If it works the same as in Germany you only pay no VAT if you buy from a company in another EU country as a company.
Therefore the EU has both a sales tax and a VAT depending on if you look at individual countries or the EU as a whole.
Therefore the EU has both a sales tax and a VAT depending on if you look at individual countries or the EU as a whole.
What is also great: all products targeted at consumers must contain VAT price. If it isn't mentioned, it is assumed it includes VAT. They don't get away with "oh sorry, forgot to mention VAT" at checkout.
Contrast that to every time I buy something from USA its like "oh, you gotta pay your duties" bwam extra ~20+% on price, and all prices in online discussions which are US-centric (e.g. comparisons on products such as recently Airpods Max) do not include tax (whatever you want to call it).
Different VAT throughout EU can be annoying though. Price comparisons within EU, for example. Regularly, Amazon Germany seems cheap or cheaper than Amazon Netherlands. With Prime, shipping is free either way, so sounds good, right? Until you go to checkout, they figure you really do want to ship to The Netherlands (my default and only address whilst logged in, go figure) and bwam price adjusted without being mentioned. Though that might be an Amazon specific issue.
There are other countries with sales tax which don't have this cultural quirk, and where prices normally (whether by custom or by law) include the tax.
Took this far through the comments to get there. There’s a lot of competition for “the worst thing about America”, but it tops my personal list.
The mandatory tipping culture is another one. If it is mandatory, add it in the price. Tips should be earned. At least in Europe I know what to expect upfront.
The imperial system is another. Makes it unnecessary difficult to convert units.
Its difficult to change such illogical customs though. They're deeply ingrained in the culture, which is in many ways a dominant culture.
If I have misinterpreted it, I would very much like to know so I can inform my accountant. VAT is enough of a hairy mess as it is.
And the accounting is there because of tax fraud, I guess. And I also guess that the US has a similar accounting system where they have to report the amount purchased per tax bracket and the IDs of the companies they bought from.