Import VAT - Arcade Art Repro, Netherlands

[Bods]

Are you sure they havent bought something from Chinese sellers on eBay that hold stock in the UK? I think you get charged VAT on those sort of sales.

That's what I asked them and both said no, UK seller, 2nd hand item, eBay also said they don't have to put it in the listing, it didn't tell you your paying VAT when buying, you only find out after when you look at money came from Bank Account

one was my Mum and other Partner, i'd need to look into it myself to make sure they haven't missed something like seller in another country but both said Items were from UK seller, you'd know if posted from outside UK when arrives. I hadn't said anything when Mum told me and weeks later other half telling me happened to them

 

[jerryspaghetti]

Ok gents for information purposes, the rules are as follows so be careful going forward:

Do not mistake VAT with Customs Duty. They are two separate things.

Customs Duty is due on all purchases over £135 only.
VAT is due on all purchases (other than gifts under £39). The only difference is who collects and pays the VAT.

If the value is under £135, the seller will collect the VAT and pay HMRC when they do their yearly accounts.
If the value is over £135, the seller is supposed to charge NO VAT. Instead the courier company will pay the VAT and send you the VAT bill which you must pay before they will deliver the goods. SO DO NOT PAY VAT TO THE SELLER AT POINT OF PURCHASE IF ITS OVER £135!

The courier has acted correctly in charging me VAT so there is no way to recover it from them (other than a long drawn out process after the seller has paid yearly tax bills etc.)

I've reached out to Barry and asked him to refund me the VAT mistakenly charged at purchase and to make the adjustment his end as technically it is calculated by their online payment page in error.

I'll update on how i get on...

 

[Fantazia2]

There are options to claim back overpayed/doublepayed VAT using an online system but its not that simple, and you would need to prove that Barry had passed the VAT onto HMRC to be able to claim back the VAT charged/payed by the courier.

 

[Sp33dFr34k]

Oof, this is getting complicated. He replied me saying that for UK customers, only UK VAT would be charged by him, and he needs to pass it on... wonder what's the correct course of action now. Curious to see how you get on.

 

[Fantazia2]

Hes not supposed to charge VAT when the items value (not inc postage) comes to over £135, hes only required to charge when its below that amount.

His system is the one at fault here.

If you want to prove the theory go to a site like Aliexpress and try adding things to the cart below and above that limit and going to checkout, you should see it adds VAT if the item is below 135 and doesnt when above, although it needs to be an individual item price as have found buying from multiple sellers in the same basket can do weird things as it seems to split the orders even though you pay in one go, but I think thats possible the correct behaviour as your buying from different sellers.

 

[jerryspaghetti]

UPDATE: Barry has kindly initiated a refund on the VAT.

He's going to buy a plug in that removes the VAT from the sub total when the value exceeds £135 so that it should solve the problem for orders over that amount going forward.

Thanks all for the advice.

 

[K1ngarth3r]

I don't know if I should go back to him for my order last December now, it was €52.70 in VAT plus another nearly £80 from Parcel Force!

 

[jerryspaghetti]

I don't know if I should go back to him for my order last December now, it was €52.70 in VAT plus another nearly £80 from Parcel Force!

He's quite a reasonable fella. If it's genuine he'll refund you as he'd only have to pay it to HMRC anyway so better up in your pocket.

 

[Chihiro]

My parcel was delivered about 7am this morning as with previous PF delivery's I'm about 2 miles from the depot & no customs duty lets hope they don't adopt the FedEx method of sending the bill 3 months later.
My order total was £88.

 

[Chihiro]

Nice to see a polite driver:

 

[ExZX]

My parcel was delivered about 7am this morning as with previous PF delivery's I'm about 2 miles from the depot & no customs duty lets hope they don't adopt the FedEx method of sending the bill 3 months later.
My order total was £88.

PF are pretty good. They will send you a letter on anything over £135 to pay the import tax before they deliver it and you have 21 days from the date on the letter to pay with various options when to have it delivered (Saturday an extra fee).
As for Fedex. Fuck them. That's all I have to say about them.
As for the guys who work for PF, they must train them well. All of them knock and won't leave a parcel outside if you're not in although you can leave instructions to leave the parcel in a safe place or with a neighbour. So many other delivery companies don't give two shits about leaving a parcel out in the open now including Royal Mail ( mixed bag of old school and new guys as a lot of the regulars have left for good reason)

 

[Chihiro]

I got a JVS-PAC 2 a couple of years back & was sweating a bit as they come FedEx (next day from Norway) but it was ok & have heard nothing since.

 

[Sbdesign]

Brexit isolated us, it was stupid for trade, and we have had next to zero benifit.
We have to take on the USA, Europe and china alone.

Anyhow looks like you got sorted.
So nothing to add

 

[Chihiro]

Just got home & the parcel value was declared at 30 Euro & gift but had all his info & sticker on the box.

I had a Noir CP from Taiwan that cost £145 declared for a similar value at xmas & also handled by PF in the UK again no import duty I guess its a risk this way in the event of a missing parcel.

 

[Chihiro]

Banners are great & worth every penny!