UK to EU custom duties

[ruffrecords]

Ian,
both, DigiKey and Mouser, handle VAT and any possible customs duties on their side. While shipping is from the US it feels like buying in your own country.

Yes, that's the same as it is buying from them in the UK. But I have only ever had to pat VAT on orders from them. When you say they handle any duty, would that be built into the component prices? it would be intersting to compare Euro and Sterling prices from them and see how close they are to the Euro/GBP exchange rate.

Cheers

Ian

 

[sahib]

Ian,

The companies like Digikey and Mouser are registered multi-nationally and have multi-national warehouse operations. Therefore they belong to a particular category of tax regime, which is very complicated but they are set up to deal with that.

But the key is the point of sale (hence the currency they charge). You place your order here and they charge you in GBP (as they can not charge you in USD). So, the sales are made in the UK even if the goods are shipped from their US warehouse. So, as far as the procedure is concerned it is a UK sale.

Yes, their shipping costs between their warehouses are built into the component price but this is nothing special, as at the end of the day every business' costs are built into the products' retail prices. You run a business before, I would not dare to try to teach you how it would work, but they do not calculate their costs one sale at a time. All built in globally.

However, as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, be careful with Farnell. Even though you are placing the order here with them, for particular components if they are shipping it from outside the UK they put a surcharge of about £15 onto the shipping cost. There is normally a warning in green text on the product listing. I had to pay it once for a particular 10% electrolytic.

 

[Whoops]

member Hodad here sent me a gift from the USA, 12 transistors he sent for free, declared as a Gift.
Received yesterday the letter from the customs to process the fees online so PT customs would release it.

Here is the Breakdown:

Shipping - 13,12€
declared value of the item - 1€
TOTAL - 14,12

Ammount to pay to the customs:

VAT = 14,12 x 23% = 3,25€
Presentation to customs fee = 2€
Presentation to customs fee VAT = 0,46€

Total amount to Pay the customs = 5,71€

So for a parcel that was a gift and that had a declared value of 1€, value that the customs accepted, I had to pay in Tax+Fees to the customs 5,71€

This was from a parcel from the US, but it would be the same if it was from the UK or any other non-EU country in the World.

here is the print screen of the breakdown:

 

[ruffrecords]

The big problem with EU customs is that they insist on including the the shipping cost in the total value of items arriving from outside the EU..

Pre Brexit I had a similar issue with PCBs sent from India by DHL. DHL in the UK sent me a bill for VAT on the declared value plus shipping and also charged a fee for collecting the VAT and there was VAT on the fee. Post Brexit this was dropped but DHL shipping charges nearly doubled. Now I buy my PCBs from Aisler in Germany and there are no import duties. I have also not been charged any duty when buying stuff from Thoman or Banzai Music. Seems like the EU has one rule for exports to the UK and another for imports from the UK.

Edit: I think a lot of this is to do with import thresholds. Anyone know who is responsible for setting these throughout the EU.

Cheers

Ian

 

[Whoops]

The big problem with EU customs is that they insist on including the the shipping cost in the total value of items arriving from outside the EU..

I find exactly the same Ian, it's even outrageous that the shipping cost is included in the total value, that doesn't make any sense at all, I hope that some of the people that are in decision positions are bitten by it one day and finally they will be more honest and correct and change that rule.

 

[[silent:arts]]

Gentlemen, while EU & Brexit bashing is a nice pastime nothing changed in terms of VAT on shipping etc.
VAT on imports has always been on goods + shipping, and it still is. And yes, if a private courier charges you some fees for doing the import paperwork for you, you have to pay VAT on that fee too. Inside the EU, as well as in the UK.

And there are no different EU rules for imports or exports to or from the UK.
The only difference (and difficulty for small value sellers) now is in (and set by) the UK, being the seller responsible for VAT payments (to the UK) of goods with a value of £135 or less. This is a considerable administrative effort that many shy away from.

Ian, if you can't see VAT (and / or import duties) on your invoice doesn't mean the seller did not have to pay them for you.

