Clarity with importing via Astroshop.eu please...

[Greymouser]

Never used this company before and feel a little concerned about getting something via them, but goodness knows when FLO will get the item in. ( Much prefer to get it from them... )

I have emailed them about extra costs and they seem to say that there will be none, but they will not take VAT from the price, which has me worried that I will have to pay VAT here in the UK, if it is already being paid in Germany, even though they say there will be no extra taxes.

Here is the line from the e mail, which to stupid me, seems less than perfectly clear.

Quote

We do not subtract VAT from an order in UK but we support the charge of customs (expedition in DDP) so that you will receive your order without any additions of taxes. 

Anyone have any experience with shopping with them and any hidden charges? Any advice much appreciated. 

[Marvin Jenkins]

There are only two certainties in life. Death and Taxes, be prepared to accept both.

[Stu]

I’ve had similar comms from Teleskop Service but am equally dubious. I have no idea if this is correct, and sadly have stopped buying from Europe as a result.

[malc-c]

From my limited knowledge I was always under the impression that as the supplier is exporting the item it is supplied VAT free.  Then the VAT and duty is paid to the customs department at the point of entry as the rates may differ from the exporting country.   If you are paying the 19% VAT that Germany applies, then the UK government are not going to benefit from the importation of the item, and if they do have a system where they recover that you would still need to pay the difference between the 19% German rate and 20% UK rate... hence why goods are exported tax and duty free.   But I could be wrong as Brexit has caused a lot of confusion.

I did find this which may help explain how to reclaim the duplication of VAT payment should you have no choice but to pay VAT at the point of sale and upon the goods landing in the UK - Hope that helps?

[Stu]

2 hours ago, malc-c said:

From my limited knowledge I was always under the impression that as the supplier is exporting the item it is supplied VAT free.  Then the VAT and duty is paid to the customs department at the point of entry as the rates may differ from the exporting country.   If you are paying the 19% VAT that Germany applies, then the UK government are not going to benefit from the importation of the item, and if they do have a system where they recover that you would still need to pay the difference between the 19% German rate and 20% UK rate... hence why goods are exported tax and duty free.   But I could be wrong as Brexit has caused a lot of confusion.

I did find this which may help explain how to reclaim the duplication of VAT payment should you have no choice but to pay VAT at the point of sale and upon the goods landing in the UK - Hope that helps?

It’s certainly highly confusing. My understanding from TS was that they effectively paid the UK VAT so didn’t ship VAT free. I may be very wrong though 🤪

[malc-c]

I think Brexit has mudded things... From what a friend has told me it seems that UK government now want overseas companies to charge VAT at UK rate at the time of purchase, and then basically pay HM Customs the VAT when there is a VAT return and its declared as "export", which is why a lot of companies now won't ship to the UK as there is so much paperwork that its too much hassle as it means more VAT returns as HM Customs will naturally not wait for payment when a company does a normal year end accounts... How true that is I have no idea, but it would seem logical based on Stu's comments above

[Elp]

Prior to Brexit it used to be overseas shippers would ship vat free, upon arrival in the UK the purchaser would be subject to UK vat at 20pc plus any applicable duty and handling processing fee. Always, always when importing ask the seller for a commodity code or description of goods they'll put on the paperwork, this is an international shipping requirement and goods cannot be shipped without it as it needs to be declared on the attached commercial invoices. You can then look up the duty percentage on the UK Gov website for commodity codes. The duty free limit of general goods is £135 when I last checked and this is the total value amount of product PLUS shipping in GBP. If you're importing very very heavy goods (ie palletised) the shipping also incurs a vat rate and other fees if literally being on boat or plane shipment. DDP means Delivery Duties Paid door to door so in theory you should not be charged upon its arrival into the UK. Since Brexit overseas seller's shipping to the UK have to charge vat, and this is supplied in advance to the courier to pay it upon consignment arrival into the UK.