Probably not and clearly if you don't play the game you will be the one that loses.
First import from the EU
- Thread starter Rorschach
- Start date
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Probably not and clearly if you don't play the game you will be the one that loses.
RobinBHM
Established Member
A mysterious parcel whose contents are secret arrived with no problems.....maybe this thread is part of the govts £250million propaganda programme
A mysterious parcel whose contents are secret arrived with no problems.....maybe this thread is part of the govts £250million propaganda programme
4 boxes total actually, weighing in at over 200lbs.
No problem's so far but as Phil said, might get a letter in the post soon, we'll see
Distinterior
Established Member
Thanks for posting that Mike (Edit - Noel)
.....It rather proves the point I was looking to make.
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Thanks for posting that Mike
No problem Ralph.
Droogs
Not the Sharpest Moderator in the box
No wonder you so zealously guard your identity, if people were able to link what you write here and your business you would be destitute in a week. You do not realise most people are not on the griff. Statements like that really do make me and I would think others (the majority) consider to be rather too dodgy to do business with
Distinterior
Established Member
Distinterior
Established Member
Well said Droogs.
He is dealing with a corrupt system where his honesty will penalise him. You can only deal honestly and fairly if both parties act in unison.
Ahh @Droogs , you have obviously never had the fun of dealing with international customers. It would be wonderful if everyone in the world was honest and fair and we could all trust each other. Sadly that is not the case and the Italian postal service is a prime example. If you ever have the good fortune to deal with Italians you will learn this.
Jonm
Established Member
Actually I can understand why Rorschach wants to protect his identity and what he has bought. This post is open to anyone in the world with an internet connection. If he has bought a fancy expensive bit of kit for his workshop then that is where he wants it to stay. These thieves can be very resourceful.
Your HMRC friend is a it misleading. He is correct to say if EU countries insisting on you paying THEIR vat that would be money grabbing. But he omitted to say that the way most EU traders sell to consumers in the UK is they charge the UK VAT on goods at the point of sale if below £135 or E150 and then forward the VAT to the UK government. This is the UK process. If they fail to do that, then the courier will come knocking on your door for the tax and vat and get the EU exporter a bad reputation. The same happens in reveres for UK exports. @JohnPW is correct in how it operates.
Above £135 there is import duty to pay as well as VAT, this should be collected at point of delivery, which is why a lot of retailers have temporarily stopped exporting to the UK as retail customers are not used to paying tax to the delivery courier /postman. For this reason most UK exporters are having to set up distribution centres in the EU and vice versa or make an arrangement with a 3rd party to handle the import and export duties so that the consumer does not feel the pain.
Most of us have run into this when buy form Amazon of ebay form US companies and then found they had to pay import tax at the customs depot in the past. Although its less of an issue now as US retailers have started to apply these charges up front.
Many Chinese traders got round these rules by disappearing and prearranging under a new trading name to keep one step ahead of HMRC. The latest round of this cat and mouse game saw HMCR require Amazon and ebay to apply 20% vat on all imports and collect the tax on HMRC's behalf which is why prices rose 20% in January. I've noticed that prices are coming down again so I guess the mice have found another way to avoid paying the import duty /vat.
Its quite involeved and confusing for us consumers.
Jonm
Established Member
I understand that pre jan 2021, imports less than about £15 incl postage from China (or any other country outside the eu) we’re exempt from vat. This was an optional exemption permitted by the eu to reduce unnecessary paperwork and costs exceeding amount collected. In Jan 2021, uk removed this exemption. As it was an EU option this was nothing to do with eu membership or not.
It has been abolished in the EU as well, starting in July 2021, delayed from Jan 2021.
But people have always had to pay VAT to the courier /postman for orders over £135, before it was to sellers outside the EU, now it's sellers outside the UK.
From what I've read, the reason why some non-UK sellers are not selling to the UK is because they have to register, collect and pay the UK's VAT (for under £135 orders), and the extra paperwork is not worthwhile.
Whereas it might be worthwhile for the non-EU seller using the same arrangement to sell to the EU because it's a much bigger market.
Jonm
Established Member
If you mean criminal convictions for people evading taxes then fair enough. If you mean it for the problems being created by leaving the EU, single market and customs union, then no. The referendum was legal, the result was leave and the subsequent two general elections have resulted in pro leave governments. Nothing illegal there and the will of the people has been actioned, eventually.
As for the difficulties expressed on this post, they were entirely foreseeable as a result of the leave vote. We just have to do our best and work with the procedures now in place. Rorschach has, so far found no real difficulties importing from Greece. It is difficult separating whether coronavirus or leaving the EU is the cause of problems, the EU countries were/are concerned about drivers either from uk or returning from uk are bringing the uk strain with them, and who can blame them given what has happened here.
@Jonm thanks for the post. There was a lot of speculation in previous threads about ordering from the EU and I just wanted to post something giving an example of what happened to me. Unless anything changes in the next few days the only real difference for me pre and post Brexit is that I had to get the EORI number.
Actually the effect is working both ways as exporting to the EU without an EU distribution base can mean separate rules and registrations for different countries. Your overlll point is probalby how the market will settle down, ie the costs size of a transaction is probably going to determine the final outcome once the 'teething problems' have been dealt with. It does effect UK exports for many sectors some of which will effect us. There are a lot of UK based distributor companies, which the media tends to call pharmaceutical or chemicals companies, whose business is importing goods into the UK from outside the EU (Japan, US, etc) breaking them into smaller batches and distributing across the EU. Most of that business is no longer viable as each EU country is a separate market with its own import requirements. Some will relocate to a hub in the EU others are just stopping or reducing the range of goods distributed. This will be increasingly the case if the UK implements UK Reach as that would had a huge regulatory burden of chemicals sold in the UK. UK reach will lead to the choice of varnishes and coating materials will narrow, as suppliers consolidate to main product lines.
