Paying VAT on online order thats in USD

[Bernie]

I have never seen this before, is this "a thing"

Ordering from Shutterstock and they charging 14% VAT on a USD invoice. I thought only invoices from South Africa (ZAR invoices) can be subjected to SARS VAT, and only for some items. Does this mean Shutterstock pay over the VAT to SARS.

 

[Rocket-Boy]

I do know that sars is trying really hard to get hold of tax on online purchases. They have been pushing it for a while now so maybe shutterstock complied with a request?

 

[reactor_sa]

Damn ridiculous. Clearly the tax monies have all been moved to a secret Zupta location.

 

[Drifter]

Not all states on the US are vat exempt.

 

[Fulcrum29]

Not all states on the US are vat exempt.

Most likely this.

 

[phoneJunky]

Amazon sent out an email 2 or 3 years back stating that they are going to comply to SARS and add the additional 14% VAT charges. They may just be doing the same

 

[Saber_rider45]

Maybe its like Apple they also comply with paying SA VAT.

 

[Praemon]

More places are becoming compliant with local VAT. I recently saw Google started adding VAT to G Suit, and their EU Vat number actually comes up in the SARS VAT search. But they don't charge VAT on other services like Adwords for some reason.

 

[Bernie]

Thanks all for the replies. It looks like a SARS compliance decision by Shutterstock. I didnt realise that SARS had this much power

 

[DrJohnZoidberg]

Thanks all for the replies. It looks like a SARS compliance decision by Shutterstock. I didnt realise that SARS had this much power

You could always "move" to Delaware

 

[reactor_sa]

I don't understand why any company without a local office in SA would need to or care about VAT. But Sony and Apple both added VAT a couple years ago already.