EU VAT Changes 2015 - Sky Bills

MBSnr

Just a heads up. From what I have read (Sunday Times Business Section) there are EU VAT rule changes that come into effect in 2015. The new rules mean that VAT has to be paid to the country/Gov that the customer resides in. So as I see it good and bad news...

1. Our Sky bills will now have Irish VAT of 23% applied to them from 1st Jan 2015... boo!
2. The Irish Gov gets approx €100m (I recall reading this value) of VAT that otherwise goes to the UK Gov from Sky subscriptions.... Yay!
3. The Revenue has already put in place competitive VAT/tax laws that allow companies to set up here for VAT purposes. The Gov then gets 30% of the revenue generated from VAT billed back to customers/consumers in the other EU VAT countries for the 1st two yrs. Yay-ish!

So...You win some and lose some... I guess

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/vat/traders/e-commerce/index_en.htm

Original Pay Wall article here http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/ireland/article1390847.ece

THE government and IDA are making a push to get e-commerce giants such as Apple and Amazon to locate billing operations in Ireland with a view to creating jobs and landing an estimated €1bn VAT windfall for the exchequer.

It is understood that several e-services companies are actively considering locating their billing in Ireland.

The exchequer is hoping to benefit from transition arrangements under EU VAT rules to be introduced next January. Under the rules, VAT for online services will be payable in the country where customers are resident, rather than the online company’s European location.

For 2015 and 2016, however, any country which administers the VAT keeps 30% of all returns paid out to fellow EU states. That falls to 15% per annum for the following two years.

/discuss....

The Cush

Discussed here back in 2012 - http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=80282824#post80282824

The Cush

Also from the ST article regarding VAT and Setanta Sports

Ireland's 23% VAT rate will no longer put it at a disadvantage to low rate countries such as Luxembourg which charges 3% VAT on e-services. It was reported in 2012 that Setanta Sports subscribers, for example, pay their subscriptions to a company based in Luxembourg.

lertsnim

About time this happened.

DublinKev

Interesting, thanks for the info.

So, will this affect subscription charges does anyone know?

MBSnr

DublinKev wrote: »

Interesting, thanks for the info.

So, will this affect subscription charges does anyone know?

I'd imagine Sky would pass the extra 3% cost on by rounding it up to 5% or more........

DublinKev

Thanks MBSnr.

Great news!

machiavellianme

Do we not already pay the Irish VAT rate but Sky elect to pay in the UK?
At least Sky used changes in the Irish rate in the past to justify price hikes.

watty

Almost all the Sky Subscription, (Tax and the rest) currently leaves the country, yet 92% of what people watch is available Free to Air.

I despair of the Irish Government, Consumer Protection / Advertising standards (Sky advertising is misleading) and the Irish Consumer.