New VAT rules

[BattleshipBob]

Morning all

I know there are new and confusing VAT rules, for my tiny brain anyway!

I assume goods bought from China on ebay will attract VAT? Some French sellers have stated on there adverts that VAT is now added but bugger all stuff from China???

[Guest]

I’m no expert, but the new rules should only affect european shipments as a result of brexit.
China is an existing trade route so should be unchanged.

Unless I haven’t been paying full attention and missed something.

[Guest]

I’ve also not looked into this, but I’d think that because you’re now outside the EU, you don’t pay EU VAT anymore — within the EU, VAT is paid in the country where the item is purchased, not in the country of the purchaser. However, a buyer from outside the EU doesn’t pay EU VAT.

Thus, if you now order something in (say) France while you’re in the UK, you should pay the VATless price, but can then get UK VAT slapped on when your order crosses the border. This is different from just over a week ago, when you would have paid French VAT but not UK VAT. China, OTOH, is outside the EU anyway, so you never paid VAT to the seller in the first place.

[dave]

jakko and archetype have the right of it, the situation for China, USA etc is unchanged. What Has changed is if you order from a country in the EU as you are now outside, or for Jakob and me if we order from a UK site as we are inside.
As I understand it most orders will be small enough to get below the threshold for customs duty, which I believe is £135.
The other thing which may increase is shipping costs, I have seen some couriers are now charging a higher Europe non-EU rate (previously used for e.g. Switzerland) for shipments between UK and EU countries, to cover the additional admin they now incur.

[BattleshipBob]

Many thanks to you all, thought that was the situation but tax's, aaarrgghh

Bob

[Peter Gillson]

Ah, the joys of VAT !

generally the comments above are right, but I may be able to add a little in a couple of areas. everything below excludes Northern Ireland which has different rules.

Basically all sales of goods from outside the UK to a consumer in the UK are treated the same, and if the total value of the consignment is under £135k it is subject to VAT which the seller should charge. This applies to good from anywhere: the EU, USA, China etc.

I am not sure what the arrangements are for businesses overseas to pay the VAT to HMRC but If you buy anything from Amazon, Amazon will calculate the VAT And charge you the full VAT inclusive price. It will then deduct the VAT from the payment to the 3rd party store (if not supplied by Amazon) and pay the VAT to HMRC. in the case of anything sold from the Channel Islands, VAT is also payable, but we can opt to pre-pay it at the Post Office when the item is posted.

The exception is in the case of gifts. Person to person gifts are not subject to VAt if they are valued less than £39.00

The situation with goods from China is no different, but what does seem to happen (I have seen it a few times) is that some goods sent from China are declared On the CN22 form as being gifts. This is not only an illegal declaration but creates a risk for the purchaser that if HMRC found out they coud charge thd UK customer the VAT and an admin charge. I do not know whether HMRC put any actual effort into identifying these.

i have no idea what the rules are for anything over £135

Peter

[dave]

The situation with goods from China is no different, but what does seem to happen (I have seen it a few times) is that some goods sent from China are declared On the CN22 form as being gifts. This is not only an illegal declaration but creates a risk for the purchaser that if HMRC found out they coud charge thd UK customer the VAT and an admin charge. I do not know whether HMRC put any actual effort into identifying these.

It also happens on occasion from USA, I think HMRC do spot checks and I have come across people who have had To pay HMRC to get their order.

i deliberately ignored NI to keep things simple , working for a European Trade Association that is causing a lot of work to work out all the ramifications. issues like a well known retailer is having with Peppa Pig sweets.

[Tim Marlow]

I’ve never had an order from either USA or Japan that doesn’t get caught for import duties and costs, both HMRC and shippers. Sometimes this comes to more than the value of the order. This has stopped me ordering from those two countries. Being outside the EU may increase the number of countries that happens to.

[BattleshipBob]

Had one from China caught by the VAT feds but otherwise ok, fingers crossed

bob

[Guest]

I see this is already starting to affect us at it seems a few companies have already stopped selling direct to UK customers.

MRP & Anyz are two I've seen post directly, but they are rumours of others.

[Guest]

I've just ordered a kit from a Russian seller, firstly he had to cancel because of Covid postal regs but now is sending.
I've never had a problem with goods coming from Russia but ?

[BattleshipBob]

Just noticed sellers from China on Ebay now adding Vat!

[Guest]

I saw a piece on the Dutch TV news about this yesterday, and here is an accompanying article on the broadcaster’s web site:

https://nos.nl/artikel/2365856-brexitregels-lastig-voor-webshops-naar-china-verzenden-is-makkelijker.html

Here’s an English translation.

Of slightly more interest to us because they went and filmed at a model producer, Artitec.

[adt70hk]

Morning all

I know there are new and confusing VAT rules, for my tiny brain anyway!

I assume goods bought from China on ebay will attract VAT? Some French sellers have stated on there adverts that VAT is now added but bugger all stuff from China???

Hi Bob,

This BBC article explains the new rules. The starting threshold for extra charges is actually mid-£30s.....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55734277

Hope that helps.

ATB.

Andrew

[adt70hk]

Morning all

I know there are new and confusing VAT rules, for my tiny brain anyway!

I assume goods bought from China on ebay will attract VAT? Some French sellers have stated on there adverts that VAT is now added but bugger all stuff from China???

Hi Bob

This is another article from the BBC this morning that's explains more about the situation.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55752541

ATB.

Andrew