eBay import charges from Germany

[Gaygle]

Morning all,

Just after a bit of advice from someone in the know as I've spent the last hour reading about VAT and import charges and don't really seem to understand it any more.

I'm looking to buy an item on eBay from Germany for 550EUR inc del. It's listed on UK eBay but under the "items from international sellers" part.

First question is - does the 550eur displayed on eBay already include VAT either Germany's 19% or UK's 20%? (i'm assuming eBay doesn't allow exc VAT prices to be displayed?),
Secondly - Will the shipping agent ask me for another 20% for UK VAT? If so, won't I be paying VAT twice?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Earth[Tera].bin]

I imagine it will include the 19% German sales tax and then you'll get stung the 20% import tax and clearance fees etc when it hits the UK.

So yes you will be paying Tax twice. There's a lot of threads on the ebay community pages about this, here's one for example. It seems until eBay sort out the mess and clear up the confusion you'll either have to ask the seller to deduct the German tax or claim the tax back from HMRC.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

Are you able to find the same item on eBay's Global Shipping Programme? Like when ordering from the USA, it will tell you exactly what you're paying in pound sterling as it breaks down the item cost, the shipping and customs amounts. You pay all 3 at once at checkout and there is nothing else to pay afterwards as it makes its way through the system.

 

[leezer3]

eBay will now automatically add the VAT.
Assuming the seller correctly fills in the customs paperwork (you now have to add the eBay VAT thing somewhere), all you get hit for in theory should be the import duty + any carrier fee.
Budget ~10% or so

 

[v0n]

It seems until eBay sort out the mess and clear up the confusion you'll either have to ask the seller to deduct the German tax or claim the tax back from HMRC.

You can't ask seller to deduct the German VAT or claim tax back from HMRC - we are not part of EU anymore and VAT chargebacks between member states no longer apply. German seller has to account for their part of VAT in their homeland while HMRC add their additional taxes (and customs charges if apply) on top for the total to discourage the unwanted continental element from selling their dirty goods to ye olde good britons. In essence - buying from Germany is now no different than importing goods from US or Japan or Oz.

 

[mjt]

Are you able to find the same item on eBay's Global Shipping Programme? Like when ordering from the USA, it will tell you exactly what you're paying in pound sterling as it breaks down the item cost, the shipping and customs amounts. You pay all 3 at once at checkout and there is nothing else to pay afterwards as it makes its way through the system.

I did this ordering a load of books from the UK from the same supplier. Made the most sense when it came to fees. Good system!

 

[Surveyor]

You can't ask seller to deduct the German VAT or claim tax back from HMRC - we are not part of EU anymore and VAT chargebacks between member states no longer apply. German seller has to account for their part of VAT in their homeland while HMRC add their additional taxes (and customs charges if apply) on top for the total to discourage the unwanted continental element from selling their dirty goods to ye olde good britons. In essence - buying from Germany is now no different than importing goods from US or Japan or Oz.

A German seller sending goods to the UK doesn't have to account for VAT in Germany. For goods worth more than £135 they should charge no VAT and the purchaser should pay import VAT in the UK. For goods up to £135 they should charge UK VAT and account for it to HMRC.

 

[watercooledman]

yes and get it paid peasant.

 

[englishpremier]

Yep, eBay everything on eBay from a VAT/IVA etc.. registered company carries the local countries tax. If you buy it from abroad, depending on the country then that tax should not be applied, but on eBay it's already baked into the price. So you get double charged. When abroad and trying to buy from eBay in the UK. Most of the UK sellers, when you message them don't want to know.

eBay has been a mess for long time though. It's only a month or so ago it changed to stop showing UK items in European Union filtered searches.

 

[v0n]

A German seller sending goods to the UK doesn't have to account for VAT in Germany. For goods worth more than £135 they should charge no VAT and the purchaser should pay import VAT in the UK. For goods up to £135 they should charge UK VAT and account for it to HMRC.

There is no mechanism for a German seller to "not account for VAT in Germany" just because a country outside of EU wants to add their additional tax to such purchase. It's as if you sold large volume of goods from UK to US. You can't take 20% off final price, take their money and not pay any taxes to HMRC if you operate from here.

