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Items sold and shipped to the EU through eBay now attract VAT!


Blatman

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Just going through my eBay messages and this one stood out. From July 1st any eBay item sold and shipped to the EU will attract VAT which eBay will collect. Now that eBay don't "use" PayPal it'll be coming straight from our bank accounts when eBay collect their outstanding fees. Something to watch out for going forwards...

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Reminds me of a certain truck manufacturer that I am unable to name for legal reasons and based in the EU who used to manufacture them to an incomplete level, then export them to a UK dock, invoice their UK HQ, mark it paid, claim the VAT back immediately and ship the truck back to the EU 24 hours later to finish them off, thereby improving short-term cash flow substantially.  Let’s just HMRC were unamused when it was rumbled and a few heads rolled.

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Does this apply to private sales, also, then?

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5 hours ago, Captain Colonial said:

Reminds me of a certain truck manufacturer that I am unable to name for legal reasons and based in the EU who used to manufacture them to an incomplete level, then export them to a UK dock, invoice their UK HQ, mark it paid, claim the VAT back immediately and ship the truck back to the EU 24 hours later to finish them off, thereby improving short-term cash flow substantially.  Let’s just HMRC were unamused when it was rumbled and a few heads rolled.

 

Isn't that how Caterham got around something to do with "kit car" rules? They'd ship them needing "4 hours work to complete" which meant they weren't subject to... no idea what now, and I may be mis-remembering but that was the gist...

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It isn't only Ebay, Amazon will levy an additional charge if the goods come from EU (which isnt always  apparent from the listing)

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Is this not the case for anything being shipped aboard now we’re no longer in  the EU?

 

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2 hours ago, Mark (smokey mow) said:

Is this not the case for anything being shipped aboard now we’re no longer in  the EU?

 

Yes clearly, but Amazon aren't upfront with their country of origin. Most things are warehoused in UK, but some aren't.

 

We bought a dinner service and got caught out.

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If you're buying from Amazon, they calculate it all and include it, but if you're buying from a 3rd party seller on amazon, it's up to you to figure it out. It's the same way for those of us in Ireland ordering from the UK. From the stuff I've ordered in the last 6 months, Amazon are definitely the easiest with how they handle it.

 

The thing to keep in mind though is that although you're paying EU VAT, you won't be charged any UK VAT. For used items that doesn't help, but if you're a seller of new things to the EU, or buying from the EU into the UK, it's just different VAT rates with basically the same net result. It gets more expensive when the couriers are calculating the VAT charges, because they often charge an "admin fee" just for calculating the VAT. I've seen this come in as much as €125 for them to determine something was zero VAT rated. Amazon, and this new Ebay system avoid these problems. 

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