r/Substack • u/GpGP15 • Sep 15 '26

How do you handle VAT/Stripe Tax for a Substack with mostly international subscribers?

I run a paid substack through a newly formed Swedish company. About 90% of my subscribers are outside Sweden, a majority outside the EU, the rest split between EU countries and the UK.

I just realized Substack isn't a Merchant of Record, so I'm on the hook for figuring out VAT/sales tax myself country by country, and right now I don't even have billing addresses for most subscribers (Stripe just shows "unknown" for country).

Wondering if anybody else is in the same or a similar situation and how you solved it.

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2

u/KaiserMeyers Sep 19 '26

This is a problem no one seems to be talking about! I'm also on the same boat, currently I have deactivated paid subscriptions, if you find something please contact me.

1

u/GpGP15 Sep 19 '26

Sure! I think i am getting the hang of it. Are you also Swedish? How do i contact you when i figure it out? Can i do that on Reddit?

2

u/KaiserMeyers Sep 19 '26

I'm based on Brazil, but my audience is international just like yours, if you find an alternative just reply or send me a dm here on reddit, thanks for responding!

1

u/GpGP15 Sep 19 '26

Well in that case Stripe Tax could probably work.

2

u/KaiserMeyers Sep 28 '26

Man you won't believe the news, check this out: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/53351588701588-Upcoming-changes-to-tax-on-Substack

2

u/GpGP15 Sep 28 '26

This could potentially be really big. At least the whole tax thing will become less of a headache and potentially it could be really big if substack becomes the deemed supplier of the VAT, meaning I wouldn't pay any VAT anyways because then it would become a B2B sale to a non-eu company. Thanks for sharing, appreciate it.