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VAT on Kickstarter sales

Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 10:31 am
by murratw
I just successfully funded my Kickstarter and have to ship half of my rewards to the EU. How does VAT work? I am solely based in the US. Do I need to collect VAT on the rewards? Will the backers have to pay when they receive the reward? My items will be at the most 20 euros.

I want the best possible experience for the backers.

Re: VAT on Kickstarter sales

Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2014 4:07 am
by conkwe
From my understanding and past experiences with shipping to EU, the customers usually cover the VAT. The VAT amount depends on the customs declaration value, so buyers prefer to have a lower invoice value to pay less. It would be best to get an answer from an EU customer though

Re: VAT on Kickstarter sales

Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 10:13 pm
by rgronow
Hi guys,

I wanted to post this as a new thread but not able to yet due to lack of posts!

I'm really confused about the whole VAT situation and kickstaters explaination of it. VAT is charged 20% in the UK.

Can someone please clarify - after a successful campaign, will kickstarter automatically deduct 20% of the fund for VAT along with the other fees?

for example:

I initially raise £10,000 from the campaign.

Will Kickstarter automatically take the following:

5% fee = £500
5% (just for the example) payment processing fee = £500
20% VAT = £2000

So, following the above fees and tax, Kickstarter will transfer to me £7000.

Am I understanding that correctly?

Re: VAT on Kickstarter sales

Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2015 4:04 pm
by kelly101
The VAT thing doesn't apply to all of Europe, as far as I can tell just the UK. I would write to them and ask for a clarification - they usually respond within a day.
You have to pay import duty on all items - but you should work this out and add it to your item cost. UPS allows you to pay the duty yourself - If I ordered something from the US and it got stuck in Customs I would be a very unhappy customer.