buying stuff from europe? VAT ? TAX ETC?

random_matt · 1 May 2021 at 21:00

Sasahara said:
Anyone imported something under £135 worldwide and not paid vat yet?

Interested what happens as it seems a lot of companies that have their own sites don't care about HMRC threats they they have no legal ability to act on in their country of origin.

Are you getting charged VAT like we used to or as we still are for shipments over £135?

Anything over £136 you pay VAT yourself.

Sasahara · 1 May 2021 at 22:25

random_matt said:
Anything over £136 you pay VAT yourself.

I think my last sentence says that, but I should replace the "or" with a ",".

Lmg80 · 7 May 2021 at 06:42

Yes look at GamerMuscle video on the new Direct Drive wheel. Someone got stumped massively on import duty in the comments

chroniclard · 7 May 2021 at 06:48

Hmm wife just got a handbag from Italy and she didn't pay anything other than the price on website. Assume it was included.

Surveyor · 7 May 2021 at 07:50

chroniclard said:
Hmm wife just got a handbag from Italy and she didn't pay anything other than the price on website. Assume it was included.

It's not unheard of for an invoice for import VAT to be sent after delivery.

If you're happy to post a link to said handbag we can see what should have happened re VAT.

chroniclard · 7 May 2021 at 08:04

Surveyor said:
It's not unheard of for an invoice for import VAT to be sent after delivery.

If you're happy to post a link to said handbag we can see what should have happened re VAT.

It does say this.....The order total includes any shipping costs, taxes and duties. In the faq.

Hopefully all paid as It's gonna be a fair chunk more otherwise. :cry:

Nasher · 7 May 2021 at 08:10

I've had a few things go through without taxes. Maybe they route it through Ireland lol

Raymond Lin · 7 May 2021 at 08:31

Surveyor said:
It's not unheard of for an invoice for import VAT to be sent after delivery.

If you're happy to post a link to said handbag we can see what should have happened re VAT.

FedEx does this as standard practice, the letter comes about 10-14days after delivery.

jaybee · 10 May 2021 at 22:14

This just hit me and it's complete news to me this. I've relied on being able to use a large famous german etalier a lot over the years, and even the same one in spain for certain things, rather than the UK one. A week or so ago I noticed (and this may have been in place for a while to be fair and I just not noticed or assumed it was normal) that during checkout on the german one, it was listing out an explicit import and taxes section. Didn't really matter as the price was still the same as in the UK roughly (but simply had stock hence ordering from there). So I checkout and buy my item and it comes no problem, with no fees. A few days later I get the first email of this type I have seen saying that I was actually charged TOO MUCH import fee, and would be refunded literally a few pence I think it was.

Fast forward to this week and I order two further similar items at over £200 each from the same german place, but different actual sellers within the site I guess. One of them has turned up with no mention of any fees but again during checkout it had previously mentioned the fees already included in the price. The other item has not arrived and I have a text linking me to a DHL website with my order saying it is held until I pay a fee of about £60. This is approximately 20% the value of the £300 item.

I'm not paying it and will be getting in touch with big said german etailer to get a refund as it was misleading at point of sale that all fees were included.

Dwarfy · 10 May 2021 at 22:36

I ordered some items from a .co.uk website operated from a german company, Items were delivered and invoice clearly shows A: the amount before tax and B: the amount of VAT @20%

Fast forward about a month and I get 2 letters the same day from UPS, letter 1 is a VAT demand + a fee, but the VAT amount <> 20% of the good value but a good chunk higher, the second letter was an addition late payment charge...
I've reached out to UPS but a, yet to get a reply, I have also reached out to the etailer who has offered to pay me back my VAT amount once I prove that I have payed UPS.

In my mail to UPS I made the payment offer of the VAT @ the correct 20% + thier fee which seems fair though lol

mrk · 10 May 2021 at 22:42

I bought a watch from Germany, VAT was removed at checkout and FedEx added the VAT back on top of their sub £30 import duty itself so not all bad all things considered. I had no letter from fedEx, it was an SMS message with a link to click on and pay online.

mjt · 10 May 2021 at 23:32

So was it worth it? Seems like a massive ball ache to me..

