.

From 1 January 2015, a new regulation will come into place where anyone who offers a digital service will now need to be VAT registered. VAT on digital products sold in the EU will be chargeable in the place of purchase rather than the place of supply. These regulations mean that any digital download sold via the HTDC Bandcamp store will require VAT adding for customers within the EU and traders will then be required by law to pay the added VAT back to the country of source (this also means that with every digital download sold, we would be required to keep the billing address of the customer, the IP address of the device used, the location of the bank, the country code of SIM used by the customer and the location of the customer's fixed land line through which the service is supplied to them and keep the data for 10 years). Sadly, HTDC will be unable to conform to these regulations.

Bandcamp have stated that sometime in 2015 they will handle VAT payments themselves so maybe in the future we will be able to use the platform again. Notes from Bandcamp: "Under our current system, in which buyers pay you directly, the above is the easiest we can make it for sellers to meet their VAT obligations,", "In the first half of 2015, we plan to make payments for digital transactions flow through Bandcamp. Among other advantages, this will allow us to take care of everything related to digital VAT, including tax reporting and payment."

To understand the new EU VAT law, read: http://bit.ly/1wvXLB0
Spread and share it, because everyone needs to see it, especially the artists/labels.

YOU CAN HELP BY SIGNING THIS PETITION: https://www.change.org/p/vince-cable-mp-uphold-the-vat-exemption-threshold-for-businesses-supplying-digital-products

If you want to buy a digital version of any of the HTDC catalogue via our Bandcamp store, you have time until the 31st December to do so.
Our complete discography is on sale right now. Save 30% on every release. Enter the code during checkout to apply the discount: "LEAVINGHOPE"

Bandcamp: https://htdc.bandcamp.com/music


Hope this helps someone out there.

[chris23]

http://blog.bandcamp.com/2014/12/30/eu-digital-vat-changes-and-bandcamp/

EU digital VAT changes and Bandcamp

If you've seen the recent news of changes to EU tax law, you may be wondering how this affects you as an artist or label selling on Bandcamp. The good news is that for digital sales, there is no need for you to register for VAT, submit quarterly reports, and so on. We will take care of all of that for you.

If you happened to see our earlier help item about this, we planned to roll out a temporary solution where artists submitted the tax themselves. We've decided to accelerate the changes to our system such that the interim step is unnecessary.