Heads-up: Sales tax change thing incoming (Patreon)

Hello!

As you have possibly heard there are some tax changes happening on Patreon for some people starting on 1st July. My understanding is that Patreon themselves are going to send out an e-mail tomorrow, but I thought I'd give a heads-up with my understanding before then.

Basically: Various new laws have been passed in certain countries and US States, which means that people who live in such places will have to pay an amount of sales tax on top of their pledge. That tax amount will go directly to their government.

If you live in the EU, then you might as well stop reading now - Patreon have already had to charge VAT for EU patrons since 2015 and it's included in your pledge amount, so nothing will change for you at all. (The UK is included in this. That may change in the future, of course.)

If you live in Australia, Belarus, Iceland, India, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Canada (Quebec only), Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, the UAE or the USA then tax will be added. If you do not live in one of those countries, then nothing will change for you and you can stop reading and go get a sandwich.

Remember I said the USA? Well, there will be no tax charged for the following states: Alsaka, Delaware, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon and Tennessee.  So if you live in one of those states, nothing will change for you and you can stop reading this and get a sandwich.

For anyone still reading: There is a chance you may be charged a small amount of tax on top of your pledge from 1 July onwards. If and how much is totally dependent on the country / state you're in, their tax rates and how they decide what parts of your pledge are taxable. Patreon says that in the USA, less than half of all pledges will have tax added and for those that do, the average amount will be well under 50 cents.

As you can imagine, myself and many other creators would prefer it if we could absorb the cost of new sales taxes ourselves. Annoyingly, this isn't possible as it is illegal in many countries - notably the USA - to include sales tax in pricing. It has to be broken out as a separate item. (I find this confounding as we include tax in prices in the UK and EU.)

Ultimately, most people won't have to pay anything extra and for those that do the amount will be very small. But it's super important that you know if your pledge will increase by any amount, obviously.

And... that's all I know! Patreon have a page with more information here: https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043055071 

Well, that wasn't a very exciting update. But needs must as... tax... drives, or something. Take care and stay safe. Your support is hugely appreciated at the best of times, but it's double-hugely appreciated at the moment.

Stuart.