EU buyers - the end of VAT exemption (July 1, 2021)

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by J.A.W., Dec 24, 2020.

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  1. MC Rag

    MC Rag Forum Resident

    I'm am in England so this was TVA applied for items exported out of the EU before July 1st.
     
  2. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict Thread Starter

    Sorry, you lost me. I was talking about VAT due on items imported into the EU, not the UK. I have no idea what the current situation in the UK is.
     
  3. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus

    So, is this true?

    If I order something big from the EU, I won't have to do the whole custom clearance thing? I haven't ordered from anyone there but there are sure a LOT of items I want...I don't mind paying VAT....I just don't want the hassle of customs clearings which usually means scanning and sending documents, receipts, descriptions, etc. And it seems to take weeks and weeks. If so that makes me happy!
     
  4. MC Rag

    MC Rag Forum Resident

    Hi can anyone tell me the current price for sending a CD from Germany to England? I'm pretty sure up until recently it was about 4.5 euros. But I just got a message from a guy saying:

    "Hallo, leider kann man Ware nicht mehr als Brief verschicken, sondern nur im Päckchen. Da England nicht mehr zur EU gehört, kostet das kleinste Päckchen leider 8,89 Euro. Der Versand dauert mindestens 2 Wochen."

    is this 8.89 Euros for 1 CD now correct?

    thanks!
     
  5. joachim.ritter

    joachim.ritter Senior Member

    Different products/rates are available for business and private customers of the German post.

    He is correct if he isn't a business customer. His shipping option includes tracking.

    For business customers it would be 6.15 Euros with tracking and 3.80 Euros without tracking.
     
    Anthrax likes this.
  6. MC Rag

    MC Rag Forum Resident

    Thanks Jochim, so 8.89 Euro is with tracking for private customer? What is without tracking for private?
     
  7. joachim.ritter

    joachim.ritter Senior Member

    I think there is no cheaper option for private customers.
     
    MC Rag likes this.
  8. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus

    Everything I've ordered on discogs recently (and I've ordered a lot) has had a form attached on the outside of the package where all this is stated.

    I believe that discogs has created a ready-made downloadable form for sellers to use. (I think I got a message about that, but as I never sell I didn't pay it much attention.)

    I recently got a package from Norway (with form attached) and paid nothing, no customs, nothing, no customs problems. I was a bit worried about that, but not sure if the rules are different for e.g. Norway as opposed to the UK or the US.

    ON that package the seller sent an email to all his buyers because apparently in some countries the postage system were insisting the buyer pay VAT but the seller claimed this incorrect -- it seems he may have originally included the form INSIDE some packages though, so that may have been why. Anyway, I had no problem.

    Has anybody in the EU ordered anything from discogs from the US, UK, Japan or Switzerland since July? I'd really like to be able to order from those places without the Customs hassle (don't mind the charges, so much, just the bureaucracy as last time I ordered from Japan it involved sending scans of receipts, invoices, Paypal receipts, forms, signed statements, etc, etc.)
     
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  9. Mark From Eire

    Mark From Eire Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
    I will give you a little background as to what happened here in Sweden with custom charges in March 2018. Postnord complained to the Swedish government regarding the amount of Chinese products coming into to Sweden so they decided that Postnord could charge the following processing fees on parcels:

    Under 1600kr would be charged VAT plus 75kr

    Above 1600kr would be VAT plus 125kr

    So I would be delighted if I pay the VAT when I purchase anything from now on so I don’t have to pay so much to Postnord on fees and wait up to two weeks after paying the bill!

    Here is an example of the paperwork, I got myself a CD I was looking for from Wales (UK) directly from the Record Label as I couldn’t purchase it anywhere else! So as you can see on this one the VAT was only 22kr but Postnord fees was 75kr!

    [​IMG]
     
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  10. MC Rag

    MC Rag Forum Resident

    In UK at the moment nothing I have ordered from Europe, Japan, USA in the past 6 months of value under £130 has been stopped, or any VAT charges added. Some I had already paid VAT charges on via Amazon,de, Discogs, etc but none had any documentation on the outside indicating VAT had been paid.

    I think they've just stopped caring about lower value items here! I hope it continues.
     
    Dave, jay.dee and Lance LaSalle like this.
  11. stillrockin

    stillrockin Forum Resident

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    Me too. I have had a couple of items bought via ebay and discogs where the vat has been automatically calculated and included. There has been nothing on the customs label to indicate duty paid. I would be mighty annoyed if there was an attempt to collect duty on arrival in the UK, particularly as the main point of the pre-payment is to avoid the Post Office £8 handling fee.
     