 

[Surveyor]

There is no mechanism for a German seller to "not account for VAT in Germany" just because a country outside of EU wants to add their additional tax to such purchase. It's as if you sold large volume of goods from UK to US. You can't take 20% off final price, take their money and not pay any taxes to HMRC if you operate from here.

If a German seller exports goods outside the EU they do not charge and account for German VAT.

VAT rules and rates

VAT isn't charged on exports of goods to countries outside the EU. In these cases, VAT is charged and due in the country of import and you don't need to declare any VAT as an exporter.

If you export goods from the UK to the USA you don't charge UK VAT.

Exports, sending goods abroad and charging VAT

VAT on exports

VAT is a tax on goods used in the UK and you do not charge VAT if goods are exported from:

• Great Britain to a destination outside the UK
• Northern Ireland to a destination outside the UK and EU.

You are correct in one respect, if VAT is 20% you can't take 20% off the VAT inclusive price to arrive at the price excluding VAT. That would give the wrong answer.

 

[Kenai]

It's as if you sold large volume of goods from UK to US. You can't take 20% off final price, take their money and not pay any taxes to HMRC if you operate from here.

That's almost literally exactly what you do, the only discrepancy in what you said being that you don't 'remove 20% off final price' to remove VAT, as that's the wrong calculation.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-exports-dispatches-and-supplying-goods-abroad

VAT on exports
VAT is a tax on goods used in the UK and you do not charge VAT if goods are exported from:

• Great Britain to a destination outside the UK
• Northern Ireland to a destination outside the UK and EU .

You can zero rate the sale, as long as you get and keep evidence of the export, and comply with all other conditions. You must also make sure the goods are exported, and you must get the evidence within 3 months from the time of sale. This can be longer for goods that need processing before export and for thoroughbred racehorses.

The time of sale is the earlier of the day you:

• send the goods to your customer
• get full payment for them

You must not zero rate sales if your customer asks you to deliver them to a UK address. If the customer arranges to collect them from you (an indirect export), you may be able to zero rate the sale as long as you meet certain zero rating conditions.

edit - ffs @Surveyor I spent too long writing that post

 

[englishpremier]

Where things get confusing for the seller/retailer is when you have a delivery address outside the EU, but your invoice address is inside the EU. It should be simple as VAT always follows the goods, but that tripped up so many sellers for me. Both in EU countries and the UK. Started getting tired of arguing with their account departments.

 

[v0n]

I hear you guys and I accept theoretical quotes from HMRC pages, but I have never encountered any mechanism or tool on eBay that would allow me to sell any goods back to mainland continent less UK VAT. I'm sure it's the same for German seller shipping to UK. As far as I can tell from within my eBay account I have no way of selling anything to US with a different price or file such sale as out of scope of UK VAT.
On the other side of the same theoretical coin - UK currently wants all foreign or at least EU traders to register and account for UK VAT in UK, from abroad, via third party "guarantor" in UK, but there are no mechanisms, both in terms of portals like eBay or Amazon or - more importantly - internal TAX regulations in EU countries to execute such sale the way HMRC would like it to work?

 

[Gaygle]

Sorry, for some reason I got no notifications from this post.

Thanks for the feedback.

The seller told me that the 550eur includes German 19% VAT. Can I ask him to remove the German VAT because he's selling it to the UK? How would he even do this on an eBay listing? It's now such a headache trying to buy stuff from Europe - it used to be so much simpler to get things for a good price from Germany.

 

[Kenai]

Can I ask him to remove the German VAT because he's selling it to the UK? How would he even do this on an eBay listing?

In theory, yes.
No idea, last time I was posting in a thread like this eBay still listed the UK as part of the EU for shipping, so it wouldn't surprise me if there's no easy way for him to do so.

 

[Greebo]

Sorry, for some reason I got no notifications from this post.

Thanks for the feedback.

The seller told me that the 550eur includes German 19% VAT. Can I ask him to remove the German VAT because he's selling it to the UK? How would he even do this on an eBay listing? It's now such a headache trying to buy stuff from Europe - it used to be so much simpler to get things for a good price from Germany.

You can ask but difficult for him to do it via Ebay. Best thing is to ask him to agree to refund the 19% but a lot of ebay sellers wont do this. I bought something for £2300 from Germany and had to pay another lot of UK vat and £80 admin fee on top. Was still cheaper than buying it in the UK though.

 

[Colonel_Klinck]

Another win bought to you by Brexit!