[ic] Tax Exempt

[Kevin Walsh]

Mike Heins <mike at perusion.com> wrote:
> Quoting Kevin Walsh (kevin at cursor.biz):
> > Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that the above might be a
> > security hazard.  I think that the above would allow anyone to set
> > their own tax_exempt status within the confines of their current
> > session.
> > 
> For some value of security hazard, anyway. Usually in the U.S.,
> and even in Europe from what I have seen, companies allow anyone
> with a Tax ID number to claim tax exempt status.
> 
In the UK, you can supply goods without sales tax (VAT) if the order
is from somewhere in Europe and outside of the UK.  The company that
placed the order is expected to declare pay the VAT in their home
country.

The sender is expected to verify the VAT number before shipping the
goods, otherwise they will be liable for the VAT when they get scammed.

It's all optional, and I don't bother with any of it;  I just charge
VAT on all transactions.  It's much simpler in the accounts, it
eliminates any possibility of getting scammed and it saves the end user
some time and effort too.  If the end user was VAT registered then they
are still able claim the tax back, so the cross-border VAT rate is
irrelevant too.

I suppose that if a company is dealing with transactions a lot of
money then not paying VAT as part of the transaction might help
mitigate potential cash flow problems.

US tax law is probably different, so perhaps the facility might be
of more use over there.

>
> You can, if you want, do:
> 
> 	FormIgnore tax_exempt
> 
> to make it secure.
> 
True.

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