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  12. joachim.ritter

    joachim.ritter Senior Member

    I think ebay adds a vat paid code to the shipping address of buyers from the UK. Discogs doesn't do that. (Not sure about Amazon because I don't sell internationally on Amazon.)
     
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  13. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Discogs has one of those IOSS numbers now. They finally got around to it. So sellers can now include that with the documentation.
     
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  14. giantleech

    giantleech Lord of all fevers and plagues

    It was "about time" when it finally happened (a much longer wait for it than I or anyone else who sells there would have preferred, but so it was.)
     
  15. Ironbelly

    Ironbelly Forum Resident

    Location:
    Porto, Portugal
    Currently the funny situation is with amazon Japan.
    All branches of amazon (i.e. com, de, co.uk, it, fr, es) apply estimated VAT and import taxes to all purchases and the parcels pass smoothly to EU destinations.

    On the contrary, co.jp is adding Japanese sales tax to small order and informs you in fine print 'Import duties, custom duties and other charges may be levied in the country of delivery for purchased items to be shipped overseas and the purchase may be required to pay such import fees.' If you load an order above 150€, they remove Japanese sale tax and add EU VAT for your country but (surprise, surprise) no import tax and custom duties. This is either a stupid bug in the system or they read new EU tax laws very special way.

    I was not able to get an explanation from their help center apart the fact that they are obliged to collect VAT for Norway and UK only.

    Thus, it seems that in the nearest future the purchases from Japanese amazon can cause major custom problems for EU users :(
     
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  16. MC Rag

    MC Rag Forum Resident

    I just bought some CDs in Spain, and the seller went to the post office today and was told he needed to provide my DNI details (I think this is like a Spanish ID card). In the UK we have no such document, only passport. I have also received many other packages from Spain in past 3 months with no problem.

    Is there any new law from Spain or EU for posting items to England that has just been implemented?
     
  17. jay.dee

    jay.dee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Barcelona, Spain
    It sounds more like an requirement imposed by the destination country... Do you have any personal tax ID number in the UK?
     
  18. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus

    Well after ordering several things from both the U.K. and the US in the last few months I can attest that it is a giant pain in the ass.

    The charges are sometimes high (with big orders) but worse is the bureaucratic runaround is intensely unpleasant sometimes.

    I will now do it only if there is no other option.
     
    MC Rag likes this.
  19. MC Rag

    MC Rag Forum Resident

    I don't believe this is requirement for items being send to UK. I suspect it is just a Postal officer taking his job a bit too seriously. Surely just filling in a CN22 or CN23 is all that is needed?

    I do have a UK tax number but it is not an ID card do you think maybe that is what they want?
     
  20. jay.dee

    jay.dee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Barcelona, Spain
    I'd say the postal officer usually could not care less, it's just the system that makes him ask for it. Let the seller try with your tax ID - it may work.
     
    MC Rag likes this.
  21. joachim.ritter

    joachim.ritter Senior Member

    I haven't heard of this (yet).

    Is it a business or a private seller?

    Does he declare that UK vat has been already mpaid by you?
     
  22. MC Rag

    MC Rag Forum Resident

    OK thanks, I will send it.

    Maybe it is like when I send stuff to Hong Kong where addresses have no postcode. Some post staff are clever enough to work out what to do, but some seem very confused by this so I have to tell them just to put a "." in the computer so it lets them pass!
     
    jay.dee likes this.
  23. MC Rag

    MC Rag Forum Resident

    I don't know if business or private, he has feedback rating of over 6000. For tax again I don't know how it is declared at the post office in Spain - I don't think Spanish post would care about that.

    I am still receiving many items to UK from overseas which have no information written on them that tax has been taken at time of payment by Ebay or Amazon or Discogs. UK doesn't seem to care any more about stuff less than 150 euros thankfully.
     
  24. joachim.ritter

    joachim.ritter Senior Member

    I think ebay and Amazon orders usually have that tax paid code as part of the shipping address.

    Discogs doesn't provide that code, not sure why.

    Sooner or later they will need the money! ;)
     
  25. MC Rag

    MC Rag Forum Resident

    Yes maybe, though sometimes I wonder if collecting the money costs them more than what they get for lower value items.

    The thing is private sellers who use Ebay & Amazon often don't print an address label they write it by hand.
     
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