Jan 1st Impact on our Hobby

[Guest]

They should of course have pointed out that customers in the EU will be responsible for their own VAT and any import duties.
Pete

I think they did....but still! I have a sister-in-law in Spain who might be coming in doubly handy!

[BarryW]

Sorry , he used the word deal , he did that to allow himself a get out.
If he meant he had an "oven ready agreement", that is what he should have said.
Boris writes a pro and an against argument for all things , then chooses one.

I will agree that sometimes he does pick a good phrase like ''f**k business" , he really has done , most still don't have enough info to know what import taxes will definitely be placed on goods coming in, and good companies are no longer sending things that will arrive after 1st January and incur whatever customs etc charges will be invoked.

Semantics aside the reference was about the withdrawal agreement. This is not the place to debate the merits of Brexit or Boris.

[Guest]

As you may know, as of January 1, 2021 the United Kingdom will be requiring all companies outside of the UK to register and collect UK VAT.

I’m not trying to make this into a discussion about the why’s and wherefores, but this makes no sense at all. How would the UK government enforce this in a foreign country?

If Hannats had been smarter they'd have said nothing at all and pocketed the difference :tears-of-joy:

That news will get out fairly soon, when some people in the EU realise they don’t have to pay UK VAT anymore and then wonder why they’re charged the same prices as UK customers. (This works both ways, BTW: if you’re in the UK and order something from the EU, you should be charged the VATless price — if not, somebody might be trying to pocket the difference. Or is just unaware of the need to reduce the price, of course.)

[Ian M]

I am glad that the politics in this thread is being held at bay. Due to the nature of the thread, quite a hard task.
As I see it things will be no different with the UK than it has been purchasing form outside the EU before. You pay you money and takes your chance.
I have bought things from USA and the Far East. Most have come through without any hassle, a couple of things I had to collect from the Post Office and pay the ransom. These days where an actual post office is a thing of the past, I cant really see that the "Parcel collection points" typically in Petrol stations and supermarkets (Over here) will be geared up to become tax collectors.

[Guest]

I’m not sure how it works in other countries, but in the Netherlands, it boils down to that the more expensive your order, the greater the chance it’ll get flagged for import duties and tax. You pay nothing below a certain amount (IIRC, just over €20 including postage), then one of the two (I forget which) up to another amount and both above that. This means it can be to your benefit to order things separately instead of as a single parcel — but if they arrive in the country at the same time, chances are that they’ll still be seen as one order. Nonetheless, I did order some track sets from Panda Plastics in the USA and requested they be sent separately, because individually they didn’t reach the lower limit but together, they did. Both parcels arrived at the same time but with no tax or import duties owed. Maybe I just got lucky, though.

[Peter Gillson]

I’m not trying to make this into a discussion about the why’s and wherefores, but this makes no sense at all. How would the UK government enforce this in a foreign country?

jakko - i don't think they can actually enforce it, but they can make it difficult if EU companies do not register.

it looks as though the process for sales from the EU Into the UK will be the same as from Guernsey and Jersey into the UK. VAT is liable on all sales into the UK (including used good sold of sites like ebay) and all packages have to have a completed form CN22 which details what is inside and its value as well as if it is a sale or a gift; from these the UK post can see if VAT is applicable or not. Gifts of a value below £39.00 do not attract VAT - this may be why I have received goods from the Far East marked as 'gifts'; which is a false declaration and a crime in itself.

We have the ability to pre-pay the VAT at our local post office when we post items, there is no legal requirment to pre-pay the VAT, but if we do not there is the chance the goods could be stopped and the VAT charged to the recipient, along with an admin charge. Buying a bust, then getting slapped wih a £20% charge and and admin charge as well as the delays and inconvenience would not do a lot for customer relations! It sounds as if the UK ard trying to introduce a system of enabling companies to prepay VAT on goods from the EU, on a company by company basis by asking them to register - no doubt they would have to pay the VAT directly to the UK tax offices. The incentive for EU businesses being that they would be sure their goods are not held up by UK revenue.

if any system is similar to the way we are treated, it will be bad news for smaller businesses. A UK business which has a turnover of less than £80,000pa can regiIster to be exempt of VAT and thereby not have to charge VAT on its products. I assume EU countries have similar arrangements under their own VAT rules, so thier sale in the EU and to the UK would currently have no VAT. I fall into this income band but since I am outside of the UK I cannot register To be VAT exempt so have to charge VAT on all UK sales, even though if I we in the UK I could avoid it. if EU based businesses are treated the same, any small businesses which is registered under their own EU country rules may find their sales into the UK will become liable to VAT and may end up losing 20% of their sale price from 1 January.

i suppose one unknown is how much effort the UK Revenue service will put into capturing VAT on purchases from the EU.


Peter