Just gotta have a rant............

Its not often that I get on my soapbox, but this stupid new EU VAT law is bordering on the insane.  Talk about using a sprat to catch a mackerel - it is all the fault of big companies like Amazon who have been working the system and by basing themselves in Luxembourg where the VAT rate was 15%, and in special cases it is 5%,  they have been able to undercut on prices throughout the EU.

Now instead of paying the VAT on digital goods in the country of origin now the seller has to charge the VAT applicable in the country of the buyer and then pay the said VAT to that country.  So if I buy a pattern on Ravelry from a seller in the United States, they have to charge me 20% VAT and pay that to the UK Government.  There is no upper/lower limit to sales, so even if you sell two patterns in a year you still have to register, collect and pay the potential 32p you have been forced to collect. Does that make any sense at all? 

This is bureaucracy gone crazy and most likely it won't stop the big boys who will no doubt find a way round this, but it is putting a lot of small designers out of business - unable to face the complexities of this law.

Now my second rant - to overcome this problem, Ravelry has teamed up with Love Knitting - never heard of them or bought anything from - but now if I want to buy a pattern I have to register on their site and wait until they have vetted the pattern and made it available.  This means that outside the EU knitters are happily knitting a pattern that we here in the UK can't even buy until someone at Love Knitting decides to make available!

If you think this is as stupid as I do you could sign this petition 

http://www.change.org/p/pierre-moscovici-a-unilateral-suspension-of-the-introduction-of-the-new-eu-vat-laws-for-micro-businesses-and-sole-traders?recruiter=202390441&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition