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What is "value-added tax"? and 19% seems really high for any tax.

Its the same as American tax which is not included in price, in Europe VAT is included in price, so you have to pay the amount you see in price, not the amount you see in price + tax.
 
Exactly, VAT is “passed on” to the final buyer, businesses don’t really pay it. So basicaly everything in EU is some 20% more expensive than US, including software licenses. Unless you own/are a business and can do VAT deduction (ie pass it on to your customers).


its the same as in US, only difference is the amount and that here in Europe you see one price which is with taxes included, in US you go to store, see a thing which costs 100$ but pay 110$ when you try to buy it, because taxes are added later, in Europe you see price of 100euro and you pay 100 euro, because you know that x% of that 100 euros is tax (VAT).
 
It’s 23% in Poland and we don’t get sh*t from the government 😂
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They are informing the developers, not the general public

you are lying, you get **** from the government. A lot of ****. Like roads, free public health services, welfare benefits and many more things, so don't lie to people.
 
what’s not legit is big fruit logo carrying company that makes 60%+ of its profits outside of North America but only pays 4% of its tax outside of North America.
What is not legit about it?

So why is Apple informing people about this? Why don't they just go ahead and do it without saying anything to anyone. Not now, not ever. What happened to the "irrelevant" info stance about taxation and fees used to force Facebook to modify that tiny text informing people about Apple getting 30% of the amount?
They inform their clients (developers) who should know this. As this is part of their service for running the App Store. Why wouldn’t you want to know this?
It’s 23% in Poland and we don’t get sh*t from the government 😂
But “you” get lots from the EU :p
Exactly, VAT is “passed on” to the final buyer, businesses don’t really pay it. So basicaly everything in EU is some 20% more expensive than US, including software licenses. Unless you own/are a business and can do VAT deduction (ie pass it on to your customers).
It depends, technically all businesses pay it. But I know you didn’t mean it like that. Although non VAT registered businesses (for example those where their turnover is below the threshold ) do pay it. And can’t claim it back. That is a lot of small businesses which are the backbone of many economies.

And then there are businesses whose business is focussed on goods and services to consumers that attract a zero VAT rate. So they charge at 0% but had costs in their supply chain at the prevailing rate say 19%. And they still pay but then claim it back from the tax authorities. An interesting anomaly and often attracts other “enterprises” for fraudulent reasons.
 
you are lying, you get **** from the government. A lot of ****. Like roads, free public health services, welfare benefits and many more things, so don't lie to people.
You clearly haven’t been to Poland ;) 😂

Ok it’s not all bad, and a lot of good, but roads aren’t one then ;) I used to work for an American tier 1 bank out there 👍
 
What is not legit about it?


They inform their clients (developers) who should know this. As this is part of their service for running the App Store. Why wouldn’t you want to know this?

But “you” get lots from the EU :p

It depends, technically all businesses pay it. But I know you didn’t mean it like that. Although non VAT registered businesses (for example those where their turnover is below the threshold ) do pay it. And can’t claim it back. That is a lot of small businesses which are the backbone of many economies.

And then there are businesses whose business is focussed on goods and services to consumers that attract a zero VAT rate. So they charge at 0% but had costs in their supply chain at the prevailing rate say 19%. And they still pay but then claim it back from the tax authorities. An interesting anomaly and often attracts other “enterprises” for fraudulent reasons.

I used to run a business in the EU (Poland) selling VAT0 services (freelance) to the US and getting all “spent VAT” back as income tax deduction. It was great because effectively I paid 8% tax after everything is considered.

But after leaving Poland and the EU and needing a proper company to sell digital products on a big scale rather than freelance (meaning thousands $$$ a day, not a month), I chose to incorporate in the US, I find the system in general there much more business friendly, easier to understand and even with the 20% federal tax I’m just generally a much happier person than I was when living / paying taxes in the EU.

The most important thing is I can run the business smoothly without actually setting foot on US soil, doing everything electronically, which is very convienient for me as a digital nomad. Back “home” I’d most likely end up called to the tax office in person at some point, as the systems in the Old World are pretty antiquated.

