[Omniusaspirer]

This is effectively impossible to enforce though, at least for foreign sellers; is that a fair assessment? I'm really not seeing any mechanism whereby the EU could actually force them to pay their taxes when they're selling goods that don't physically exist. Small arts and crafts need to be shipped, software does not.

I guess they could pressure payment services (Paypal, Dwolla), but Bitcoin could always be used as a fallback- it's also VAT exempt or at least appears to be from my quick searches on the subject.

[sailfast]

I could see tax authorities going after consumers that are not paying VAT - they reside in the EU and are easier to prosecute than foreign companies.

In the past in the United States, the providers (such as Amazon) have placed the burden of paying state taxes on the consumer - I wonder if they could, somehow, also make the consumer responsible in this case and thereby continue to operate in the same manner?