My Problem: 
I am selling advertising to businesses in Europe, I am a US corp. The 
payment is a credit card transaction. 
 
Question: 
Do I need to collect taxes in Europe (specific European countries).  
If not, are there special regulations on what information I have to 
provide on the receipt.  Is an online-only receipt sufficient for 
business customers? 
 
 
The countries I need to know this for: 
UK 
Germany 
France 
Italy 
Spain 
Netherlands

Hello thomask_sf-ga

The countries you have listed are all part of the European Union
verified by the European Union in the U.S. (
http://www.eurunion.org/states/home.htm ) which is a site specifically
aimed at U.S. companies. Particularly useful reference is the page on
EU Law and Policy Overview (
http://www.eurunion.org/legislat/interweb.htm ) and the EU Laws and
Policies on Selected Topics page (
http://www.eurunion.org/legislat/home.htm )

- The Collection of Taxes in Europe
There isn’t a requirement for U.S. based companies to collect tax, but
that is changing soon, due to the desire to place European countries
on a level playing ground with non European suppliers. European
companies were finding that their goods were more expensive due to
tax, however this rule only applies to the B2C market. European
businesses can claim back the tax so cost with or without tax to them
makes no difference.

This article at computerworld.com’s website May 8 2002 Joris Evers IDG
News
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/ebusiness/story/0,10801,70955,00.html
Highlights the new regulations for July 2003, “The system, to be
implemented in the European Union (E.U.) by July 2003, applies only to
business-to-consumer transactions. Companies based outside the E.U.
and selling to E.U. consumers have to register with a VAT authority in
an E.U. member state of their choosing and pay the VAT rate applicable
in the customer's country”
As you will be performing B2B transactions the above does not apply.

- Information on the Receipt
There appears to be no hard or fast rules from researching the E.U.
sites. I also purchase goods and services for my company and find
digital receipts from EU companies do vary in content.
As a guideline furnishing the receipt with at least the amount of
information present on a paper receipt would be sensible. e.g. name of
company, address, phone number, email, website address, order number,
maybe transaction ID, service supplied, cost, ‘shipping address’
method of payment, purchase order etc will make it more identifiable
to the purchaser and clearer for business accounting.

- Online-Only Receipt
Yes it is acceptable as international companies like Apple Computer (
http://www.apple.com/uk/thestore/ ) Macromedia (
http://www.macromedia.com/downloads/ ) Overture UK (
http://uk.overture.com/d/UKm/about/advertisers/index.jhtml ) and
Google UK ( https://adwords.google.com/select/main?cmd=Login&sourceid=promo&subid=en_uk
) provide digital receipts to European business customers. Content of
the onilne receipt, same as the above to include as much detail as you
need to, and allow the option to print out the page.
Best practise though is to email a receipt and give an online one as a
double safety feature. Just incase the email address is wrong or
accessed by a different department, or they close the browser window
without printing!

One point which might need attention is if your credit card merchant
account name is not the same name as the trading name on the receipt.
(from a business accounting point of view) e.g. Receipt says ABC
company and credit card statement is debited by XYZ company, sends my
accountant loopy : -)

This article outlines points that member states embrace, what
conformity there is and gives an insight into the basic contractural
framework etc.
Legal aspects of electronic commerce - europa.eu.int
http://europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l24204.htm

“9. The information to be provided for the purposes of concluding a
contract electronically must include, in particular:

- the different stages to follow to conclude the contract;
- whether or not the concluded contract will be filed and whether it
will be accessible;
- the expedients for correcting handling errors.”
10. The contract will be considered concluded when the recipient has
received from the service provider, electronically, an acknowledgement
of receipt of the recipient's acceptance and has confirmed receipt of
the acknowledgement of receipt (Article 11)

Search Strategy:
e.u. member countries
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=e.u.+member+countries
european online taxation
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=european++online+taxation

I trust that gives a satisfactory response to your posted question
If you need clarification please ask,
kind regards
lot-ga

Great answers!  Thanks for pointing out the new legisaltion.