If you think of doing business in the EU, though, rather than just the UK (which is a bit more geographically/population comparable with the U.S.), then you do

If you think of doing business in the EU, though, rather than just the UK (which is a bit more geographically/population comparable with the U.S.), then you do have the same multi-jurisdiction thing over the large number of VAT rates that differ according to the customer's location. For example if you are a UK bookseller shipping to a customer in the UK, you don't charge VAT (the UK exempts books). But if you are a UK bookseller shipping to a customer in Denmark, you charge 25% VAT (Denmark doesn't exempt books, and its rate is different also). I think businesses under a certain revenue threshold, though, are exempt from calculating destination-based VAT, so it doesn't hit small businesses.