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I am about to launch a startup. As an American citizen GPDR scares the shit out of me. My app doesn't do anything I consider rude to my users but that doesn't m

I am about to launch a startup. As an American citizen GPDR scares the shit out of me. My app doesn't do anything I consider rude to my users but that doesn't mean European courts can't find something wrong with the way I do business. I consider myself lucky that I'm in a state that doesn't make me collect tax in states I don't have nexus. Europeans are required to use something like chargebee to deal with VAT in different countries. I don't mean to be rude, but if a service like chargebee didn't exist, you Europeans would be fucked. I'm sure VAT is just the visible part of the iceberg. It's an awful situation for entrepreneurs.

clappski 8y ago
‘Europeans would be fucked’... as if there aren’t any successful or innovative European companies? Bare in mind that you probably use some sort of service to handle every time of payment, even if it’s a local sale (e.g. Stripe, VISA Pay/V PAY etc.). Additionally, selling goods in the US is just as complicated for an external business as it is into the EU - state, county and city sales taxes, as well as exemptions from US taxes laid out in international treaties have to be accounted for. The general advise if you want to sell internationally is ‘get an accountant’, because it’s actually quite a complicated subject (unsurprisingly).
- arkis22 8y ago
  There are, but few of them are one man operations like me. There will be even less one person startups (or none) now. The compliance tax burden for American companies varies by state. I'm lucky to live in one that isn't onerous. Luck is a factor when starting a business, but regulatory capture is a bad kind of luck.
tzs 8y ago
VAT is actually pretty easy to deal with as a non-European business. The combined work to handle VAT for all of the EU is less than the work to handle sales tax for a single US state.
- arkis22 8y ago
  True. I'm thankful that Europe was nice enough to give my American company a strategic advantage over their own by complicating their taxes.
lagadu 8y ago
> if a service like chargebee didn't exist, you Europeans would be fucked. Sounds like a business opportunity right there.

clappski 8y ago

‘Europeans would be fucked’... as if there aren’t any successful or innovative European companies? Bare in mind that you probably use some sort of service to handle every time of payment, even if it’s a local sale (e.g. Stripe, VISA Pay/V PAY etc.). Additionally, selling goods in the US is just as complicated for an external business as it is into the EU - state, county and city sales taxes, as well as exemptions from US taxes laid out in international treaties have to be accounted for. The general advise if you want to sell internationally is ‘get an accountant’, because it’s actually quite a complicated subject (unsurprisingly).

arkis22 8y ago
There are, but few of them are one man operations like me. There will be even less one person startups (or none) now. The compliance tax burden for American companies varies by state. I'm lucky to live in one that isn't onerous. Luck is a factor when starting a business, but regulatory capture is a bad kind of luck.

tzs 8y ago

VAT is actually pretty easy to deal with as a non-European business. The combined work to handle VAT for all of the EU is less than the work to handle sales tax for a single US state.

arkis22 8y ago
True. I'm thankful that Europe was nice enough to give my American company a strategic advantage over their own by complicating their taxes.

lagadu 8y ago

> if a service like chargebee didn't exist, you Europeans would be fucked. Sounds like a business opportunity right there.