Dutch bike part dealer shipping to every country in the world except UK because of Brexit VAT change

So you say the VAT paid on foreign (EU) orders was previously remitted to HMRC? The VAT must have been collected by the foreign retailer - how did it then get paid to HMRC - if the retailer was not registered for VAT with UK authorities? Or if they were, how is the same too much trouble now?

Previously if A Dutch VAT registered company sold to a custumer in the UK it would have either paid Dutch VAT to the Dutch tax authorities (if selling to a consumer) or made the sale vat free (if selling to a UK vat registered business).

Any VAT payable to the UK authorities on imports (from outside the EU) would have been collected by HMRC on importation.

Either way the paperwork is a nightmare. Previously monthly and quarterly forms ahd to be completed by businesses listing all EU customers and the tariff codes of the goods sold and purchased.

Having said that a system whereby the HMRC have to chase overseas suppliers for money and information seems hopeless.

I agree - how on earth are HMRC going to enforce this? It's not like our HMRC's influence extends beyond our sovereign boundary.
I can see an awful lot of companies around the world not giving two hoots about what the UK HMRC say they ought to do, and just stuffing some widgets in a package and mailing it to the UK. Presumably it will then be up to the person who ordered it to cough up the VAT owing and get it released by customs (or more likely the courier)? Tbh that seems like a much more practical arrangement.

You may be wrong.. for comparison, every business that ships into Australia collects GST from buyers on behalf of the Australian government.

https://www.ato.gov.au/business/international-tax-for-business/gst-on-lo...

When I clicked thorugh the links I got to a vat document:

"we will be moving the point at which VAT is collected from the point of importation to the point of sale"

so I guess this makes it easier* for hmrc or easier for the buyer who doesn't have a holdup at customs

* that is if anyone sells to the uk

hirsute wrote:

When I clicked thorugh the links I got to a vat document:

"we will be moving the point at which VAT is collected from the point of importation to the point of sale"

so I guess this makes it easier* for hmrc or easier for the buyer who doesn't have a holdup at customs

* that is if anyone sells to the uk

Believe so if the value is £135 or less, otherwise it will also be subject to import duty, which may or may not lead to hold ups at customs. I think the value is on the shipment total too - rather than the individual components within a shipment.

hirsute wrote:

When I clicked thorugh the links I got to a vat document:

"we will be moving the point at which VAT is collected from the point of importation to the point of sale"

so I guess this makes it easier* for hmrc or easier for the buyer who doesn't have a holdup at customs

* that is if anyone sells to the uk

The odd thing I've bought from Bikester (Germany) shipped direct to my door by post, no excursion via customs. I paid VAT at the point of purchase to Bikester, not at the point of importation. Baffled as to how it would have got to HMRC.

I'm dredging up a very old memory here but I think this was why the EU pushed for VAT harmonisation. Your VAT on a small purchase might have gone to the German treasury on the assumption that it would be balanced out by Germans buying from the UK and the tax heading to HMRC.

Otherwise it's not much of a single market - everyone would buy from abroad and save about 20%. Anyone buying from AliExpress etc knows that not much is caught at the border.

Despite my disappointment at the loss of the single market and customs union, I think the retailers just need to add this to the costs of trade and raise their sterling prices to match. Free trade is more complex than "oven ready" implied and will never be as free again.

wtjs wrote:

The massive stuffing of the UK by the EU is only just beginning, and all those Mail, Express and Sun readers voted for it- along with the removal of cycle lanes to make parking easier, etc

I think that this is self-inflicted by the UK, rather than any stuffing by the EU.  We've taken back control which means that there is no blaming "foreigners" any longer.

Glen C wrote:

wtjs wrote:

The massive stuffing of the UK by the EU is only just beginning, and all those Mail, Express and Sun readers voted for it- along with the removal of cycle lanes to make parking easier, etc

I think that this is self-inflicted by the UK, rather than any stuffing by the EU.  We've taken back control which means that there is no blaming "foreigners" any longer.

Surely we can still blame Johnny Foreigner if he doesn't do as we tell him.

Glen C wrote:

wtjs wrote:

The massive stuffing of the UK by the EU is only just beginning, and all those Mail, Express and Sun readers voted for it- along with the removal of cycle lanes to make parking easier, etc

I think that this is self-inflicted by the UK, rather than any stuffing by the EU.  We've taken back control which means that there is no blaming "foreigners" any longer.

Depends on your perspective. I don't suppose UK based retailers are losing sleep over it.

Only when I heard fireworks at 11pm New Year's Eve. It wasn't until I checked the news that I worked out they were celebrating leaving.

Can't say I noticed that around here...primarily because the useless idiots near me set fireworks off at 5.30pm, just after 7pm, 8.20pm.....

My dog is not a fan of fireworks (not terrified of them thankfully)...

I got a couple of very old yet NOS acccessories from a seller in Portugal on eBay yesterday, eBay applied VAT at some point, according to the blurb.