And thanks to US incorporation, no need to charge my clients VAT (digital goods from outside EU, with a percentage of manual labor are exempt).
 
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I used to run a business in the EU (Poland) selling VAT0 services (freelance) to the US and getting all “spent VAT” back as income tax deduction. It was great because effectively I paid 8% tax after everything is considered.

But after leaving Poland and the EU and needing a proper company to sell digital products on a big scale rather than freelance (meaning thousands $$$ a day, not a month), I chose to incorporate in the US, I find the system in general there much more business friendly, easier to understand and even with the 20% federal tax I’m just generally a much happier person than I was when living / paying taxes in the EU.
I’ve lived in 17 countries so far, the is never greener. Just a different shade.

one thing I do know is that I really don’t like paying tax. 🤣 But of all the taxes there are I don’t mind these kind of taxes as they are generally on non essentials. Especially in VAT countries and the rate on foods, children’s clothing, etc are very low if not 0%.

But income tax is a whole different story, but also off-topic 👍
 
You clearly haven’t been to Poland ;) 😂

Ok it’s not all bad, and a lot of good, but roads aren’t one then ;) I used to work for an American tier 1 bank out there 👍

I have been in Poland many times, I live in a country near Poland. I'm not saying it's perfect, but show me a perfect country, i don't think there is one. Taxes are for a reason, they are used for the benefit of all, would be crazy if that money just disappeared.
 
But after leaving Poland and the EU and needing a proper company to sell digital products on a big scale rather than freelance (meaning thousands $$$ a day, not a month), I chose to incorporate in the US, I find the system in general there much more business friendly, easier to understand and even with the 20% federal tax I’m just generally a much happier person than I was when living / paying taxes in the EU.
And we’re happy to have your tax revenue! :D
 
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I have been in Poland many times, I live in a country near Poland. I'm not saying it's perfect, but show me a perfect country, i don't think there is one. Taxes are for a reason, they are used for the benefit of all, would be crazy if that money just disappeared.
Hmm I think that is rather naive if you think they are used for the benefit of all. One simple example is that the EU takes 0.3% of all VAT collected immediately.

Further more, but goes away from VAT and Digital Services tax. As a top 1% earned in my resident country you’d contribute about a 1/3 of all income tax receipts. When expanding that to the top 5% it becomes seriously frightening how few people actually do pay. That is hugely disproportionate. I could never agree that it benefits all. But I can definitely see that if you aren’t in that too 1% or 5% of contributors you’d love all the “free money”.
 
They inform their clients (developers) who should know this. As this is part of their service for running the App Store. Why wouldn’t you want to know this?
Exactly! So why did Apple claim it was irrelevant info when Facebook wanted to inform their users where their money goes?
 
Exactly! So why did Apple claim it was irrelevant info when Facebook wanted to inform their users where their money goes?
Because it was nothing more than a stunt. Inter alia; It wasn’t a complete list either. And most importantly it detracts from the experience where they were doing it without any legal requirement to do that.

If you can’t see the difference between that and informing business to business transactions regarding an official change in the tax position then there is no point even having this discussion.
 
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Because it was nothing more than a stunt. Inter alia; It wasn’t a complete list either. And most importantly it detracts from the experience where they were doing it without any legal requirement to do that.

If you can’t see the difference between that and informing business to business transactions regarding an official change in the tax position then there is no point even having this discussion.

What complete list?

It boggles the mind how some of you can embrace a double standard just because you like a product or a company.
 
What complete list?

It boggles the mind how some of you can embrace a double standard just because you like a product or a company.
The complete list of where the money goes. Apple App Store won’t be there only cost. So if you do want to do something like that then be transparant about it and provide the full list of all costs where the money goes.

It only boggles your mind because you seem incapable of drawing a distinction between two very different scenarios.
 
The same article mentions the cascading effect, but I don't see one here... sales tax only applies to the final buyer, not all stages of production.
In theory that's correct: a perfectly applied sales tax would basically be the same as a VAT in effect. The crucial key point is that this is only true in an ideal world where the sales tax would be applied perfectly. In the real world things are different and sales tax cascading does happen.


