Tax Changes coming to Patreon (and all other crowdfunding platforms) (Patreon)

I wanted to make this post in advance, although Patreon will reportedly be sending an email out to everyone using the platform sometime around June 1st.

On July 1st (not June 1st, so this is still about a month away), Patreon will be adding sales tax to all applicable pledges on Patreon, which will mean in most situations, the amount you pay for your pledge will be increasing slightly.

As in, probably 1%-2% or something, so a $5 pledge would become $5.05-$5.10.

To note, this is NOT Patreon's decision - this is a Government-mandated change, not something Patreon is choosing to do. All of the sales tax goes immediately to the Government, and Patreon has no choice in whether or not they implement it.

(You can read more about it over at  https://www.avalara.com/vatlive/en/vat-news/us-wayfair-e-commerce-ruling-hits-non-us-retailers.html  and  https://www.avalara.com/vatlive/en/vat-news/us-2020-sales-tax-changes-foreign-sellers-and-marketplaces.html )

Meaning, quitting Patreon/no longer supporting creators on there will not make Patreon reverse the changes, because this new sales tax is legally required and they have no say in the matter. (This also means that all other crowdfunding platforms, without exception, will also have to abide by this or face government penalties.)

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The tl;dr of the new sales tax setup is that most of Europe and many other countries have been doing "VAT Taxes" for years now, where you get charged for internet sales based on the region you're at.

Patreon has been taking care of those taxes this entire time for creators; anytime anyone outside of America pledges to anyone else on here, they get charged the VAT tax along with the pledge amount, and then Patreon sends that VAT fee off to the government of the respective areas when they file their taxes.

Now, that same concept is coming to America. It's under another name, but it's effectively VAT Taxes for Americans for internet purchases (and a number of other countries).

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That being said, however, we completely understand if the increased charges mean any of you have to lower your pledge, or stop supporting us (especially with COVID going on).

We just want to make sure that everybody is informed about what's happening, and that there are no misunderstandings about why it's happening.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me here or on the Discord, and I'll give you more info, or you can message Patreon support and they can give you more information.

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As always though, thanks for supporting us as we continue on towards the end of development!

(And if you do want to help even more, you can always wishlist us over at https://store.steampowered.com/app/1238920/Future_Fragments/ !)

We've also got some good news/more content to show you coming soon; as a reminder, we're posting new art on the public Discord all the time! https://discord.gg/puXrfSm