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But... They told me inflation and taxes are good for for me, the consumer?? #

Go ahead and move to a country that is in a deflation spiral and see if you enjoy living there more.

Or actually, you might not even have to move, as the Eurozone is moving right into deflation at the moment. Let's see if you will still cheer for falling prices when you're unemployed.

Prices have always gone up, but at least where I live, people can afford more now after one hour of work than they could when I was a kid (3 decades ago). Still, people whine about inflation.
 
I Am Not An American but I didn't think the US charged sales tax on inter-state sales - this change is all about VAT on inter-state transactions.

Having just moved to New Orleans, Louisiana from England, I can tell you they do charge sales tax on iTunes purchases here.

Amazon don't which is inter-state, however I have been told I still need to declare any online purchases at the year end on my tax return as tax would be due - not sure if that is accurate, and even if it is how many people actually do it.
 
20% price increase for Canada where there's a 13% exchange rate difference. Nice math
 
That's correct but what is your point?

The point is, your analogy doesn't explain the price hike to USAians without the vital bit of information that EU VAT, unlike US sales tax, is included in published retail prices.

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But... They told me inflation and taxes are good for for me, the consumer??

Only if you're a good little consumer and have borrowed lots of money so that the inflation reduces the real-terms value of your debt.
 
VAT Invoices Then ?

My accountant hates the app store as it appears impossible to get a VAT Invoice on software I buy, the invoices from itunes are rubbish. Anyone know how to get a proper invoice please ?
 
Having just moved to New Orleans, Louisiana from England, I can tell you they do charge sales tax on iTunes purchases here.

Amazon don't which is inter-state, however I have been told I still need to declare any online purchases at the year end on my tax return as tax would be due - not sure if that is accurate, and even if it is how many people actually do it.
Apple has physical locations in Louisiana, so they have no choice but to charge LA sales tax on purchases in LA, physical or digital. Same for Ohio where I live. In contrast, Amazon currently has no physical presence in Ohio, or presumably LA, so they don't have to charge OH or LA sales tax. Amazon does have a distribution center in Kentucky, though, so my father across the river in KY does pay sales tax on Amazon purchases.
 
Actually, they haven't. They changed the rules on where VAT has to be paid. Until 31 December VAT had to be paid to the country the company selling software/music files/e-books is registered in (Luxembourg in Apple's case). Since 1 January VAT is paid to the consumer's country of residence. That VAT varies between 17 % in Luxembourg and 27 % in Hungary. It's the same in the US, just exchange country for state and VAT for sales tax.

In the US where I live, I pay a tax on anything I purchase through iTunes. However, they charge that seperate from the App/song/movie/etc that I download. But that is charges as a seperate line item, so if the tax changed due to a regulation, the price would not. what you are saying is that the VAT tax is not charged seperately but hidden in the product cost. I have not been to the EU in a couple of years now, but I thought it was a seperate line item which would invalidate your claim. But since it has been a while I am probably wrong and would appreciate a further explination. Thanks.
 
Actually, they haven't. They changed the rules on where VAT has to be paid. Until 31 December VAT had to be paid to the country the company selling software/music files/e-books is registered in (Luxembourg in Apple's case). Since 1 January VAT is paid to the consumer's country of residence. That VAT varies between 17 % in Luxembourg and 27 % in Hungary. It's the same in the US, just exchange country for state and VAT for sales tax.

Well that's fair enough, still annoying, but much better now that the tax is being injected into the countries the products bought from rather than apples bank account.
 
The point is, your analogy doesn't explain the price hike to USAians without the vital bit of information that EU VAT, unlike US sales tax, is included in published retail prices.
OK. So now they know. US prices are net prices. EU prices include VAT. Always.

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In the US where I live, I pay a tax on anything I purchase through iTunes. However, they charge that seperate from the App/song/movie/etc that I download. But that is charges as a seperate line item, so if the tax changed due to a regulation, the price would not. What you are saying is that the VAT tax is not charged seperately but hidden in the product cost. I have not been to the EU in a couple of years now, but I thought it was a seperate line item which would invalidate your claim. But since it has been a while I am probably wrong and would appreciate a further explination. Thanks.
In Europe tax has always been (and must be by law, as hidden costs aren't allowed and it doesn't matter for the end consumer how the price he pays is split between the seller and the state, what matters is the amount he loses to purchase a product) included in the price shown. The consumer has to know exactly what he/she has to pay without having to calculate before coming to the cashier. What you see is what you pay. At the bottom of your receipt you see the amount of tax you just paid and the applicable tax rate. So it's transparent. Also: see the difference between sales tax and VAT. It's similar but not the same.

