Where your cross-border course sales are taxed

Selling an online course internationally feels borderless, but tax is not. The place-of-supply rules decide which country has the right to tax a sale, and for online education that is frequently the learner's country rather than yours.

This guide explains, in general terms, how place of supply works for cross-border e-learning, why distance learning sits outside the old classroom rule, and what you need to capture at the point of sale. It is general information, not tax advice. The rules differ by country and change, so confirm your own position with a qualified adviser.

Where B2C digital services are taxed

For business-to-consumer digital services, the place of supply is generally the consumer's location, meaning where they usually live. So if your course is an electronically supplied service sold to an individual abroad, you may owe tax in your learner's country, not just your own.

This is the rule that surprises founders most. A single product, sold from one place, can be taxed wherever the buyers happen to be. The location of your business does not control it for these supplies.

Why B2B is different

Business-to-business supplies generally follow a different logic: the place of supply is usually where the business customer belongs. So selling a course to a company, rather than to an individual consumer, can change which country's rules apply and how the tax is accounted for.

That makes it important to know whether each sale is to a consumer or to a business. The same course can sit under different place-of-supply rules depending on who is buying, which is one reason your checkout data matters so much.

Distance learning and the classroom rule

There is a specific rule for education performed in a physical place, but it has a precise condition: it needs the teacher and pupil physically in the same place at the same time. A purely distance-learning online supply does not meet that, so it falls outside the where-performed rule.

Instead, a distance-learning online course is assessed under the general services rules, or the digital-services rules where it is an electronically supplied service. In practice that pushes most online education back towards the consumer-location and business-location tests above, rather than the classroom location.

Know and evidence your learner's location

Because the tax can follow the learner, you need to know your learner's location at the point of sale and keep evidence of it. Selling the same online course into many countries can create obligations in several of them at once, and you cannot manage what you have not recorded.

Capture and retain location evidence as standard, and distinguish consumer sales from business sales. Remember the rules differ by country and change. The EU is changing treatment of live online services from 2025, and US sales-tax on e-learning varies by state, so build your records to support whatever each market requires, and confirm specifics with an adviser.

How Altery fits

Altery does not determine where your sales are taxed; place of supply depends on what you sell, who buys it, and where they are, and is a matter to confirm with a qualified adviser. Altery's role is indirect but practical: it helps you collect, hold, and account for the money cleanly when obligations span several countries.

You can take tuition in the buyer's currency through multi-currency business accounts in USD, EUR, and GBP, ring-fence tax that may be due in a given market in a dedicated pot or sub-account so funds are there to remit, and run FX on your own timeline. Real-time balances and categorised spend give you clean records of which sales came from which markets, and multi-entity management helps if different countries push you towards different entities.

Altery is not a bank, and this guide is general information, not tax or legal advice. Confirm where your cross-border sales are taxed with a qualified adviser.

Frequently asked questions