🚀 go-pugleaf

On 18 Nov 1998, Sean Eddy wrote:

> IANAL either, but I think most countries have tax treaties that try to
> minimize double taxation.  When I was a US citizen living in the UK, I
> was paid by a grant from an agency in Tokyo through a bank in
> Strasbourg that sent ecu's (e.g. one step up from monopoly money) to a
> bank in London for me.  Despite the twisted international chain, I
> filed only US federal and state taxes. The US/UK tax treaty meant that
> I didn't have to pay UK income taxes, and the source of the money
> (Tokyo or Strasbourg) didn't affect me.

Yes but you were fortunate enough to be in a clear cut position. The
position as regards donations of money to individuals following on from
work they have done or not done via agencies in other countries has not,
to my knowledge, ever been tested as regards the situation of an Open
Source developer.

There is a similar issue for UK distributors of free software. Under
current tax legislation we have to charge VAT on the software even though
it is free. When I queried this with the VAT office they had no clue
whether we really should be charging or not but advised that until they
decide on the issue (if they ever do) we have to charge VAT.

I suggested to them that it might be better to have the software zero
rated and the media standard rated at a set rate but they are not equiped
(mentally at least) to deal with this.

Jason Clifford
Definite Linux Systems
http://definite.ukpost.com/