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My accountant hates the app store as it appears impossible to get a VAT Invoice on software I buy, the invoices from itunes are rubbish. Anyone know how to get a proper invoice please ?
Until 31 December that wasn't possible for intra-EU digital purchases as the tax wasn't paid to your home country (which means there are no returns). Now that tax rules changed you'll see every cent paid in VAT on your iTunes invoices.
 
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I notice a change in the purchase email since the VAT ruling came into force.

The email previously had the subject "Your receipt no.*****" and is now "Your invoice #*****". The new email includes the amount of VAT paid.

5 December
SBB4m3Y.png


7 January
HC4YgGf.png
 
The Chancellor of the Exchequer thanks you very much for your purchase ;)

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Apple has physical locations in Louisiana, so they have no choice but to charge LA sales tax on purchases in LA, physical or digital. Same for Ohio where I live. In contrast, Amazon currently has no physical presence in Ohio, or presumably LA, so they don't have to charge OH or LA sales tax. Amazon does have a distribution center in Kentucky, though, so my father across the river in KY does pay sales tax on Amazon purchases.
Quite a few states treat digital sales differently from physical ones. So it's not always useful to compare iTunes to Amazon (unless you buy mp3s from them).
 
Quite a few states treat digital sales differently from physical ones. So it's not always useful to compare iTunes to Amazon (unless you buy mp3s from them).

Some states do, but that doesn't change the underlying legal doctrines governing jurisdiction and taxing power in the United States. Ohio could choose not to tax downloads the same as physical goods but they have the power to tax--and they do. What Ohio doesn't have at present is jurisdiction (nexus) to require Amazon to charge Ohio sales tax. If Amazon builds a distribution center or acquires a subsidiary in Ohio, then they'll have to start charging Ohio sales tax.

As an aside, for some Kindle ebook sales, Amazon treats the sale as a sale by the publisher (e.g., Hachette) and does charge Ohio sales tax.
 
Dumb move, IMHO. They protect their marges in the short run. But in the long run, that permanent display of corporate greed is going to bite them in the a.. (via a tarnished image, etc.)
 
Dumb move, IMHO. They protect their marges in the short run. But in the long run, that permanent display of corporate greed is going to bite them in the a.. (via a tarnished image, etc.)

So you think developers from US (they get 70%) should charge their european customers less?

Because they were already getting less money per purchase from european customers because of the exchange rate. Add the new VAT rules and there is basically a 10% difference.

The old price of the Tier 1 app ($0.99) was 0.89 Euro. That includes tax. If you substract the tax for Germany (19%) you end up with 0.75 Euro. With the current exchange rate that comes down to $0.89. So for every App sold to a US customer Apple would get $0.99 and for every app sold to a German customer they would get $0.89. Which they then split 70:30 with developers.

The new price is 0.99 Euro. If you substract the 19% tax you have 0.83 Euro. This is currently $0.98. Only 1% difference instead of 10%.

The so called corporate greed is not very greedy at all.
 
Wonder why they don't let the creators set the price they wish to charge for their work?

They do. This just affects the minimum price of all apps. If you were legitimately wondering this, you would have wondered it years ago when the 99 cent minimum price was set.

I do find it funny that Apple believes consumers suddenly have 20% more spending money simply because international exchange rates have varied.
 
This is a result of a much strong dollar in the last few quarters. Can't blame Apple for simply responding to currency exchange markets. It takes more € to buy a $ than it used to.

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I know what you're all thinking: Apple is much quicker to raise prices when the dollar strengthens, than they are to lower prices when the dollar weakens. :rolleyes:

It does bother me, but most retailers do it. Price of living in Canada, I guess, we're always regarded as second-rate by most companies.
 
They do. This just affects the minimum price of all apps. If you were legitimately wondering this, you would have wondered it years ago when the 99 cent minimum price was set.

I do find it funny that Apple believes consumers suddenly have 20% more spending money simply because international exchange rates have varied.

Indeed, if I want to sell an app in the UK for 30 pence, why can't I ?
Never understood that.

Oh and yes, in reality it's a MASSIVE price hike in percentage terms.

You always find that when something is cheap firms think they can increase the price MASSIVLY and no one will notice.
 
Nobody ever told you that, and I'm certain you can't point to any printed source to support your comment.

Lol ever seen... idk... CNBC? or Fox a half a decade ago before the Democrat was there to knock? Or countless articles in the Wall Street Journal? Or Forbes? Or Bloomerg?

How about the fact that the Monetary and Fiscal policies of most major economies around the world keep drifting towards more of both?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatsp...w-higher-taxes-would-be-good-for-the-economy/

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303873604579491982444345254

...But as long as you assert that you're sure, I guess it never happened. So much for that.



Go ahead and move to a country that is in a deflation spiral and see if you enjoy living there more.

Singapore is doing just fine. So is Hong Kong. So is New Zealand. In fact they're doing a hell of a lot better than the countries who have chosen to run up their national debt to absurd levels, some even surpassing the GDP of the nation, who are now trying to inflate away their debts by STEALING the purchasing power of their currency from their citizens to try and pay for their reckless behavior. Yeah. Deflation would more certainly cause their default. But let's not pretend that they're going to pay back the money they owe anyways. And let's not pretend that making a loaf of bread cost $10 instead of $1 is better for anyone.

Or actually, you might not even have to move, as the Eurozone is moving right into deflation at the moment. Let's see if you will still cheer for falling prices when you're unemployed.

Case in point. And yeah, The worst thing that could happen to me is that the price of the things I need to live goes down. I mean, I would just HATE the stuff I need being cheaper. Let's STEAL my purchasing power through inflation and force me to buy things sooner instead of saving and investing my money for later use? Hell, If inflation is so good, why don we do like 10% a year? how about 20%? I mean, if it's so good, how can we have too much of a good thing? Why don't we turn it into how Belarus is right now, where people are spending their cash buying anything that anyone will sell, because their currency is losing so much value they want to be able to trade in real assets, instead of worthless paper? I mean, look at all the demand it stimulated!! :eek:

Lose my job?

1. If I lose my job, maybe it was a job that was a creation of an inflationary/high debt environment that should not have existed to begin with, and would not have existed without the government intervening into the economy where it doesn't belong in the first place? Or something?

2. Maybe that would free me up to do something a little more productive than throw money into whatever asset the Federal Reserve feels like inflating... or, I mean "Stimulating" at the time? Maybe engineer something that would actually be useful, and better me and society?

...Nahhhh let's keep pretending like we're the smartest people in the room and distorting the economy as we see fit. I mean, it's going so well and all. Better.

Prices have always gone up, but at least where I live, people can afford more now after one hour of work than they could when I was a kid (3 decades ago). Still, people whine about inflation.

No they haven't. In fact, declining prices were a common thing before the Federal Reserve. It only makes sense. As you get better and more efficient at producing things, It cost you less to produce the same things, and so they can be sold cheaper. Rising prices as a product of a distorted monetary supply. That's why when people divide this year's prices by last year's prices and get their inflation number, its wrong. If you want an accurate number for how much prices increased, you need to take prices now and divide it by what prices WOULD HAVE BEEN if X central bank wasn't inflating their currency into oblivion. And yeah, I whine about inflation because they have NO RIGHT to STEAL the value from MY ASSETS. And if you like asset devaluation so much, why don't I go and beat the crap out of your car with a bat and see how much you like that asset devaluation? I mean that'll stimulate the auto body industry if nothing else. Isn't that great?
 
Indeed, if I want to sell an app in the UK for 30 pence, why can't I ?

Probably because processing card payments costs money and some cards will include a per-transaction cost. From the link: "per-transaction costs often range from 5 to 10 cents." - Now, Apple probably get a better deal from the card companies than your local corner shop, but even so that's going to make a dent in the 10p stake they'd get from a 30p sale.

Then there's the notional cost of keeping accounts, doing VAT returns, dealing with declined transactions or returns... About the only way you can sell something for 30p and walk away with a net profit is to take cash.
 
The App Store prices (for Mac games at least) suck. I got huge discounts in December for Mac games on Steam, but I never saw a single game go on sale on the App Store (e.g. I got Baldur's Gate I & II Enhanced for about 50% off on Steam and they stayed full price on Apple's App Store). This is why I don't like the monopoly on App sales for iOS devices. It's pretty darn clear that competition DOES matter for store sales. (Oh yeah, I got the Windows versions of those games included at no extra charge as well. Buy the same game on the App store and you only get the Mac version).
 
Yep. Here in Brazil, App Store products and services are not charged with importing taxes. I wonder when the government starts charging app purchases with the usual ~80%.

It is not 80%, Brazil's import tax is 60%.
 
This is a result of a much strong dollar in the last few quarters. Can't blame Apple for simply responding to currency exchange markets. It takes more € to buy a $ than it used to.

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I know what you're all thinking: Apple is much quicker to raise prices when the dollar strengthens, than they are to lower prices when the dollar weakens. :rolleyes:

That's the point. Are Apple going to lower prices again when the dollar will go down ?
Situation like Brazil are totally unacceptable.
It's not so different here in Europe, as well.
For example an iPhone 6 64 Gb costs 839€ (994$) in Italy, 799€ (947$) in Germany and 819€ (970$) in France. It's 749$ in USA, how's that possible???
I know, you have to add taxes (included in European prices), but how much is it after taxes ? 817$ ? Still 150$ less than in Europe....

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I'll just keep using my US account to download... technically only free apps anyway :D

I'd like to know how you did that :eek:
 
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