Also with a sales tax, the retailer can’t always tell whether the buyer is a consumer who should pay the tax or a business which should not—and has little incentive to find out. If the retailer doesn’t impose a sales tax on consumer purchases, that’s tax evasion. If the retailer does impose a tax on business purchases, the tax “cascades,” building up over successive stages of production, which raises and distorts prices. By providing a credit for taxes paid, the VAT prevents cascading.
 
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With a VAT, it is more a sneaky tax
There's nothing sneaky about it, you see it on every receipt.

The difference is that the price listed is the price you pay, while in North America the tax is added later which means actual prices are not transparent to the consumer. In Europe this would be misleading advertising, like a cheap flight advertised for EUR 50, then add airport tax, fuel tax, city tax, state tax, online booking charge, payment service charge, ticket service surcharge... final price 350.
 
There's nothing sneaky about it, you see it on every receipt.

The difference is that the price listed is the price you pay, while in North America the tax is added later which means actual prices are not transparent to the consumer. In Europe this would be misleading advertising, like a cheap flight advertised for EUR 50, then add airport tax, fuel tax, city tax, state tax, online booking charge, payment service charge, ticket service surcharge... final price 350.
You forgot to mention their luggage will be another 50 per case 🤣
 
What is it you get for the taxes?

Here in Germany? Free education, free Kindergartens in some states, free colleges, great public transport (I said great, not perfect LOL), great road system, free autobahn, great unemployment protection, great social security system, free healthcare system, independent legal system, police, support of art, pensions...
 
Your example is overly simplistic, and in that case VAT actually acts just like sales tax: in direct-to-customer (aka farm-to-market) sales. Supplier collects tax from customer, and supplier pays tax to government. But most goods have product chains, and that’s where VAT is significantly different from sales tax.

In your $116 example, let’s say there’s 4 steps involved in the chain:

1. Supplier
2. Manufacturer
3. Retailer
4. Customer

Your item costs the supplier $10 plus $1.60 VAT. The supplier charges the manufacturer $11.60, and pays $1.60 to the government.

The manufacturer then sells the item for $50 plus $8 VAT. The manufacturer charges the retailer $58. But, the supplier already charged and collected $1.60 of that tax and paid it to the government, so the real portion of the VAT tax on the sale price is now $6.40 (the $1.60 became cost), which comes from the added value that the manufacturer sold the item for to the retailer (16% of $40).

The retailer then sells the item for $100 plus $16 VAT. The retailer charges the customer $116. But, the manufacturer already paid $6.40 to the government, and the supplier already paid $1.60 to the government, so the real portion of the VAT tax on the sale price is now $8 (the other $8 became cost), which comes from the added value that the retailer sold the item for to the customer (16% of $50).

$1.60 + $6.40 + $8 = $16. Again, it’s called value added tax for a reason, and the real tax portion of VAT to the end customer can be affected by how long the product chain is, to how much of a markup sellers are commanding. It’s also why the relative cost of goods are more expensive in VAT economies because those taxes become costs to businesses, for better or worse.
Good example but there is an important element That may not be clear from your explanation

The manufacturer (M) and retailer (R) have to pay the invoice including VAT to the step above in the chain, who will have to pay this to to government. M and R however submit this as a recoverable VAT and get the money back from the government (after a few months). In turn they pay their VAT when they sell to the next in the chain

Ultimately it’s the end Customer that will pay the full VAT. Only thing the VAT does is allow the government to have tax portions in their hands during the supply chain provess, instead of having to wait until the end customer buys the product
 
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One can cite all the "good things" it covers, but there is one thing for certain, government is not efficient at running ANYTHING.
We should go back to the days of private fire brigades. Back in the day, in a big city like London you had a choice of fire services. You’d shop around and pick the fire brigade that you decided offered the best value for money. Once you paid their subscription, they’d give you a brass plaque to affix to the front of your building with the name of their fire brigade.

Competition meant that only the leanest and most efficient fire brigades survived, and prices stayed low.

Of course, if the building next door caught fire and the owner wasn’t paid up with a fire brigade, then your own fire brigade, and the competing fire brigades who covered the building on the other side of your neighbor and behind, would stand around and watch the deadbeat’s building burn down.

