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First of all -- thanks for all your detailed answers! +1
So I did a research into topics you provided and also consulted an accountant who claims to have experience with EU VATMOSS and so far it seems that doing business across Europe should not be much of a hustle. It seems the combination of stripe+quaderno would be quite doable with some automation and without too much of an overhead with bureaucracy.
I also discussed with the accountant possibility of selling overseas to the USA and in Asia but this is beyond what he has experience with. Since I'm based in EU this should be much of an issue in the beginning, but still I'd be interested -- how do you guys deal with sales in Americas/Asia/Australia?
USA --- It seems one does not have to have company based in US in order to pay sales taxes on SaaS? You "just" register in individual states and send taxes according to state laws?
China --- Seems like impenetrable fortress for sales from outside, probably better not waste resources until the startup healthy and growing.
Rest of the world --- any other large audience makers usually look at? India/Russia/Japan/Brazil?
And once again, thanks for your time, really appreciated!
I'm not an accountant, so take this with a grain of salt but I believe most small, European companies only charge VAT to local customers and those within the EU.
Anyone outside (U.S., etc) doesn't get charged. You either don't need to charge VAT or report taxes until you hit a certain revenue threshold, or these local tax authorities don't care until you do.
If you want to be on the safe side it's worth investigating further of course, but I believe that's how most small companies deal with it in practice.