End of life

As we announced on our site in January 2022, we tried several ways to support the development of the EU VAT Assistant (i.e. to bring some revenue, as maintaining a complex plugin and keeping up with the changes in taxation rules are time consuming endeavours), but they didn’t bring the desired results.
We also evaluated the possibility of replacing the EU VAT Assistant with a paid plugin, but we realised that the investment required to implement the additional features would have resulted in a high price tag, which would have discouraged the adoption of the new solution. Due to that, we came to the conclusion that moving to an existing alternative VAT compliance is a better option for the user base.

After June 2022, the EU VAT Assistant will keep working as it is, at least until WooCommerce will introduce breaking changes. It won’t disappear all of a sudden. Some users asked if there could be a way to keep releasing at least compatibility patches (i.e. not additional features, just keeping it running as it is), but that will depend on the presence of a sponsor who will cover the cost of that work (as of today, there isn’t one). If not, the plugin will remain available as is.

In relation to the questions:

1. If you remove the plugin, then it will no longer collect VAT data and you won’t be able to use its reports. As you already stated, there also won’t be a VAT number validation feature.
2. If you keep using the plugin after June 2022, it will run like it did before. We’re not going to “break” it, it will just work as it does.
3. The migration to the VAT Compliance plugin is an optional paid service that we offer to users who request it, as part of our deal with Simba Hosting. There’s quite a bit of work to be done to convert the data from one plugin to the other, and it requires technical knowledge of both plugins, therefore we don’t have a “step by step” guide for the end user.
   An alternative to the data migration is to simply use the EU VAT Assistant up until a certain date, then take a backup of the site until that point and keep it as a reference for past orders. You can then use the VAT Compliance plugin on the new site, and use it for new orders. This would be the cheapest solution, and it would not require a migration.

Thank you so much for your reply.
One more question,
will the VAT field remain in the database for reference, when removing the plugin ?

If you remove the EU VAT Assistant from your site, the VAT data collected by it will be preserved (unless you delete it yourself, of course).

Thanks for the heads up! I prefer a single purchase for lifetime updates and support and found EU/UK VAT Manager for WooCommerce a suitable replacement.

My use case isn’t that complicated. I just want to display the VAT field to a business from another EU country so they can exempt VAT by entering a valid ID.

I did put the author to the test and got quick replies and a plugin update. Hope this info helps somebody else compare replacement plugins.

@mackaaij Thanks for your feedback. Like most plugin authors, we never offered lifetime licences, because that’s not a sustainable business model. Developing and maintaining a software is an expensive endeavour, which generates recurring costs. This is particularly true when dealing with complex subjects, like taxes, which can change significantly from one year to the other, and require specific knowledge and expertise.

A “once off” payment rarely covers these costs (especially in the WordPress ecosystem, where prices are already really low), and it introduces a high risk of a product being discontinued at some point, when the revenue becomes insufficient to fund the development of the product. That’s the reason why many developers who used to offer lifetime licences are removing it, and some are even asking owners of lifetime licence to switch to an annual subscription.

Due to this, we advise developers and users alike to be careful with lifetime options. The former could find themselves without a revenue stream, which is vital to keep a business afloat. The latter could end up paying for a lifetime licence, usually priced at 3 to 5 times an annual licence, and stop receiving updates sooner than they expected, and end up paying more than they would have paid with an annual subscription.