I am in a similar position. I sell maybe one or two items per month at between $30 and $80 each. I have sent a query to Paypal as follows: " You have sent me an email asking for my South African VAT number. I do not have one, because I CAN NOT legally have one. Allow me to quote from the South African official website, in this regard ( https://www.gov.za/services/services-organisations/tax/vat/register-vat ) , I quote: "You must register your business for Value Added Tax (VAT) if the total value of taxable goods or services is more than R1 million in a 12-month period, or is expected to exceed this amount. A business may also register voluntarily if the income earned in the past 12-month period exceeded R50 000. " Since my income is way below the voluntary threshold of R50000, the South African government would be spending more on the processing of this minute amount of tax than would be worth their while. So: Please advise." So...if they insist on a VAT number, I won't be closing my PayPal account, even though I am totally p@#$%^ off with PayPal, since I occasionally buy things via PayPal, but I will need to shut down my website and no longer sell my items. That sucks.
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