B2B Plus Plan VAT and invoice

[artmanjam1]

I'm a (non Irish) EU VAT registered customer. Thereby the VAT 'Reverse charge' applies, which means I shouldn't be charged VAT.

I subscribed a Plus Plan and have been charged VAT from Dropbox. More, the invoice is not compliant. I asked for a refund, Dropbox says they don't refund VAT and don't apply changes to an invoice for Plus Plan.

How can it be and why Dropbox doesn't follow the law?

[Jay · Accepted solution]

Hi there, our Plus subscription is a product for personal use rather than a business product, so we are obliged to charge tax on it in certain jurisdictions. We are also unable to exclude this from your payment. 

Dropbox Plus invoices are created in such a way that we cannot adjust the billing information displayed. 

As you use your Dropbox Plus subscription as a business, you may want to change your account name to your business name as described here.

You might be able to use this invoice in your account to claim tax back from your tax authority but unfortunately we can’t exempt your account from tax or refund the tax paid.

[artmanjam1]

Sorry this totally irrelevant and illegal.

The way you provide invoices is your concern, not ours. The fact is you don't conform to the EU rules. Whatever the subscription plan is, the law applies.

And no, we can't request a refund by our national tax administration as it doesn't exceed 400€.

We are VAT registered and you have to provide us a compliant invoice with VAT exemption. Please check the Irish Revenue site and the EU VAT rules.

[Jay · Accepted solution]

I’d recommend at this point to write to our support team directly for further assistance, as they have more access to the relevant toolset and the necessary access to your account details.

[artmanjam1]

We already contacted the support for a while.

Not one single precise and detailed answer for now.

Still awaiting for a detailed answer.

BTW I'm surprised by the answers which have been regularly provided on this forum, including yours. Let me say these are fake replies:

- 'our Plus subscription is a product for personal use rather than a business product':
this is relevant to a commercial or marketing practice, it has nothing to see with the law. The law applies whatever the product.

- 'so we are obliged to charge tax on it in certain jurisdictions':
FALSE. This applies to EU private unregistered customers (b2c), not to EU VAT registered ones (b2b).

- 'We are also unable to exclude this from your payment':
that's why you have to fix this.

- 'You might be able to use this invoice in your account to claim tax back from your tax authority':
As said before, we can't submit a VAT refund from our national administration for an amount beyond 400€. And this is not the regular way to manage intra-EU VAT.

- 'unfortunately we can’t exempt your account from tax or refund the tax paid.':
In other words you have unfair commercial practices and Dropbox doesn't conform to the EU rules.

Still awaiting for a valid and detailed reply: Why don't you apply 'reverse charge' for EU b2b customers ?

[Jay]

I’m not seeing any tickets under your email address associated with your forum profile, I’m assuming you used another address or account to contact the support team?

I still can only recommend contacting that team again on this matter. As this is a very specific billing-related query, we can’t provide any response on this topic on the forums.

[artmanjam1]

Yes I opened a ticket by the support.

1- After many posts and replies with the support team, I must say I didn't get anything more than here.

2- My topic is not something specific. It's a question which has been submitted by many users for several years. And the replies are all the same, vague and false. It has never been replied it was some specific query for which no answer could be provided here...

I just wonder: nobody in the Wonderful World of Dropbox to give us a detailed answer to our simple question? Unbelievable.

[artmanjam1]

I already opened a ticket by the support team for more than two weeks now. I don't get any detailed answer to my request. Nothing more (and quite the same, word by word) than here. Other said, copy/paste of what's displayed on Dropbox site. Vague and false assertions.

[artmanjam1]

I opened a ticket for more than two weeks now.

Let me say the provided 'answers' are nothing more than what I found around here, copy/paste of what's displayed on Dropbox site, which means vague and false statements.

Still waiting for a detailed answer to my question:
Why does Dropbox charge EU b2b customers VAT and which EU VAT rule do they refer to do so?

I've been asked by mail to accept a 'Best Answer'. I didn't get any answer to my question, nore best, nore good. I'm still awaiting for a detailed reply to my simple question I'll be pleased to mark as 'Best answer' as soon as it's a real answer.

[jmouritsen]

I have the same question! I love Dropbox and it’s user-friendliness, I was so surprised to learn that they are making this so hard for their customers.
From what I can understand I would never be able to legally pay for a Dropbox Plus, through my company (assuming they charge Irish VAT), unless I afterwards seek tax returns from Ireland. Which would be a ridiculous lot of work, for such a small amount.
If I subscribe to their Business tier, I would wave to wait for it to be renewed, to get tax exemption. 
That is such a shady practice.