The only problem with that system (apart from letting the deadbeat’s tenants dire in a fire, but who cares, right?) was that at some point during the conflagration your own building, and those of the deadbeat’s other neighbors, also caught fire, and by that point you had a raging inferno to contend with next door.

While we’re at it, let’s privatize the police and the courts. Administering justice for profit must surely be more efficient than the mess we have now, since “government is not efficient at running ANYTHING.” Pay a subscription fee, and your private police force will respond when you call their number. Pay another subscription, and you’ll be entitled to sue your fire brigade in your chosen court system for letting your building burn down because you were disputing their bill. Pay even more for premium tiers of service, and you can get your court case fast-tracked, or a priority response when calling your private emergency services!
 
The only difference in a VAT and a sales tax is who makes the direct payment. Americans are used to seeing how much sales tax they are paying on every single receipt for everything they buy. It's also why we sometimes shop in different states than we live in. With a VAT, it is more a sneaky tax paid by the company directly to the government, but the consumer inevitably still pays it ultimately.
To Americans, a 19% VAT is considered high because we have some states that have few taxes at all like Delaware with no sales tax and we also have states with no income tax either, but in almost all cases, there is no state in America that charges 19% in sales tax nor do we have a VAT tax although it has been discussed. But I would say in general that Americans tend to demand less services than Europeans, so yes, you do get what you pay for. Some states in America still do not collect any sales tax on internet sales, nor does the Federal government other than through standard corporate business taxes.
VAT Is shown on your receipt where payable and there are many exceptions and rate anomaly’s , however EU and UK regulations required retail sellers to display the tax inclusive price with the product to the consumer and that’s what you pay at checkout. No blathering rip off at the till or mental maths necessary.

Commercial business to business and wholesale prices can be quoted VAT exclusive as the tax can usually be clawed back by the business. Its rather more nuanced than at first sight . Only the final customer in the retail chain actually pays it on the cumulative transaction.

So it doesn’t balloon on component assembly to completed product/service . It really is a retail sales tax though rather bureaucratic to administer !

What is "value-added tax"? and 19% seems really high for any tax.
 
Good example but there is an important element That may not be clear from your explanation

The manufacturer (M) and retailer (R) have to pay the invoice including VAT to the step above in the chain, who will have to pay this to to government. M and R however submit this as a recoverable VAT and get the money back from the government (after a few months). In turn they pay their VAT when they sell to the next in the chain

Ultimately it’s the end Customer that will pay the full VAT. Only thing the VAT does is allow the government to have tax portions in their hands during the supply chain provess, instead of having to wait until the end customer buys the product

Correct, I assumed the credit-invoice method in my example, where businesses send an invoice to the government for a tax credit, which most do.

My examples also take the view point of the business, so yes, in effect the end-customer pays the whole VAT %, but only as it relates to the value added as of the last point in the product chain.

In the $116 example, the tax would be the following:

Sales Tax: The 16% is $16, thus the customer pays $16 on top of $100. Fairly straight forward.

VAT: The 16% is actually $8, based on the retailer's value added of $50. The retailer's cost plus value added comes to $108 ($58 paid to the manufacturer, plus $50 of added value).

But yes, the end-customer still gets left paying the VAT. One of the main criticisms of VAT is what's known as the "last mile" problem. Businesses throughout the product chain have recourse to recoup the cost of paying the VAT, but the end-customer does not (business or otherwise). With sales tax, the tax is known and the end-customer can itemize for a credit at tax time with receipts. But VAT is inherently 'hidden' and is usually not specified on receipts (it's actually discouraged).

VAT Is shown on your receipt where payable and there are many exceptions and rate anomaly’s , however EU and UK regulations required retail sellers to display the tax inclusive price with the product to the consumer and that’s what you pay at checkout. No blathering rip off at the till or mental maths necessary.

That's interesting. It was my understanding that VAT isn't specifically shown on receipts- is that a recent change? Perhaps it's been done to counter the last mile problem as I mentioned above. I know it's been something that VAT countries have been trying to solve.
 
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