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artmanjam1's avatar
artmanjam1
Collaborator | Level 8
7 years ago

B2B Plus Plan VAT and invoice

I'm a (non Irish) EU VAT registered customer. Thereby the VAT 'Reverse charge' applies, which means I shouldn't be charged VAT. I subscribed a Plus Plan and have been charged VAT from Dropbox. Mor...
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  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    7 years ago
    Hi there, our Plus subscription is a product for personal use rather than a business product, so we are obliged to charge tax on it in certain jurisdictions. We are also unable to exclude this from your payment. 
     
    Dropbox Plus invoices are created in such a way that we cannot adjust the billing information displayed. 
     
    As you use your Dropbox Plus subscription as a business, you may want to change your account name to your business name as described here.
     
    You might be able to use this invoice in your account to claim tax back from your tax authority but unfortunately we can’t exempt your account from tax or refund the tax paid.
  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    7 years ago
    I’d recommend at this point to write to our support team directly for further assistance, as they have more access to the relevant toolset and the necessary access to your account details.
Jay's avatar
Jay
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
Hi there, our Plus subscription is a product for personal use rather than a business product, so we are obliged to charge tax on it in certain jurisdictions. We are also unable to exclude this from your payment. 
 
Dropbox Plus invoices are created in such a way that we cannot adjust the billing information displayed. 
 
As you use your Dropbox Plus subscription as a business, you may want to change your account name to your business name as described here.
 
You might be able to use this invoice in your account to claim tax back from your tax authority but unfortunately we can’t exempt your account from tax or refund the tax paid.
artmanjam1's avatar
artmanjam1
Collaborator | Level 8
7 years ago

Sorry this totally irrelevant and illegal.

The way you provide invoices is your concern, not ours. The fact is you don't conform to the EU rules. Whatever the subscription plan is, the law applies.

And no, we can't request a refund by our national tax administration as it doesn't exceed 400€.

We are VAT registered and you have to provide us a compliant invoice with VAT exemption. Please check the Irish Revenue site and the EU VAT rules.

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    7 years ago
    I’d recommend at this point to write to our support team directly for further assistance, as they have more access to the relevant toolset and the necessary access to your account details.
    • artmanjam1's avatar
      artmanjam1
      Collaborator | Level 8
      7 years ago

      We already contacted the support for a while.

      Not one single precise and detailed answer for now.

      Still awaiting for a detailed answer.

      BTW I'm surprised by the answers which have been regularly provided on this forum, including yours. Let me say these are fake replies:

      - 'our Plus subscription is a product for personal use rather than a business product':
      this is relevant to a commercial or marketing practice, it has nothing to see with the law. The law applies whatever the product.

      - 'so we are obliged to charge tax on it in certain jurisdictions':
      FALSE. This applies to EU private unregistered customers (b2c), not to EU VAT registered ones (b2b).

      - 'We are also unable to exclude this from your payment':
      that's why you have to fix this.

      - 'You might be able to use this invoice in your account to claim tax back from your tax authority':
      As said before, we can't submit a VAT refund from our national administration for an amount beyond 400€. And this is not the regular way to manage intra-EU VAT.

      - 'unfortunately we can’t exempt your account from tax or refund the tax paid.':
      In other words you have unfair commercial practices and Dropbox doesn't conform to the EU rules.

      Still awaiting for a valid and detailed reply: Why don't you apply 'reverse charge' for EU b2b customers ?

      • Jay's avatar
        Jay
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        7 years ago
        I’m not seeing any tickets under your email address associated with your forum profile, I’m assuming you used another address or account to contact the support team?
         
        I still can only recommend contacting that team again on this matter. As this is a very specific billing-related query, we can’t provide any response on this topic on the forums.
    • artmanjam1's avatar
      artmanjam1
      Collaborator | Level 8
      7 years ago

      I opened a ticket for more than two weeks now.

      Let me say the provided 'answers' are nothing more than what I found around here, copy/paste of what's displayed on Dropbox site, which means vague and false statements.

      Still waiting for a detailed answer to my question:
      Why does Dropbox charge EU b2b customers VAT and which EU VAT rule do they refer to do so?

      I've been asked by mail to accept a 'Best Answer'. I didn't get any answer to my question, nore best, nore good. I'm still awaiting for a detailed reply to my simple question I'll be pleased to mark as 'Best answer' as soon as it's a real answer.

      • jmouritsen's avatar
        jmouritsen
        Explorer | Level 4
        7 years ago
        I have the same question! I love Dropbox and it’s user-friendliness, I was so surprised to learn that they are making this so hard for their customers.
        From what I can understand I would never be able to legally pay for a Dropbox Plus, through my company (assuming they charge Irish VAT), unless I afterwards seek tax returns from Ireland. Which would be a ridiculous lot of work, for such a small amount.
        If I subscribe to their Business tier, I would wave to wait for it to be renewed, to get tax exemption. 
        That is such a shady practice. 

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