A translation is done for business purposes if it’s done for a freelance translator in another country, and that includes one who is not registered for VAT. So if I, in Germany, do a translation for a UK client, I charge VAT only if the client is a private person.

The diagram is taken from just before section 12 of VAT Notice 741, Place of Supply of Services. There is a list of notices online, but the number is given as 742, which isn’t correct.
HM Revenue & Customs has the notices online. The reverse charge, or tax shift, is described in 15.1.

The reverse charge arises when a translator in the UK, not registered for VAT (they often aren’t, and the threshold above which you have to register is higher), does work for me. It is deemed to be done in Germany, and I have to pay VAT on it. But at the same time I can deduct this VAT payment:

15.4 How does the reverse charge work?
You simply credit your VAT account with an amount of output tax, calculated on the full value of the supply you have received, and at the same time debit your account with the input tax to which you are entitled, in accordance with the normal rules. The partial exemption implications for reverse charge services are explained in Notice 706 Partial exemption.

The relevant parts of the statutes are mentioned in these articles or in the VAT notice.

Value Added Tax Act 1994 (UK)
Umsatzsteuergesetz 1980 (Germany)

Article in English by Kay Fisher at Translatorscafe.

Deutscher Artikel über USt für Übersetzer von Per Döhler auf der ADÜ-Nord-Website.

Taken at a local supermarket about ten days ago.

Here’s another translation weblog, Translation Musings. The blogger seems to have been active in April but not in May, however. (Via blogroll of The German-English Translator)

It sounds as if Piano Man may come from the Czech Republic:

bq. The behaviour of the unidentified stranger, who is in a secure unit in north Kent, has left health professionals flummoxed. All attempts to coax him into communication, including the use of interpreters from Poland, Lithuania and Latvia – but not the Czech Republic – have failed. He cowers when approached by strangers and is constantly anxious.

What I wonder is why did they try Poland, Lithuania and Latvia? Or did they try whoever they had at hand in North Kent? Or did they try many, and are just naming the East European ones?

Markenbusiness News reported (in German) that a Munich court ordered a lawyer to release the domain name fatum.de to a Mr or Ms Fatum.

bq. Nach einem Urteil des LG München (Az: 27 O 16317/04) steht das Recht an der Domain fatum.de dem klagenden Namensinhaber zu. Ein Rechtsanwalt hatte den Begriff im Jahr 2000 angemeldet, seitdem aus Zeitgründen aber keine Inhalte auf der Website hinterlegt. Jetzt muss er die Domain bei der deutschen Domainregistrierungsstelle DENIC freigeben.

The lawyer has never got round to putting up a horoscope site (Latin fatum, German Schicksal, English fate).

In the baroque period, if I remember right, a lot of German names were latinized. I once shared a flat with a Noltenius (originally Nolte). How Fatum became a surname is more mysterious.

The court held that the name could be generic, but in this case the owner of the name had priority.

This matter has also been reported by domainblog (in German), which got the information on a list from a lawyer called Noogie C. Kaufmann. Now there’s a good name! It reports the court as saying that one reason for not defining fatum.de as purely generic was that the German translation is only familiar to persons with a knowledge of Latin [or English? MM], but this ‘does not apply to the majority of the population’.

(Thanks to Lisa of Luxus Linguae)

The following entry is about a certificate that is only in German.

Zum Gerichts- und Behördenterminologie Buch, das ich neulich erwähnte, gibt es die Möglichkeit, ein “Fachzertifikat” zu bekommen. Das ist vielleicht interessant für diejenigen, die Kenntnisse vorweisen wollen.

Diese Möglichkeit wird von Senator E.h. Reinold Skrabal in Baden-Württemberg geboten (nachträglich möchte ich Dr. Daum seinen chinesischen Professorentitel zurückgeben). Es heißt “nach der Methode Prof. Dr. Jur. Ulrich Daum”, aber ob das bedeutet, dass die Prüfungsfragen denen der bayerischen Staatsprüfung ähneln, weiß ich nicht. Man soll das Daum-Buch studieren und dann per Post 200 Fachfragen beantworten. Es gibt Prüfungsvoraussetzungen – Übersetzer und Dolmetscher, die weder beeidigt noch staatlich oder akademisch geprüft sind, müssen mehrere Jahre Berufserfahrung haben.

Preis und Details können bei Herrn Skrabal, der für Französisch und Italienisch in Bayern und Baden-Württemberg beeidigt ist, in der Form eines 5-seitigen Merkblatts bestellt werden. Hier seine Webseiten, dort auch andere Studienangebote.