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Has anyone sussed out how buying from the EU will work?


Simon Lewis

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Story time!

 

January I ordered with UPS a gift from UK to SE - took 3 days + 2 days messing about in customs and things - very dull. Arrived with almost 0 issues. *

 

1 week later a package going SE - UK arrived in the UK about 7 days later and has spent the following 3 weeks bouncing in and out and back again, "lost" customs forms 2 times, finally I got an email saying it needed ta paying of "£120 + fees" then without warning they turned up wanting cash on delivery. I'm fighting it right now as it's quite clear they have read the invoice as 600gbp NOT 600SEK

 

* for me. the madness people have had with packages that are gifts is quite the thing. Here we have a "fun" gift tax that is under £60 an item but no more than £150 as a single item. So it can get a bit confusing if items are under limits but others are not. But either way many people are having packages pulled and taxed even with gift markings.

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I've just seen that Thomann are now back to dealing with the VAT for UK customers and there is no more handling charge to pay to the courier.

 

https://www.thomann....d-uk-customers/

 

I think some rule has changed as I've seen few retailers that operate more like it used to be with a simple all included UK price.

I bought some speakers from Bax last week, no custom or handling charges, just the price on the website and they arrived from Holland in 4 days - all very straight forward.

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I've just seen that Thomann are now back to dealing with the VAT for UK customers and there is no more handling charge to pay to the courier.

 

https://www.thomann....d-uk-customers/

 

This looks good... however - how does this work for VAT registered entities? Is there still the requirement to make a full, simplified or delayed declaration (with the various softwares or schemes that need joining) or does Thomann notify HMRC on your behalf?

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Thomann will have had to apply for UK vat registration from HMRC, I understand this has been really slow so that's probably why they have only now announced this. Bax shop will be the same.

To claim it back sounds long and tortuous...

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/accounting-for-vat-on-goods-moving-between-great-britain-and-northern-ireland-from-1-january-2021/check-how-to-claim-a-refund-of-vat-paid-in-an-eu-member-state

 

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Part of an email conversation between our Finance Dept and Thomann UK over the last couple of days.

 

 

"Thank you for your recent orders.

As of July 1st, we have simplified the ordering process so that the online price displayed on our website is the total price you pay with no additional fees paid to the couriers. The VAT (20%) and handling fees are now factored into the final online price.

Following the trade agreement between the EU and UK in early 2021, our pricing system was adjusted accordingly to comply with the new customs regulations. As a result, the prices displayed on our website were net prices as the VAT (20%) and handling fees were paid to the couriers on delivery.

Please also note that based on the new trade agreement; it is no longer possible for us to invoice VAT registered customers excluding VAT and VAT (20%) will always be charged by Thomann GmbH.

VAT (20%) will be applied and the invoice split between the net value of goods and services, the rate and amount of VAT, and the total value of the invoice."

Edited by kitlane
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Part of an email conversation between our Finance Dept and Thomann UK over the last couple of days.

 

So Thomann have made it easy for the non commercial purchaser. However, it seems that the VAT registered business purchaser now has to claim back VAT incurred in the EU from the EU! Link (there's a few dead links in that government webpage).

 

It can take "up to six months"...

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Close but no cigar, Simon, you forget the Lord Frost "Command Paper" launched yesterday, rejected immediately by the EU and heralding a trade war according to the Independent.

 

The NIP has 31 pages of annexes listing the EU law that Frost and Johnson agreed would apply in NI back in December and now they want to tear them all up. The faintest suspicion that a UK government is willing to start a trade war in the middle of a pandemic with the people who supply half our food is way beyond scary. I think that the VAT on an active speaker may soon be the least of your concerns.

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Part of an email conversation between our Finance Dept and Thomann UK over the last couple of days.

 

So Thomann have made it easy for the non commercial purchaser. However, it seems that the VAT registered business purchaser now has to claim back VAT incurred in the EU from the EU! Link (there's a few dead links in that government webpage).

 

It can take "up to six months"...

 

 

I don't believe that to be the case. As I understand it Thomann will have registered with HMRC, have a GB VAT number, and will be collecting VAT at 20% on behalf of HMRC. So, as long as their invoice has a GB VAT number on it you claim the VAT back just as you normally would. It's no different to how Mouser, a US company, have been doing things for years. I spend quite a lot with them, ordering directly from the US operation. But the invoice I receive is in GBP and has UK VAT applied which I reclaim as usual.

 

The links above would apply where a UK business want to reclaim EU VAT which is not what is happening here. In fact, that's what applied before Brexit.

 

Post Brexit, buying from the EU is no different to buying from the US, China, Australia, or anywhere else.

 

Plenty of EU based suppliers have been doing VAT 'properly' since Jan 1, it's just Thomann chose not too.

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  • 1 month later...
as long as their invoice has a GB VAT number on it you claim the VAT back just as you normally would. It's no different to how Mouser, a US company, have been doing things for years

 

I've just had an invoice from Thomann and can confirm what others have said, you treat the invoice as though it were from a UK company regarding the VAT, as the previous 'intra-community' rules no longer apply here. Their GB vat number is registered to a UK office (a cross-border VAT agent in Brighton) and as far as HMRC is concerned, that is where the sale has taken place. Where the goods are warehoused is largely irrelevant.

 

I bought some 2500W xenon lamps as I couldn't get them from a UK supplier..ironically.

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Amazon are having trouble with their Italian site supplying to the uk, it’s reported the uk vat is charged, but so is Italian vat, and Amazon are struggling to fix it.

 

 

 

Its a Europe wide issue. Amazon.se is less than 12 months old, but people buying on amazon.se are still getting items from uk, especially marketplace sellers. So encoring the wrath of tax fees. Usually its an email to get the money back from amazon, but it's being a regular thing now.

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