Tax on goods from EU surely not correct?

[floridapalmtree]

Husband has just had messages from DHL saying they will not deliver goods until £67 tax and import duty is paid. This is on clothing of £240. So 20% added. The items were ordered on 29 December so before Brexit exit.

Sister in law also ordered some goods from same company, also on 29 December, which were delivered yesterday but didn't have any tax to pay, think she may have spent less though.

AIBU that this is too much money? or is this just the way things are going to be post Brexit?

Oh how I hate this useless forrin tablet. Apologies OP, above would have been me bleating about bloody brexit but I touched something by mistake and it posted unfinished. And now I've lost the will to live. Time to watch some tv instead.

Actually people are already having problems posting parcels to U.K. friends and family from here so don’t tell me I’m spreading rubbish @Twatalert but thank you for advance warning of your arrival in your username

Oh no, the 'remoaners' are quietly enjoying the Leamoaners realising that the Brexit bonus is something of a Pyrrhic victory for them. Enjoy paying extra - it's what you wanted.

(loved that song, Ochon!)

@LeafCutterAnt

*But but.... that’s what people voted for. Having taxes to pay in import is normal. That’s what was happening with products from the USA for example and no one found it surprising* But a lot of us didn't vote for it either at the referendum or for the "Get Brexit Done party" In fact wasn't it only 43% that voted for the GBDP?

I didn't vote on the law against stealing cars. It's SO UNFAIR!

There have already been stories of EU small businesses dropping out of selling to UK because tax registration is too onerous. It just isn't worth it for small volumes of business.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55530721

Excellent thread about EU and VAT from Edwin Hayward:

they're also abolishing the £15 minimum threshold, so the VAT faff will be required on items of any value.

gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-vat-treatment-of-overseas-goods-sold-to-customers-from-1-january-2021/changes-to-vat-treatment-of-overseas-goods-sold-to-customers-from-1-january-2021

twitter.com/uk_domain_names/status/1345152869062864902

The arguments used by Brexiteers have taken a sharp turn just in the last week. At the time of the referendum it was "nothing's going to change much", then more recently it's been "pah, that thing you are concerned might happen is not going to happen, Project Fear".

Now that the things predicted are actually happening, the response is "suck it up, bitter moaning whingebags".

@GurlwiththeCurl - such a shame he killed himself so young. I loved Alias Smith & Jones. Someone should remake it.

@HannibalHayes But it wouldn’t be the same without the original actors! Yes, it was all so sad.

Do check before clicking any links etc as there was a recent scam coming supposedly from royal mail and other carriers asking for unpaid tax or delivery charge or something, there were a couple of posts on mn about it recently. It might be legit but don't just pay without query.

Serve u right for buying forrin.

We stopped buying Chinese tat a long time ago - usually not as described, badly packaged and has a habit of arriving weeks later, if at all (yes, I mean tat on Amazon).

@WhatWouldPhyllisCraneDo

Yes but we get blue passports and don't have to listen to the unelected EU parliament... or something . We've got more rights now as well (according to DB)

I'm sure that's all worth £67

i'd rather have a maroon passport, no Boris, no Govey. at least Cummings has gone.

@EveryDayIsADuvetDay same. If I could have afforded to I would have bought a passport last year just to get a maroon one. But I couldn't so when I need one again it will have to be a blue one. I might buy a maroon cover for it though

It's correct. It's the vat. The customer now has to pay it if buying goods from the eu.

@OchonAgusOchonO

Either way - foreign online sellers have to register for U.K. VAT, collect the tax and pay HMRC. So EU sellers have to charge U.K. VAT rates when they used to charge their own VAT rates.

So is this to deter people from buying outside the UK or is it another example of "do they not know who we are?" thinking and an assumption that any company outside the UK would be honoured (tugs fore lock) to jump through all sorts of hoops in order to supply the wonderful citizens of the UK?

Technically I think it’s to avoid VAT evasion. But essentially HMRC are passing their job onto foreign sellers who have to pay for the privilege.

Rather than charging VAT at the border the seller registers for U.K. VAT and applies it at the point of sale. (If they can be arsed that is, which will depend on their trade volume and number of U.K. customers).

Pre Brexit EU sellers applied their own VAT at the point of sale so they didn’t have to get involved with U.K. HMRC.

My guess is, as I said above, that this company is not U.K. VAT registered thus U.K. VAT was not applied at the point of sale and is therefore due at the border. (But I would assume that the company had applied their own country’s VAT rate unless it’s a wholesale place).

Surely paying VAT is a small price for Sovereignty, and making 100% of our laws instead of 85% and being able to have an immigration policy which keeps people out unless they have a lot of money and preferably a white skin?

Before we joined the EU in the early 70's (yes I am that old!) I worked for a multi national company in the export/import department. Assessing what items attracted what duty was highly complicated and was a difficult exercise, all depending what category items fell in. It required a lot investigation, much depending on the makeup of the article or the eventual use purpose of it.
It was very time consuming!! The job was a lot less complicated when we joined the EEC (as it was then)
There will now be a whole raft of new regulations as each country/ destination will have different regulations, I wonder how many people have had sufficient training to be able to deal with this?
They certainly didn't put that on the side of the battle bus!
And yes I voted to remain as I remember how difficult many aspects of our lives were before we joined.

Technically I think it’s to avoid VAT evasion. But essentially HMRC are passing their job onto foreign sellers who have to pay for the privilege.

Business have to act as unpaid tax collectors for their own government, but most have no choice but to grit their teeth and get on with it. Who thinks that anyone is going to willingly be an unpaid tax collector for a foreign Government?

Technically I think it’s to avoid VAT evasion. But essentially HMRC are passing their job onto foreign sellers who have to pay for the privilege.

So it's "do they not know who we are?"ism then.

Presumably the UK can do nothing beyond confiscate the goods or apply charges on arrival if EU companies refuse to play ball.

Unless you have massive sales in the UK, there is no point in registering for VAT in the UK. Companies can choose to not ship to the UK or to give HMRC the finger and ship anyway. Not great for customer relations but given they will be losing UK customers anyway, why not?

@Lonelycrab

No downsides. Only considerable upsides.

Whatever made people think the man was talking about them?

Just think of the fortunes that Rees-Mogg, Redwood and the rest have made, their money in tax havens - all so we can pay extra duty on EU goods. Brings tears to the eyes, doesn't it?

But, yeah - Blue Passport

I find it ridiculous that people were complaining about not having a blue passport. After all, the option to have a blue passport has always been available to the UK. The EU rules on passports included that each country could choose between blue or burgundy for their passports. And the UK Government at the time chose Burgundy.

So it was our own government that stopped us having a blue passport, not the EU, and in fact most of the other countries chose blue....

Hazelbite
VAT collection at the UK border went on well into the EU years
in fact right up to the Single Market in 1988

@ListeningQuietly
I wasn't referring to VAT, but import/export duties, complications of purchase tax. The introduction of VAT made calculations and tax collections much easier. ("On 1 January 1973 the UK joined the European Economic Community and as a consequence Purchase Tax was replaced by Value Added Tax on 1 April 1973. The Conservative Chancellor Lord Barber set a single VAT rate (10%) on most goods and services.")

Hazel
VAT may be standard but Duty was certainly not.
45 different rates on balsamic vinegar alone

The Tariff used to be a footrest sized book
and we are back to using it for the 50% of UK trade that used to have no red tape

Brexit Bonus