Sales Tax
Tax can be hideously complicated. If we were to try and boil it down into its essence, the following should help.
Customers outside the European Union (EU) - eg customers in the USA
If we are shipping photographs / books to customers in the USA (or any other territory outside the European Union) then no UK sales taxes are due.
Once you complete your address and shipping details, the online payment system will recognise that you are outside the EU and no sales tax are added to your order.
Customers in the European Union (EU) - eg customers in the UK, Germany
For individual customers in the UK and other European Union member states, the sales tax (VAT) rules start to get more complicated.
Books for EU customers
For the vast majority of books, no VAT is due. The prices quoted on the site for books are always final prices and no sales taxes are added as part of the checkout process to get to the final price.
Photographs for EU customers
Some photographers' set their prices net of sales taxes. The consequence is that the final price for the work of these photographers is higher for EU customers than for non-EU customers because of the additional VAT. For these photographers, we always quote prices net of VAT. These photographs are clearly identifiable when you click on the 'tax' button next to the image / directly below the price and size options, a window will pop up and confirm that for EU customers, VAT will need to be added as part of the checkout process.
On these products, when you make a purchase through the online shop you will see a line appearing referring to sales tax/VAT (where applicable) and bringing in an amount of sales tax. This is the VAT (at the appropriate rate, currently 20% from 4 January 2011 ) due on the photographs that have been priced net of VAT, leading to a VAT inclusive total amount payable by EU customers.
Other photographers set a worldwide price for their work. In other words, the price that a customer pays is the same irrespective of whether you are within or outside the EU. For these photographers, we aborb any sales tax which falls due where the customer is in the EU - so for EU customers nothing gets added to the price as part of the checkout process. VAT still remains due, but we absorb it - you can treat it as if it is already in the price. Again, the photographers who set their prices on this basis are clearly identifiable: when you click on the 'tax' button next to the image / directly below the price and size options, a window will pop up and confirm that for EU customers, the price quoted is the final price.