Ask HN: European country TLD - legal/tax issues? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: European country TLD - legal/tax issues?

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Hi,

I just registered a new .it (TLD for Italy) domain name for my startup - incidentally, works great with a verb (stuff.it, eat.it etc). However, the registration process was more involved than your usual .com/.net in that I had to give a passport number (it's limited to EU citizens). More importantly, there was a clause that said the domain would have to fall under Italian law and jurisdiction (or something to that effect). I can't remember the exact wording, but I was wondering whether anyone had any experience and could explain what this meant. Apart from pedantic legalities about what content could be hosted on the domain, would it have any financial effect in terms of tax status/registration? I'd be grateful if anyone could advise.

Falling under Italian jurisdiction could lead to troubles later on. Ianal but if you start making money perhaps they could want you to pay taxes. Furthermore Italy has one of the lowest levels of press freedom in Europe(1) and Berlusconi(2) (the prime minister) is pretty dictatorial and almost fascist. There are several lawsuits against him and he just keeps changing the law to evades being prosecuted.

Recently three Google executives were convicted in Italy because of a video uploaded to Google Video:

- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/7308384/Google-...

- http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1968123,00....

So yes, I'd definitely advice against starting a business with only an .it domain (without the .com, just in case). If you don't have the .com domain to fall back, definitely check with a lawyer in Italy.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Italy

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlusconi

A clause like the one you describe is fairly common: it just says that if you violate the .it terms and conditions, they can sue you in Italian court.

I would be more worried if there was language indicating that you live in Italy or have an Italian presence. For example, to register a .us domain name, you need to be either a US person or have a substantial connection with the United States. It's still a stretch to imagine that it would have tax consequences, but much more likely than a venue clause in the domain name contract.

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