vexillia | 02 Nov 2015 6:21 a.m. PST |
Ordering from the USA, China etc will get more expensive next year: The European Commission (EC) is progressing discussions with EU member states to withdraw the Low Value Consignment Stock Relief (LVCR) scheme. The VAT exemption for non-EU sellers of goods to EU consumers is estimated to cost the EU €500.00 EURm per annum.In 2014, the EC's VAT Expert Group called for the abolition of LVCR on the basis that it discriminated against EU-based e-retailers. The EC estimated that member states lost €535.00 EURm in 2013 on the concession. The number of low value consignments has grown by 236% between 1999 and 2013. The Commission has announced that it will make legislative proposals in 2016 ‘removing the VAT exemption for the importation of small consignments from suppliers in third countries'. This also may help. Goods being imported into the EU are liable to the customs duties and VAT rate of the member state of import. In 1983 the EU required the import of goods to be VAT and customs free if their value was €10.00 EUR or below. Member states are free to increase their own national limited to up to €22.00 EUR per package. The exemption was introduced to reduce the administrative burden on national tax and customs authorities of attempting to track and collect the charges. Expect VAT collection on even small parcels. The £8.00 GBP Royal Mail collection fee will really hurt. -- Martin Stephenson Vexillia: Wargames Miniatures & Accessories Shop | Rules | eBay | Twitter |
Guthroth | 02 Nov 2015 6:34 a.m. PST |
If this kicks in I will simply stop buying from outside the UK. Simples. Any more comments will probably get me dh'd. |
Oh Bugger | 02 Nov 2015 6:46 a.m. PST |
Time to get more Khurasan stuff then. |
14th Brooklyn | 02 Nov 2015 7:04 a.m. PST |
It rarely affected me over the past decade, but it is strange. I had two instances over the past years where I received something for around 100 EUR from the US. In both cases the customs officers commented, that the VAT did not match up to the admin costs. How is it supposed to be any better on even lower amounts? @Guthroth… you can still buy front the mainland EU… no duty either and in most cases the VAT is lower than it is in the UK! |
Cerdic | 02 Nov 2015 7:11 a.m. PST |
How are they going to collect it? EU governments collect VAT from businesses selling goods and services. So what happens when a supplying company is outside the EU? Some sort of import tax? All very well when you are dealing with container loads of stuff, but is it really going to be cost effective trying to track and enforce this when a few quid's worth is sent through the mail? |
Cold Steel | 02 Nov 2015 7:20 a.m. PST |
Too many government economists don't understand the most basic principles of their trade. |
vexillia | 02 Nov 2015 7:22 a.m. PST |
How are they going to collect it? Same as they do now: they intercept the parcel and don't release it until the VAT has been paid by the recipient. The current system is far from perfect as many people will testify to but once every parcel attracts VAT it becomes easier to implement as Customs are no longer looking for exceptions. -- Martin Stephenson Vexillia: Wargames Miniatures & Accessories Shop | Rules | eBay | Twitter |
Zargon | 02 Nov 2015 7:42 a.m. PST |
Bring on 3D printing, tax that you smelly bureaucrat. |
Tarleton | 02 Nov 2015 7:47 a.m. PST |
Bear in mind that it is no longer the Customs dealing with importations by post. The Post Office does it and charges a minimum admin/handling/ call it what you will fee of £8.00 GBP If they can bang that on every little parcel they'll be doing nicely thank you very much! |
Frothers Did It And Ran Away | 02 Nov 2015 7:52 a.m. PST |
I love how they say its "costing" the EU €500.00 EUR m but fail to point out it would cost us €500.00 EUR m if it was how they intend it to be. |
GarrisonMiniatures | 02 Nov 2015 9:35 a.m. PST |
It 'costs' the EU in two ways. Firstly, directly from the duty paid – and, remember, the UK Government, for example, will also get a cut of the £8.00 GBP fee in duty as well. Secondly, by increasing the 'cost' of imported goods there is a bigger incentive for people to look for local alternatives, thus helping the balance of payments. |
Extra Crispy | 02 Nov 2015 9:39 a.m. PST |
With the rise in postage over the past few years my shipments from the US to the EU have dropped by about 50%. I imagine this will pretty much kill it off all together. |
Martin Rapier | 02 Nov 2015 9:41 a.m. PST |
Or it just makes out current account deficit even bigger, so Sterling falls in value and inflation goes up, eroding the value of the increased tax revenue…. Ain't monetary economics a wonderful thing! It would marginally aid overseas competitiveness. |
John Treadaway | 02 Nov 2015 10:05 a.m. PST |
No taxation without representation!* Wait one while I pack my bags for my stay at the DH John T * I believe was a rallying cry from days long ago… See: not current affairs at all, no comment about membership of the EU at all: just a quote from over two centuries ago |
Tarleton | 02 Nov 2015 10:23 a.m. PST |
The £8.00 GBP fee goes to the Post Office, its their charge for collecting the VAT and Import Duty, if any. History repeating itself. The Customs and Excise duties used to be "farmed" out to the highest bidder who paid either a percentage of what they collected or a set amount to the Crown. They kept the rest. |
Goober | 02 Nov 2015 10:56 a.m. PST |
Hmm. Do I see boats drawn up on shingle in the dead of night with crates of imported figures smuggled ashore with muffled lamps to avoid the excise man? Smugglers cove lives again! I feel a Black Ops scenario coming on… G. |
