SL slightly cheaper for UK users from today

Just thought I'd mention this.

VAT in the UK is expected to come down from 17.5% to 15% today, making anything bought from LL (tier etc.) slightly cheaper. I believe that 15% is the minimum according to EU rules, so it won't get any better.

Dam i will have to move back to the UK to save a couple percent now lol oops i forgot we don't have to pay it as we have a VAT nummer here in Holland

However its good that the UK has dropped it back to a figure of a few years ago and we have to pay 19% here in Holland when we have to pay it

Also the pound is dying a slow death so we are getting allot more £ for our L$ when we cash out. So spending less and earning more = a double bonus!

So when you joining the Euro then and getting the ID cards

There's more likelihood of it becoming the United States Of Britain And America than that . . .

Pep (At least they almost speak English)

Sad but true.

Yep. Last week I got about a third more £s for the $s than I was getting most of the year.

A major UK newspaper had an article discussing ID cards recently, which mentioned that:

- Married women changing their names would have to pay for a new ID card;
- Transsexuals would be allowed to have two ID cards, one showing their old sex (for countries or organizations, such as travel authorities, that do not respect the change) and one their new;
- Homeless people would be allowed to get ID cards showing their address as "a bench, bus stop or park where they are often found". (No, I'm not joking.)

So... um... let's hope it isn't too soon...

The sooner we join the euro, the better. As for ID cards, it all seems a bit of an expensive waste of time.

We're already a 'United States of Britain' - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - arguably Cornwall being a 5th 'state' since nobody's found any evidence that it ever officially became part of England!

Actually Wales is not part of the "United States of Britain". Great Britain was formed as the union of England and Scotland in the Treaty of Union of 1706, and the United Kingdom was formed as the union of the Kingdom of Britain and the Kingdom or Ireland a century later.

It seems the law makers forgot all about Wales!

I live in Germany (VAT 19%) but my credit card is issued by a UK bank (VAT 15%, and the registered address for my VISA payments is also UK, as I have my CC bills sent directly to my UK bank for instant payment, rather to my home address in Germany).

Will LL charge me VAT based on where I live, or on where my CC payments are made from?

Rock

Vat in UK at 15% was officially announced (rather than just rumoured) about 10 minutes ago, beginning next Monday (1st Dec)

I wonder how quickly LL will update their systems!

Matthew

I'll miss the change for this month's tier - due today - but my alt's tier is due on the 1st. I think I should get the benefit on the 1st but I don't know.

Actually this might be a bit of a can of worms. Mainland tier is paid behind, estate tier is paid ahead.

Not for the consumers though who are having a hard time of it.

I was also dismayed the other day when I discovered that the urban myth that it is still legal to shoot the Welsh with arrows across the border is actually just a myth and not true at all. Shame....

You have to use guns nowadays?

Pep (How about the Welsh spies living in England?)

I suspect that they're still fair game!

where!? the patois they speak in most places here I've lived (quite a few) is enough to make a person crazy.... and I'm considering brushing up on my spanish as a survival technique... if I don't get caught needing czech, japanese, or french (seems to be a lot of influx the past few years).

of course for us, ID is a fun issue... now you need one ID to get the other, and heavens help you if you somehow don't have 1 of the four majors (Birth Certificate, Social Securty Card, Passport, or State ID) or manage to lose them to accident or theft...it'd be almost nice to be able to put the local train station or park as my residence =)

Oooooh 2.5% how generous of them... pffft

You do realise they'll just take some cash out your other pocket.

Yeah in 2011.

VAT is a consumption tax, and I believe that the EU regulations state that for things like SL use, the consumption is regarded as taking place where you live... so 19% seems to apply.

That said, unless you're doing mega-biz in SL it's unlikely anyone would dig that far down... but you would still have the liability should they pick you for an audit, in which case back taxes would be demanded.

On another note - I know people don't like paying taxes (I don't! lol) but they do pay for things like hospitals, roads, policing, blah blah blah.... things we tend to get vocal about when they're not there or inadequate (USAnians need not begin a debate on the merits of public vs. private, please!) So why not just pay the 19%?

Inc

Without wanting to get into a big long rant about it, I see no reason whatsoever why I should be paying VAT for a service based in San Francisco, that I can only get from San Francisco, which doesn't impede European business, indeed VAT in Second Life actually harms European business.

VAT in Second Life is a punitive tax and simply shouldn't be happening.

or silly ID programs so that the government can catalog every aspect of you life, or institute programs that really only line a few peoples pockets or... need I go on? taxation generally isn't the problem, it's all the things that go with it that are above and beyond need or want that add to these taxes that people everywhere take umbrage with. sanity checks on taxes generally seem to bounce regardless of where you live.

Not for long,every Sunday a bunch of mates and myself take our spades up to the top end of the river Tamar,We are digging the river back to the Atlantic side.Soon we will be an island. LOL