 

[Whoops]

Gentlemen, while EU & Brexit bashing is a nice pastime nothing changed in terms of VAT on shipping etc.
VAT on imports has always been on goods + shipping, and it still is.

No one said it changed,
it was not fair before that the "shipping cost" was included in the VAT calculation, as it's not fair now.

 

[sahib]

Pre Brexit I had a similar issue with PCBs sent from India by DHL. DHL in the UK sent me a bill for VAT on the declared value plus shipping and also charged a fee for collecting the VAT and there was VAT on the fee.

Ian,

DHL's charge is not for collecting the VAT, but for providing you with custom clearance services. As the services are provided at UK customs the VAT is due on them. Consider another scenario. Assume that the goods were waiting at the customs and you had to appoint a customs agent to clear them. Then the agent would still charge you VAT on the services they provided you with.

However, I have tons of pre-Brexit DHL invoices and none of them has VAT on their handling (clearance) charges. That's a bit strange.

..The only difference (and difficulty for small value sellers) now is in (and set by) the UK, being the seller responsible for VAT payments (to the UK) of goods with a value of £135 or less. This is a considerable administrative effort that many shy away from.

Volker,

I do not think this was set by UK. It is more likely that it was set by EU. Please read this link from page 4
https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/brexit_files/vat-goods_en.pdf

 

[[silent:arts]]

I do not think this was set by UK. It is more likely that it was set by EU.

Do you really believe the EU can dictate the UK how they want to collect their VAT post Brexit?
The £135 nonsense affects every single sale from outside the UK, not only from the EU to UK.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-and-overseas-goods-sold-directly-to-customers-in-the-uk

 

[totoxraymond]

Hey!

I just spent a full day recording courses for OCDE about VAT collecting at the international! (Boring day)

What i have learned:

Principle pf VAY is it has to be paid by end customer only and it should be neutral to businesses. Whatever the country the are registered in / paying taxes / selling goods.
It should be paid on goods AND services.

So VAT is paid on shipping.

The biggest problem i saw when ordering from an online shop which is not registered in your country is:

you order goods excluding taxes. (For example 50€ worth of pcb)

They're shipped to you for 5€

On arrival you're asked to pay taxes on 55€×20% =11€ , you should pay 66€ total.

BUT if the shipping company (it happened to me with dhl and fedex and the likes) charges you an big fee for collecting VAT and getting custom clearance (which is their right), you'll have to pay the fee PLUS VAT on that fee (happened to me that i doubled the original price).

This in feel is unfair because most of the time these companies fees feel really high. And you're kind of forced to pay because the other choice is to not get your parcel...

Then on top of that, you may have import fees dictated by your country's law but this migjt not ve due to EU.

I live in France and had those experience buying components from US and pcbs from china.

Now i only order goods from companies which are registered for collecting VAT in France.

My 2 cents,

Thomas

 

[sahib]

Do you really believe the EU can dictate the UK how they want to collect their VAT post Brexit?
The £135 nonsense affects every single sale from outside the UK, not only from the EU to UK.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-and-overseas-goods-sold-directly-to-customers-in-the-uk

I certainly do not, but this is a reciprocal arrangement. I am sure you have read the documents in that link that I gave you and they have a similar 150 Euro limit. So, the idea could have come from either side.

But what I am not very clear is that how your operation is affected from Germany. For example, assume that I ordered DLA2A board from you, and you put it in the envelope and took it down to your post office. Would they refuse it because you did not have VAT documents?

If it was other way around, at the post office I would fill a small customs declaration form with my name and address, what's inside the envelope (or box), the nature of the shipment (whether it is a gift, sale, commercial sample or other) and the value on it. That's it. I do not have to collect the VAT and pay it to German Inland Revenue. Your postal system collects it from you (and of course also charges you handling/service charge). In fact Ian seems to have been supplying his PCBs to EU and I do not think he is collecting VAT either.

So, if we are able to do it this way then you should be able to do it from your side too as all these things are reciprocal. UK sellers can not have advantage over EU sellers. It just can not happen.