Tgerritsen | 02 Nov 2015 11:24 a.m. PST |
Zargon, don't give them ideas. I'm sure they'll think of some way to do it. Within a decade I fully expect devices in our cars to tax us per mile traveled. |
Guthroth | 02 Nov 2015 11:24 a.m. PST |
John H, that was one of the things I didn't type. There were many many more …. |
bsrlee | 02 Nov 2015 11:38 a.m. PST |
Actually it may increase the individual size of orders – if you are going to be hit with a fixed fee anyway you might as well spread the cost over the largest possible amount of goods. So 8 quid on a dozen figures is a lot per figure, but the same amount on a hundred is relatively less painful. Something that has been happening for Australian buyers is people are using 'aggregating' services in the US to have several small orders sent to a US address where the parcels are combined and then forwarded as one big box of goodies. Not so much for figures, but some US companies charge a considerable premium on top of actual postage for export orders or just won't ship to non-US addresses. So you could get together with a bunch of friends or club members and make large, less frequent orders. What is killing EU businesses is the steady increase in paperwork and compliance costs as Governments are reducing the GST threshold for small businesses doing sales on line – its chickenfeed for someone like Amazon but its crippling for someone selling e-books or the like for a few euros each. |
Mako11 | 02 Nov 2015 11:45 a.m. PST |
Someone's gotta feed "the beast"…… |
Jcfrog | 02 Nov 2015 12:00 p.m. PST |
Get together and group imports, should not be too hard to do. All EU states, impregnated to a different degree with the mantra that the more to the state the better, are in effect, more or less bankrupt. The beast is most dangerous when its clients smell the end. |
Guthroth | 02 Nov 2015 12:08 p.m. PST |
Still I can't say what I really think. Over to the blue fez I think. |
Frothers Did It And Ran Away | 02 Nov 2015 1:25 p.m. PST |
It 'costs' the EU in two ways[…] As the situation currently stands there is no cost to the EU, meaning the bureaucracies of the member states, because they aren't actors in the transactions the proposes legislation will affect. That's why the rhetoric quoted by the OP is so disingenuous – it points to a (non-existent) "cost" being paid by the European governments but doesn't mention that to address this will impose a real cost on those EU citizens who want to engage in these small international transactions. Even if you widen your definition of the EU to include all its citizens who are potential parties to this sort of transaction there still isn't a cost, only a benefit in that the EU citizens have access to a wider range of goods and prices. There would be a cost after the imposition of VAT on such goods because the price of those goods would have been artificially inflated meaning that EU citizens have to pay more, or be discouraged from buying things they want in, say China, and either not spending at all or buying goods from within the EU which have less value to them. |
Frothers Did It And Ran Away | 02 Nov 2015 1:40 p.m. PST |
Does anyone know how the byzantine EU actually works? When the OP article says "The Commission has announced that it will make legislative proposals…" does that mean its a stitch-up or will MEP's get to vote on it? |
GarrisonMiniatures | 02 Nov 2015 3:09 p.m. PST |
'The £8.00 GBP GBP fee goes to the Post Office, its their charge for collecting the VAT and Import Duty, if any.' Yes, but also counts as income and contributes to the profits of the Post Office and is therefore taxable itself! |
doug redshirt | 02 Nov 2015 4:38 p.m. PST |
And once again we are divided by an ocean. So the new thing is to reinstate tariffs on goods coming in to your country. No wonder I stopped buying stuff from overseas, the cost has made me look for alternatives here in the states or just not bother getting it. I dont know how many projects I have thought about doing, but after looking at the postage they all died a quick death. |
arthur1815 | 03 Nov 2015 5:39 a.m. PST |
Similarly on this side of the Atlantic, doug! |
Winston Smith | 03 Nov 2015 7:04 a.m. PST |
Hey, you guys voted in the EU! Now deal with it! |
Guthroth | 03 Nov 2015 9:07 a.m. PST |
We certainly did not Winston ! No British govt has ever offered such a vote. A common market, yes. Not a socialist super state. Roll on the referendum. |
Old Peculiar | 03 Nov 2015 9:30 a.m. PST |
Socialist???????????? You obviously have a very different interpretation of the word than I do! |
Jcfrog | 03 Nov 2015 10:05 a.m. PST |
You mean eu states and Eu central have yet to reach the 99% state owned and controled economy the glorious and prosperous CCCP was? Many are trying, but reality keeps getting in the way, sometimes. |
CPBelt | 03 Nov 2015 10:13 a.m. PST |
Life sure was simpler during the Cold War. Ahhhhh…the good old days. BTW the strong dollar helps offset postage to our side of the pond, but really kills all around for folks in UK and EU ordering from the US. |
Mako11 | 03 Nov 2015 11:08 a.m. PST |
Strong dollar? Whose dollars would those be? |
Waco Joe | 03 Nov 2015 5:51 p.m. PST |
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arthur1815 | 06 Nov 2015 6:17 a.m. PST |
Five and twenty ponies Trotting in the dark, 'Blucher' for the parson, 'Command & Colors' for the clerk. 'Longstreet' for a lady, Lots of lead to buy, So watch the wall, Mr VAT man, While the wargamers go by! |