Advice on selling to EU countries

MattMattMattUK

martindow said:

penners324 said:

martindow said:

penners324 said:

Standard pla e of supply rules are if you're selling to a foreign company then no VAT chargeable. If you're selling to foreign individuals then UK VAT is chargeable.

You may also need to pay VAT in the EU country they're based....

Are you sure that this is correct?  It's a while since I was involved with VAT, but it certainly used to be the case that no VAT was charged on exports whether to individuals or companies.

Yes, it is correct and has been for many years 

I was last involved with VAT about twenty years ago and if we were selling to the US for example we did not add VAT whether selling to individuals or companies.  For the EU we charged no VAT to businesses who had provided their local VAT number, but we did charge individuals. 

We had a VAT inspection and I am sure they were happy with us not charging VAT on exports to countries outside the EU.

I assumed that since brexit  the EU would now be treated along with other countries regarding exports.  Isn't an individual in France, say, going to be charged French VAT on arrival?  This would leave them paying both UK and French VAT which doesn't seem conducive to encouraging exports. 

VAT is a place of supply tax, so if the goods are being exported then no VAT is due to be charged and passed to HMRC, for services it is more complicated as place of supply is not always as defined.

French customs may require the retailer to collect VAT under IOSS and then pay this, rather than the recipient paying the import VAT, depending on the value of the goods, if the recipient is a business or private individual and a few other factors. 
https://vat-one-stop-shop.ec.europa.eu/index_en