Comic Cutlet - 3 January 2015

Happy New Year!

I've been enjoying a nice holiday from work for the last week and a bit, so I've a little catching up to do before I can start posting again.

I'm trying to get my head around the VAT situation regarding e-books and you'll notice that currently you can't get to the e-books page at Bear Alley Books, nor will you find said books on Kindle.

Changes in the VAT laws across Europe about where VAT is charged for digital goods—no longer the country of the supplier but that of the customer who may live in one of 25 different countries charging 75 different tarrifs—and the lack of any lower threshold—£81,000 for physical goods but zero for digital here in the UK.

Administering all this would be a pain in the arse given the tiny amounts of income my e-books generate. Once registered, you have to account for all VAT, not just the VAT on digital products. So I'd have to figure out my VAT on everything else I do or purchase in my pursuit of being a freelance writer. Frankly, I'd have to employ an accountant and that would cut deeply into my meagre income.

The alternative would be to simply stop selling to other countries in the EU. This might be an option as 95% of my sales are to the UK or USA.

Anyway, the e-books will return once I've confirmed a couple of things definitively regarding whether I need to register for VAT or not. Hopefully that will be very soon.

This isn't the way I'd planned to start the new year! We'll be back to normal soon.

UPDATE: The Kindle books are back! For the foreseeable future, my Kindle titles are going to be just that, available only on the Kindle.