The events industry is booming, with in-person, virtual, and hybrid models becoming standard practice. Globally, the events industry market size is expected to grow to over $1.9 trillion by 2029.

However, this shift in ticketing and events brings with it a complex web of tax compliance obligations—from sales tax to specific amusement taxes—that can overwhelm even the most experienced event organizers.

Understanding these tax responsibilities is key, as failure to comply can lead to significant penalties, fines, and reputational damage. For example, Tennessee, West Virginia, and South Dakota all have amusement taxes in the state, and miscalculating can be a significant liability on top of state and local sales tax. This guide will outline what ticketing platforms and event organizers should know about tax compliance in the US, Europe, and Canada, and it will illustrate how Stripe Tax can support ticketing businesses in navigating these challenges.

Overview of ticketing and events taxability in the US

Most sales tax rates are determined based on the location at the point of sale. For example, if you purchase a coffee mug at a physical store in Texas, you will pay the sales tax rate where the store is located.

With ecommerce purchases, this can either be the address where the customer is located, or the address of the store.

The same nuance applies to ticketing and events taxability. In-person events and admission services are taxed at the location where the event takes place. This is known as the “place of performance.”

If a place of performance is specified by the event organizer, the admission to the event will be taxed at that location, regardless of the customer’s or business’s location. If a transaction includes multiple items—such as admission to an event, digital services, or physical goods—each item will follow its own unique tax treatment.

For example, if an event ticket includes admission to the event itself, a T-shirt, and custom digital software, then all those items are taxed according to the taxability laws in that specific state.

Virtual events are taxed at the customer’s location.

Unique sales tax nuances for events and ticketing in the US

The US has some additional complexities when it comes to events and ticketing taxability. For example, 64% of states consider these purchases taxable, meaning event organizers must be aware of the different state laws to ensure they are only charging sales tax when required.

On top of that, there are 9 additional tax types outside of sales tax that event organizers must manage across more than 400 county, city, and district jurisdictions in the US:

• Admissions tax
  
• Amusement tax
  
• Attendance tax
  
• Entertainment tax
  
• Gross receipts tax
  
• Hospitality tax
  
• Luxury tax
  
• Resort tax
  
• Tourism tax
  

Overview of ticketing and events taxability in the European Union

In the EU, the taxation of events is governed by value-added tax (VAT) and comes down to a simple distinction: are your attendees physically present, or are they joining online?

For in-person events, VAT is due in the country where the event takes place. So, if you’re hosting a conference in France, you’ll need to charge French VAT on the tickets—regardless of where the attendees are from. This generally applies to both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions. However, some EU member states apply a reverse charge mechanism for B2B in-person events under the specific circumstances where the organizer is not established in the event’s host country and the business attendees are registered for VAT there. This shifts the responsibility of accounting for the VAT from the nonestablished event organizer to the locally VAT-registered business customer.

Many EU member states apply reduced VAT rates to certain live events and admissions to cultural venues, such as theaters, concerts, and museums. For example, in Germany, admissions to these types of events are subject to a reduced VAT rate—currently 7%. Similar rules apply in Belgium, France, Spain, and Italy.

As of January 1, 2025, the EU has new rules for B2C sales of virtual events. Now, you’ll need to charge VAT based on the customer’s location. This means if you’re selling a webinar to someone in Germany, you’ll apply the German VAT rate. For B2B sales, the reverse charge mechanism usually applies, meaning the business customer is responsible for handling the VAT. The treatment of digital admission tickets is also changing. Some countries explicitly include real-time, interactive digital events (not on-demand recordings) under reduced rates, while others include digital tickets under standard rates due to differing interpretations of EU VAT law.

To simplify things for businesses selling to consumers across the EU, the Union and non-Union One Stop Shop (OSS) schemes are available. These allow you to register for VAT in a single EU country and report all your EU sales in one return.

Overview of ticketing and events taxability in Canada

Canada’s sales tax system is multilayered, consisting of a federal goods and services tax (GST), provincial taxes in certain provinces, and a harmonized sales tax (HST) in others—which combines the GST and a provincial component.

For in-person events, the tax is determined by the location of the event. If your event is in a province with HST, you’ll charge the HST rate. If it’s in a province with GST and provincial tax, you might need to charge both.

For virtual events, the rules are similar to those for other digital services. You’ll generally charge sales tax based on your customer’s location. This means you need to know where your attendees are based to apply the correct GST, HST, or provincial tax rate.

Under Canada’s GST/HST system, admission services are generally subject to the standard rates (5% GST or 13%–15% HST, depending on the province). However, provincial sales tax treatment of entertainment admissions varies across provinces. For example, in British Columbia, entertainment admissions are generally exempt; meanwhile in Saskatchewan, they are taxable.

How Stripe Tax can help

With all of these nuances, determining where you have a sales tax obligation and need to register gets complicated. If your ticketing and events business follows the economic nexus standard, Stripe Tax helps you monitor obligations, and it alerts you when you exceed tax registration thresholds based on your Stripe transactions.

Stripe Tax can help ticketing and events businesses:

• Understand where to register and collect taxes: See where you need to collect taxes based on your Stripe transactions. After you register, switch on tax collection in a new state or country in seconds. You can start collecting taxes by adding one line of code to your existing Stripe integration, or add tax collection with the click of a button in the Stripe Dashboard.
  
• Register to pay tax: If your business is in the US, let Stripe manage your tax registrations, and benefit from a simplified process that prefills application details—saving you time and simplifying compliance with local regulations. If you’re located outside the US, Stripe partners with Taxually to help you register with local tax authorities.
  
• Automatically collect tax: Stripe Tax calculates and collects the right amount of tax owed, no matter what or where you sell. It supports hundreds of products and services and is up-to-date on tax rules and rate changes.
  
• Simplify filing: Stripe Tax seamlessly integrates with filing partners, so your global filings are accurate and timely. Let our partners manage your filings so you can focus on growing your business.
  

Learn more about Stripe Tax for ticketing and events businesses.