Skattesmäll for Kickstarter campaigns – new rules for crowdfunding introduced – IDG.se

The VAT-free days will soon be over for Kickstarter and other crowdfundingsajter. In November, EU member states agreed that the person who buys a product through crowdfunding to pay VAT, and soon the Tax Agency will go out with a similar position for Swedish companies.

There is a clear trend Kickstarter and other crowdfundingsajter: more people are using the platforms to launch and sell finished products. In practice it is rather to pre-purchase a product than to support development – but today is such a purchase completely tax-free.

Read also: Every tenth Kickstarter projects funded fails

 

 - If you give something but do not get anything back, it is a gift. But if you give something and want to get something back, then buys a service or good, says Kerstin Alvesson as a legal expert at the Swedish Tax Agency.

 

 This type of campaigns where a person receives goods or services in exchange for their gift called “Reward-based crowdfunding,” and during a meeting in November decided the EU VAT Committee unanimously that such transactions should be taxed. The guidelines are not law, but rather an agreement between the Member States – but Sweden will follow them.

 

 - We share the view that the European Commission has put forward, and Sweden has endorsed these guidelines. Shortly, we will go out with a statement that explains how the Skatteverket interprets the guidelines, says Kerstin Alvesson.

 

 There is no precise definition of what rewards will VAT be coated, it may be decided case by case. But the Swedish Tax Agency will not care about symbolic gifts such as stickers or pins – and in some cases even more expensive gifts to be okay, it depends on the context.

 

 - What you get will be in relation to what one gives to it will be taxed. If you give the contribution of one million and get a camera in compensation, then it is symbolic in relation to the sum you named, says Kerstin Alvesson.

 

 Tax Agency checks the Swedish company, and the VAT based on the rules of the country where the customer is located. A Swedish customer who pre-purchases a commodity by a Swedish company paying the usual 25 percent. Since the EU endorsed the VAT Committee guidelines will likely all member countries to introduce VAT on crowdfunding in the near future.

 

 Swedish crowdfundingsajten Fundedbyme will not be significantly affected by the rules, they stop with reward-based crowdfunding end of the year and transferred completely to the other models. But the company’s CEO Daniel Daboczy welcomes that the EU and the Tax Authority makes the rules clearer. Although he believes that in some cases, can make it difficult for small players.

 
Also read: An idea of ​​a code camp in Spain with friends became a bestseller

– I think to it can be complicated to have to convince the Swedish Tax Agency that it is a donation today, and it might get product delivery for another two years. I think it would be a pretty big blow for the 18-year-old contractor who will build a board to pay VAT for goods that do not even exist yet, he says.

 

 The statement which the Swedish Tax tell exactly how they interpret the guidelines will probably in early January. The Agency can not comment on whether they will affect existing Kickstarter campaigns.

 

 - Our goal is to companies and individuals should have the opportunity to do right and therefore we go out with standpoints, says Kerstin Alvesson.