A rolling stone gathers no MOSS, EU VAT legislation 2015

February 1, 2015 11:48 AM

As a contributor to microstock sites, would I have to register as a MOSS?

I make a small income through the Mac App Store. As I understand it, it is Apple that makes the sales and so there's no need to register as a MOSS when my sales are solely through them.

I assume this would be the same if I were to sell through microstock sites such as Videohive, Shutterstock, Revostock, etc…

However, there's so much conflicting information out there that I really cannot fathom whether I'd need to register as a MOSS or not. I assume it's the same deal with the Mac App Store. But, ASS, U and ME and all that…

I don't need to register, do I?

posted by popcassady to Work & Money (1 answer total)

I'm neither a lawyer nor an accountant but I would guess the answer to your questions is a nice "No", although it depends on the way your contract with the stock-sites is written and how the payment is handled. A very simple approach is that if the customers are paying you directly then you are in VAT hell. If they pay someone else (e.g.: shutterstock) first, who pays you, someone else is in VAT hell.

Additional reading:
- http://www.taxamo.com/app-stores-eu-vat/
- http://rachelandrew.github.io/eu-vat/
- http://euvataction.org/
posted by KMB at 1:53 PM on February 1, 2015