Episode 658 | As a SaaS Founder, When Should You Care About Sales Tax?

Startups For the Rest of Us

Rob Walling

Management, Entrepreneurship, Business, Marketing

4.8 • 792 Ratings

🗓️ 25 April 2023

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In episode 658, Rob Walling speaks with Geoff Roberts, co-founder of Outseta, about global sales tax compliance for SaaS founders. Geoff wrote a 4,400 article on the topic about when SaaS founders should care about sales tax not only within their own country but globally, along with the pros and cons of various solutions. We also dive into a bit of Geoff’s own story as the cofounder of Outseta. Topics we cover: 3:01 - Why should SaaS founders care about sales tax? 4:20 - At what revenue level does sales tax become important? 6:28 - Country-specific sales tax obligations 7:50 - The added tax complexities of running a membership platform 9:07 - What is a merchant of record? 14:28 - Why did Geoff write this 4,000-word post on sales tax compliance? 16:05 - The pros and cons of using a third-party merchant of record 17:39 - Alternative solutions where you are your own merchant of record 20:38 - How does a foreign government enforce tax requirements for an American small business? 21:48 - Mitigating sales tax risks if you take on funding or sell the company 23:34 - About Outseta 24:27 - The impact of the pandemic on Outseta 25:20 - The challenge of speaking to two very different audiences Links from the Show: Geoff Roberts @GeoffTRoberts I Twitter Outseta Global Sales Tax Compliance and Remittance MicroConf Mastermind Matching MicroConf Youtube Channel If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you. Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to another episode of Startups for the Rest of Us. I'm Rob Walling. Today I sit down with
0:05.2	Jeff Roberts, co-founder of Outseta. He wrote a 4,400-word article on global sales tax
0:13.5	remittance. And I joke with him in today's conversation about how it's one of the most
0:17.6	boring topics, but it's something that people should be aware of.
0:21.4	And that's why I titled this episode, as a SaaS founder, when should you care about sales tax?
0:26.5	Because the answer is likely not on day one, but there does come a point when you need to start thinking about sales tax not only within your own country, but globally.
0:35.8	And that's what Jeff and I dig into today. He's done a ton of
0:38.7	research on this topic. We define merchant of record. We talk about when you might want to be your
0:43.6	own versus using a third party, the pros and cons. And we hear a little bit about Jeff's own story
0:49.0	as a founder of OTSETA. Before we dive into that, microcomf mastermind matching starts in just a week or two.
0:56.9	Our applications open on May 3rd, and we've had incredible success connecting nearly 1,000 founders
1:04.6	around the world over the last three years with approaching $200 million in combined
1:10.5	ARR.
1:11.8	We have founders in the idea stage
1:13.6	all the way up to making millions, low-eight figures,
1:17.5	literally $10 million a year.
1:20.6	So whatever stage you're at,
1:22.4	if you've ever wanted to be connected
1:24.4	with a small group of other like-minded founders
1:26.9	who are likely at your
1:28.5	stage or maybe just a little ahead of you for support and guidance and accountability.
1:33.2	Head to microcomf.com slash masterminds to learn more and to get matched. Applications open
	...

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