EU-UK Import Tax Ding-dong?

Dobearspoopinthewoods

Always had Custom`s charges imposed on non gift items when importing from US of A, even low cost items.....eg £8.50 supplements+Custom`s charge of £8.50+ Royal Mail charge of £8.50 for the privilege of having Custom`s charge served upon me , but never had any charges on receipt of many individual items sent from Australia via ebay.

custardy

Dobearspoopinthewoods said:

Always had Custom`s charges imposed on non gift items when importing from US of A, even low cost items.....eg £8.50 supplements+Custom`s charge of £8.50+ Royal Mail charge of £8.50 for the privilege of having Custom`s charge served upon me , but never had any charges on receipt of many individual items sent from Australia via ebay.

Its not a privilege. Its also £8,not £8.50
Its a choice you make when you purchase from areas UK gov decide you are liable for duty.
If its an issue then you are free to do you own clearance or shop within the free trade areas we have.

Spoonie_Turtle

Dobearspoopinthewoods said:

Always had Custom`s charges imposed on non gift items when importing from US of A, even low cost items.....eg £8.50 supplements+Custom`s charge of £8.50+ Royal Mail charge of £8.50 for the privilege of having Custom`s charge served upon me , but never had any charges on receipt of many individual items sent from Australia via ebay.

The threshold was £15 using HMRC's exchange rate (lower than the exchange rate Google says - you can guess how I found that out *sigh*) on the day the item arrived in the country.  I have heard of things slipping through, and now I think of it I had two items from Australia before I knew about customs charges but the threshold may have been £18 at that point so I can't be sure.  I've never had anything slip through from the US, even a few cents over the threshold and I had to pay the import VAT plus Royal Mail's £8 handling charge.  The abolition of the low threshold and the overhaul of how import VAT is collected for items under £135 has meant that for online marketplaces we no longer have to pay £8 for the privilege - but for businesses selling directly, not through an online marketplace, if they haven't registered with HMRC to collect the VAT we would still have pay when it enters the country, along with the handling charge.  (And because of Brexit, that now applies to items coming from anywhere in the world not just outside the EU.)

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Spoonie_Turtle said:

KxMx said:

And the EU are abolishing it (low value relief) themselves within 2 months.
We just did it sooner as a result of Brexit.

This is true, but irrelevant to items over £15.  Without Brexit we would still be in the EU and not need to pay anything for items from within the EU, only from the rest of the world.  Two separate issues, which both changed at the same time.

My understanding is that’s not correct, the EU are moving over to tax at the point of supply in July which is what the UK have now.

If we were still in the EU come July shoppers would still be paying UK VAT on orders up to £135/155 Euro but it would be collected by the retailer and paid to the correct member state via the new central EU VAT system.

Equally if a shopper in France buys from Germany that shopper will pay VAT at the rate in France,  which the seller will collect and the EU will remit it back to France.

Happy to be corrected with a source but my understanding is come July if a shopper in France buys a 200 Euro item from a seller in Germany they will pay France VAT when the parcel enters France, same as the OP is having to do now.

Leaving the EU only means this change has happened in the UK 6 months earlier (and made life difficult for overseas sellers supplying goods worth under £135 to UK shoppers as the UK will not be apart of the EU central system and so they have to register with HMRC). 

Spoonie_Turtle

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

KxMx said:

And the EU are abolishing it (low value relief) themselves within 2 months.
We just did it sooner as a result of Brexit.

This is true, but irrelevant to items over £15.  Without Brexit we would still be in the EU and not need to pay anything for items from within the EU, only from the rest of the world.  Two separate issues, which both changed at the same time.

My understanding is that’s not correct, the EU are moving over to tax at the point of supply in July which is what the UK have now.

If we were still in the EU come July shoppers would still be paying UK VAT on orders up to £135/155 Euro but it would be collected by the retailer and paid to the correct member state via the new central EU VAT system.

Equally if a shopper in France buys from Germany that shopper will pay VAT at the rate in France,  which the seller will collect and the EU will remit it back to France.

Happy to be corrected with a source but my understanding is come July if a shopper in France buys a 200 Euro item from a seller in Germany they will pay France VAT when the parcel enters France, same as the OP is having to do now.

Leaving the EU only means this change has happened in the UK 6 months earlier (and made life difficult for overseas sellers supplying goods worth under £135 to UK shoppers as the UK will not be apart of the EU central system and so they have to register with HMRC). 

Technically yes, but the prices advertised for most retail items in the EU include VAT.  So the private consumer pays the advertised price, plus UK import VAT on top.  Perhaps I should have said we wouldn't have to pay anything extra on items from the EU.