Ebay VAT 20% ?

wenzani

I have come across some foriegn Ebay buisness sellers with GB VAT numbers but their addresses on VIES don't correspond the that posted on Ebay and when asked to provide a VAT receipt they refuse. I have complained to Ebay who say they can't force the seller to provide the VAT receipt and I should advise the HMRC but that doesn't help me as I am still unable to reclaim the VAT on purchases without a valid VAT receipt. I have also contacted PayPal to ask why the vendors VAT number is not displayed on payment advice but they respond to say it is not their policy to do so. I feel that Ebay and maybe PayPal are complicit in the vendors tax evasion as all they need to do is to instruct the VAT registered sellers to generate a VAT reciept for every sale and load thier VAT numbers on to the PayPal receipt, if they don't suspend the account. Any ideas on how to proceed?

bris

Only VAT registered businesses are required to provide VAT receipts. Not all businesses need to register for VAT, there is an annual threshold of 85k before they need to register.
So you need to first find out if they are even registered for VAT before you can complain about them.

wenzani

I am talking about VAT registered vendors who are refusing to provide VAT receipts but thanks for drawing that little known fact to our attention.

ballisticbrian

Don't you think it's more to do with Chinese sellers being asked for a VAT number to prove they are trading in the UK so they enter someone else's VAT number?

RFW

ballisticbrian wrote: »

Don't you think it's more to do with Chinese sellers being asked for a VAT number to prove they are trading in the UK so they enter someone else's VAT number?

It's possible.
I suspect HMRC would be all over that if someone let them know.
It's interesting that Ebay allow that to happen, it can't on Amazon, they check the VAT number.

wenzani

Yes the sellers I'm talking about are mostly from China and Singapore and as they don't know how to construct a VAT receipt I guess they don't submit the VAT therefore I can't reclaim it.
I am looking into PayPal alternatives to see if they show the vendors VAT number but ultimately the issue is Ebay's lack of enforcement on vendor's to comply with the law and provide a VAT reciept with the company address that is the same as the VAT numbers address.
Maybe they use someone else's VAT number, not sure if they can get a company registration and VAT number if they are not here.

RFW

wenzani wrote: »

Yes the sellers I'm talking about are mostly from China and Singapore and as they don't know how to construct a VAT receipt I guess they don't submit the VAT therefore I can't reclaim it.
I am looking into PayPal alternatives to see if they show the vendors VAT number but ultimately the issue is Ebay's lack of enforcement on vendor's to comply with the law and provide a VAT reciept with the company address that is the same as the VAT numbers address.
Maybe they use someone else's VAT number, not sure if they can get a company registration and VAT number if they are not here.

Contact HMRC with the VAT number and ask what you should do. They'd be able to check.
You don't have to be in the UK to have a UK VAT number but you do need to issue a VAT receipt, so something isn't right.

wenzani

I did contact the HMRC to alert them to the suspected VAT fraud of the vendor but that doesn't help me to reclaim the VAT

RFW

wenzani wrote: »

I did contact the HMRC to alert them to the suspected VAT fraud of the vendor but that doesn't help me to reclaim the VAT

Did you ask what they suggest? If they can verify it as a genuine VAT number then you may be able to self invoice as you have a payment receipt and transaction details.

If it isn't a genuine VAT number then you can't get the VAT back.