Can SaaS Companies Afford to Ignore VAT and Sales Tax?

Before Rachel Harding became the global tax director at FastSpring, she spent two years on a mergers and acquisitions tax team. 

And she often saw deals fall apart.

“I kid you not, nine times out of 10, when a SaaS acquisition fell apart, it was a sales tax issue,” she told me.

Tax non-compliance can unravel an acquisition or result in million-dollar price adjustments.

Another time tax non-compliance can cause major issues? When you’re preparing an IPO. “That stuff will get picked up 100% on due diligence, so you want to clean it up now.”

This episode contains insights into VAT, GST, and sales tax compliance for SaaS companies, including:

• Five countries that recently passed tax regulations that impact SaaS companies.
• How tax liabilities can vary for B2B and B2C purchases in different areas of the world.
• How the statute of limitations works differently in each state in the US — and how that could affect your business financially.

This podcast is brought to you by FastSpring. As the leading merchant of record payment platform for digital products, FastSpring delivers an all-in-one solution for payments, subscriptions, and automated tax compliance—enabling digital businesses to expand globally with reduced complexity and lower costs.