Brexit and taxes/import charges

[leffemonster]

Following the UK’s exit from the EU there has been confusion around the imposing of additional taxes and/or import charges on items being bought, both ways, across the border. 

This is how I see it, but I’m no tax accountant...

Whilst it is correct to say that the UK/EU trade deal imposes no tariffs on goods crossing the border, this does NOT mean that there will be no additional taxes or import charges. The sting in the tail for UK members is that goods bought in the EU are no longer ‘tax paid’ and so will be subject to VAT charges (tax). In addition, there may also be import (customs) charges to pay. Likewise for our EU members buying from the UK.

For example, anyone in the EU buying from Cousins UK will no longer have VAT applied to their order - any value added tax due will be applied by your own government.

If the goods cost less than £135 then VAT is applied at the point of sale - so the price you see probably won’t be the price you pay. If goods are more than £135 then the VAT is applied when you take delivery - so the price you paid the retailer won’t be the price you end up paying. And if the item is sent to you as a gift, if it’s value is over about £39 then you’ll get stung for both VAT and customs charges.

For me, it’s all very confusing. Which it shouldn’t really be, as I don’t think it works any differently than buying from, say, Singapore, Japan or the USA. But just so I don’t get stung, I’ll be taking a pragmatic approach and sticking to buying from Blighty.

[aac58]

Here in Spain is about the same, the only difference is that if the goods are less than 22€ (45€ if the seller is a particular) they are exempt from VAT, but this will be no longer true starting on June.

So there shouldn't be big differences in price when buying from a professional, I wouldn't pay the UK VAT and will pay the EU VAT.

The problem arises when the courier charges their customs services. For example the Spanish equivalent to Royal Mail (Correos) will charge from 20 to 25 € for preparing the paperwork, plus 6 € for presenting the papers to the customs authority, so that could make smalls orders not economically interesting. I hope that this services wouldn't be necessary for goods under 145€ (including P&P I think) as the VAT will be collected by the seller.

[Fergus]

Least we forget the additional Handling charges by the courier. IIRC it can range from £8 to £15

[leffemonster]

Good point Fergus. Last couple of times I got stung, it was £8 with Royal Mail and £15 with DHL.

[tempelkim]

Update on ordering from Germany in the UK: bought some watchmaker tools for 50£ earlier this month. Took three or four days to get them. Today, that's two weeks later an invoice from Customs/GLS arrived. I have to pay an additional 25,05€: 10,53€ VAT, 6,30€ customs clearance charge, 3,80€ advanced payment fees, 2,10€ postage and 2,32€ VAT on the additional fees. So basically I have to pay 14,52€ to pay 10,53€ VAT.


Fortunately if I buy something in Japan, Australia or the USA it's only VAT (sometimes not even that), because it gets delivered by DHL. But Royal Mail hands everything over to GLS, so there is no chance to get around this. Congratulations, Mr. Johnson! Well done. Will have to look elsewhere first in the future and only buy in the UK if there is no way around it.

[Fergus]

BoJo don't make the decisions. It's the team behind him. The Brit public voted out and now most wished they had voted IN.

[leffemonster]

Ok, I don’t really like to discuss politics but here’s my tuppence-worth. Unfortunately the average Brit didn’t really understand what the potential implications of Brexit might be for them on a personal basis, and the Remain campaign didn’t take the time to educate anyone. Most were hoodwinked by Farage’s rhetoric around immigration damaging the economy and the labour market. If Cameron had had some balls and not been so shit-scared about UKIP there wouldn’t had been a referendum in the first place.

The end result - when buying, everyone, not just in the UK but across the EU, ends up worse off.

[Deleted]

What with that killing the pound to the dollar and that awful bloody International Priority Shipping crap it killed my watch business off pretty much as soon as the vote had gone across. What did folk think was going to happen? Oh well they are screwed now along with the rest of us. Rant over.

P.S

Don't order from Australia at the moment. On month 3 of parts for my car. Finally in the UK but customs...... I'll leave it there

[trilo]

Apparently everything below 18,90£ will come through the customs in where I live. I had to present customs with documents today for them to release my order from cousins.

Postage being so reasonable with cousins it's totally worth orderging stuff from there. Funny thing is, that it becomes cheaper to order the stuff in separate parcells and pay the postage than pay taxes on a parcell that exceeds 18,90£ in total value before postage. 

[Deleted]

And my kinky Australian rubber arrived after 5 months.... but it turned out the erm.... ****%&£*"(*$ had sent it to the wrong address so not Brexit related after all. Just moron related not to be confused with Mormon related.

Everything apart from the Philippines has been getting here as fast as normal. Even the kinky rubber came through with no customs charges. I've had Italian post, Spanish and American all for over £150 each all come through no customs charges. Luck of the draw.

Merry Christmas everybody

[trilo]

Mar 19, 2021 7:01:03 GMT -8 trilo said:

Apparently everything below 18,90£ will come through the customs in where I live. I had to present customs with documents today for them to release my order from cousins.

Postage being so reasonable with cousins it's totally worth orderging stuff from there. Funny thing is, that it becomes cheaper to order the stuff in separate parcells and pay the postage than pay taxes on a parcell that exceeds 18,90£ in total value before postage. 

Still waiting for my parcell after 2 weeks. I guess they have their hands full