[teamonkey]

In the UK at least it's not difficult or expensive to register for VAT, but it is yet another barrier. Bear in mind that registering a company is trivial in the UK compared to some other countries.

I registered my small business for VAT voluntarily when I was bringing in much less than 81k since I found that larger companies wouldn't deal with me if I wasn't VAT registered. Since I already had an accountant and used software for my bookkeeping the effort and increase in costs was negligible.

What is difficult is charging a different VAT rate for every non-VAT registered individual in every country you sell to.