"Martin J. Dürst" wrote:
On 2013/07/04 9:39, Barry Leiba wrote:
Registration for IETF87 in Berlin has been suspended to consider the impact
of a change in the VAT rules on Registration Fees. We expect registration
to open as soon as this matter has been clarified.
I don't understand what the effect of VAT rules is on money collected
in the U.S. in U.S. Dollars.
It's usual in the U.S. that taxes on goods bought and sold are levied as
a consumption tax, at the place (i.e. in the state) where the object is
bought (and therefore presumably consumed/used).
However, that's not a given, and VAT stands for value added tax, and the
value addition/consumption can be presumed to happen at the meeting in
Berlin (and there's no need for consensus here, it's the opinion of the
local tax authority that counts :-().
If the money that is collected is an entrance/participation fee for
the venue itself, then the local tax authority might require the local
VAT for _all_ visitors, even those that pay in advance or in a
different country.
While it might be possible to make the necessary tweaks about the fee
(maybe not for this meeting, but for future meetings) for the WG sessions
themselves, this would be more difficult to argue for the
breakfast/buffet/brownies/beverages (I assume that still exists)
and the access to the terminal room, where some form of badge
checking is usually done in order to protect the resources.
-Martin