I ordered about £150 worth of children’s books for my sons the other week. The site no longer ships to EU so had to order through their eBay store and used the Global Shipping Programme. Ended up paying a little more than usual but not the end of the world. What is deeply frustrating is that I had to shop around for ages to try and figure out a way of getting these UK books at wholesale prices into the EU. So many smaller retailers just don’t ship to the EU any more, or only a few countries

mrk · 10 May 2021 at 23:35

It wasn't a ball ache/faff etc really since the methods in place to actually pay are very quick and easy. I'd have been paying the VAT anyway if I bought something in the UK, the only addition being the import duty and handling fee which totalled to less than the cost of a computer game. That and the fact that some things you can only buy direct from the maker in their country so you really have no other option.

mjt · 10 May 2021 at 23:38

mrk said:
It wasn't a ball ache/faff etc really since the methods in place to actually pay are very quick and easy. I'd have been paying the VAT anyway if I bought something in the UK, the only addition being the import duty and handling fee which totalled to less than the cost of a computer game. That and the fact that some things you can only buy direct from the maker in their country so you really have no other option.

Sorry, I was just asking in general whether leaving the customs union was really such a good idea. Seems much more trouble than it’s worth. But hey, at least you get to start a war with France over some sea creatures.

Invertigo · 15 May 2021 at 13:36

So what's the deal with duties etc. Recently had something delivered from the EU that was over the £135 limit, so nothing charges at point of sale. Seems all the paperwork was attached to the box as you'd expect, but it's also clearly not been touched as the plastic wrapping thing it was in was branded with the mail service of the origin country, then delivered this side by Royal Mail.

I'm expecting a bill in the post at some time, but it also seems like its been overlooked?

Raymond Lin · 15 May 2021 at 13:44

Invertigo said:
So what's the deal with duties etc. Recently had something delivered from the EU that was over the £135 limit, so nothing charges at point of sale. Seems all the paperwork was attached to the box as you'd expect, but it's also clearly not been touched as the plastic wrapping thing it was in was branded with the mail service of the origin country, then delivered this side by Royal Mail.

I'm expecting a bill in the post at some time, but it also seems like its been overlooked?

if it’s not FedEx than it’s fine. Especially if it’s post office or parcel force. You’ve got away with it.

Spacedeck · 15 May 2021 at 17:18

Is it based on RRP or how much you paid? I have something on the way from DHL, purchased from a co.uk website and around £89. I was under the impression they would be dispatching from UK as they have a UK address, but it's coming from Slovenia. There isn't any mention of VAT on the invoice or website, but I was thought the VAT would be included in this.

In the FAQ where they say where it's made, it says "Mainly in the UK, also in Poland, Germany and Slovenia."

Anyway it isn't here yet, due on Wednesday but now wondering if I'll be stuck with additional fees.

Raymond Lin · 15 May 2021 at 17:23

Spacedeck said:
Is it based on RRP or how much you paid? I have something on the way from DHL, purchased from a co.uk website and around £89. I was under the impression they would be dispatching from UK as they have a UK address, but it's coming from Slovenia. There isn't any mention of VAT on the invoice or website, but I was thought the VAT would be included in this.

In the FAQ where they say where it's made, it says "Mainly in the UK, also in Poland, Germany and Slovenia."

Anyway it isn't here yet, due on Wednesday but now wondering if I'll be stuck with additional fees.

If its under £135 then it's all inclusive, or should be. It should be no change to before. I bought some VR lenses from Germany (£105) that had no fees last week (normal post).

I bought a piano stand from Italy in Feb that was shipped UPS which came to £40, no fees.

I have not bought anything over £135 yet but I treat that as the same to buying from the US or Japan when i do.

Sasahara · 15 May 2021 at 17:32

Spacedeck said:
Is it based on RRP or how much you paid? I have something on the way from DHL, purchased from a co.uk website and around £89. I was under the impression they would be dispatching from UK as they have a UK address, but it's coming from Slovenia. There isn't any mention of VAT on the invoice or website, but I was thought the VAT would be included in this.

In the FAQ where they say where it's made, it says "Mainly in the UK, also in Poland, Germany and Slovenia."

Anyway it isn't here yet, due on Wednesday but now wondering if I'll be stuck with additional fees.

If you get charged the standard is 20% VAT if it's not a low or no VAT item. VAT is also paid on the postage cost. (There could be extra tariff charges but these are rare as it requires more work for customs, so it's only added if it's obvious)

So if you paid £89 including postage I would expect you to be charged £17.80 VAT + the DHL fee, it was £5 last time I had it but that was years ago.

The under £135 rule only counts if the company has sign up to HMRC for VAT payment. As they have no powers to make overseas companies do this, it seems a bit of a **** show. And the EU will be doing the same soon.