Taxes - Based in Germany, trying to sell US-based products to US costumers

[tbassinello]

Hello everyone!

I would like to use Shopify to dropship US-based products  available on Spocket (note: suppliers are located in different places) to US costumers. I live in Germany. I have not set up a LLC or anything because I was told that I do not need to pay taxes on the US if I am not based there/don't have a dependant employee there/don't have an independent employee that works mostly for me there (too good to be true? :). Is anyone familiar with this issue? How should I set up my taxes settings on Shopify then? 

Many thanks!  

Thaís.

[Vincent]

Hi Thaís!

Vincent here from Shopify. Thank you for reaching out!

Which taxes you need to pay very much depends on the rules of each jurisdiction you're active in. In many cases when dropshipping, you only need to pay taxes in the region you're based in (with your customers possibly having to pay import duties when they receive physical goods), but there are many exceptions to this rule and we can't say which tax rules apply to your specific situation. I highly recommend reaching out to a tax professional in your local area if you're not sure about your tax obligations, they should be able to tell you which specific tax rules apply to you.

If it turns out that you need to calculate VAT on your products, this help-document (click here) may have some useful information that will help with setting the VAT-rates.

I hope you'll be able to get clarity soon!

Best,

Vincent