"VAT on Minis!" Topic

I've just put in an order for some of the rather excellent WoFun Peter Dennis figures.

(They're produced in Romania).

And I was not best pleased when an extra 20% charge for VAT was added to my bill. This wasn't added to my previous orders, so I assume this is yet another "benefit" of Brexit.

And presumably the same will happen when I put in an order to Tradition (of Scandinavia) – Willie and Stadden figures. Or to Prince August in Ireland for moulds. The price of 18th Century warfare has rocketed!

Have others had a recent similar experience? Is there a way that this charge can be re-claimed?

It cannot be done before you acrptually pay. No idea of rules in Rumania, but afaik in EU prices are VAT included, unless they can do it without for export if the company is VAt rsgistrered, Strange.
Thertically you could actually pay without now, and get HM excise take their cut.

Basically the price of our sovereignty is that vat is charged at point of sale rates now not point of consumption unless the company registers with uk hmrc. But the price should not have changed if we were previously getting the goods vat inclusive. Maybe you have been double charged.

Sounds like an error, if the website prices are VAT-inclusive.

But there is another potential problem looming, though I don't understand the full story – there are reports that many EU retailers/manufacturers will no longer sell to U.K.-based customers because the UK tax authorities (HMRC) has set up a really cumbersome system to get their cut of the VAT – expecting the retailer to register with the UK tax authority and make the payment to them for each sale – and it isn't worth their while to do so.

Anyone able to shed any light on this?

This is nothing to do with Brexit but is an EU rule designed to stop overseas compaanies (particularly chinese ones) evading VAT.

The UK has implemented it on January 1st while the EU has delayed it until July 1st.

All imports between countries are subject to VAT – this would be offset by having local VAT deducted IF the company is VAT registered, but not that many hobby companies are as the threshold is £85.00 GBPk in the UK, so they cannot deduct VAT locally…

To sell to the UK, a company has to register for VAT in the UK and charge 20% VAT hence the increase in the price you are seeing…

Mike

Just went to place an order with Perry Miniatures and noticed that I'm now being asked to pay twelve pound VAT and postage on a 25 pound order to Canada. Looks like Brexit just put an end to my wish lists. Quess I won't be ordering from the UK anymore. Not like I needed more figures anyway, at last count I still had 9500 figures witing in the painting queue. Too bad really as I really wanted to finish several armies.

Cheers
Joe

That doesn't sound right – VAT registered businesses should still be removing VAT on export orders to anywhere outside the UK…

Mike

Mike, I was surprised to. I placed the exact same order on January 2nd and was charged 31.25 sterling. Went to order another group of the same today and the totaĺ came up 37.25. Unless postage to Canada just went wackey in the last few days. Unfortunately, a 20% increase is to steep for me.
Cheers
Joe

Per the Perry website, you shouldn't be charged VAT on an export to Canada though postage would be 25% of your order unless you spend big. As the numbers you mention don't stack up, I'd query it with them.

I would check with the Perrys as they may have updated their site to reflect Brexit changes and made a mess of something…

Though I see their FAQS still say they deduct VAT for non EU orders when it should currently be non-UK orders…

Mike

I did spot a comment on their website saying "All non UK shipping includes an additional £6.00 GBP charge as a minimal postage cost." No explanation of what it's for, but charging 25% to the rest of the world +£6 does seems excessive.

As far as I can tell, the UK expects me to collect VAT here in the U.S. and then remit payment to them.

I can't be bothered so am no longer shipping to the UK. Not a big deal as most of what I sell is imported from there anyway…but one of my US suppliers is also following suit. They are a 2 man operation on the side. No time for faffing about with VAt forms and taking on that liability.

Details for shippers here:

link

Apparently nobody has ever ordered anything from outside the (pre-31st Dec 2020) EU before?

Hey Extra Crispy, glad to know you don't need to worry about VAT taxes on US orders…yet.

The credit card companies etc have a deal with the Australian government. They add our 10% GST after we purchase a product from an overseas company. It's a sneaky but effective way to collect tax. I guess the credit card people get their cut.

Apparently nobody has ever ordered anything from outside the (pre-31st Dec 2020) EU before?

Well, that's probably true for us Brits!

Will be ‘interesting' to see how European manufacturers (Legio Heroica, Baueda, Xan etc) adapt to the changed conditions – will make having a distributor that much more convenient presumably but there are cost implications for both consumers and manufacturer if you adopt that model.

Could this thread be cross posted to the relevant general boards, to reach a wider audience? It's not just an 18the century problem!

When I heard about HMRC's plan to have non-UK businesses collect UK VAT and remit it to the UK governement I did wonder how they would enforce this. Does anyone who might have to actually process orders under these new rules know?

It seem to only applies to goods with a consignement value under £135.00 GBP, and the amount is exclusive of shipping costs. What happens if you order more than £135.00 GBP at a time. Do we revert back to the collection by the shipper (with and additional administration fee) as happened before UK left the EU on orders from the rest of the world?

Just been to the updated Perry website where prices have changed, in fact they have gone down. If I was to repeat a small order I did in December (for 4 boxes cavalry) with European delivery it looks about £1.00 GBP cheaper although shipping has gone up. I did not complete the order through to Paypal so I guess it might be that 20% VAT is added there but otherwise I think they have been busy changing (reducing) prices to resolve some of these VAT issues.

@TableScape:

Yes, over the value limit the shipped collects, and adds their fee, just as before.

@YankeeDoodle:

I have been shipping to the UK for 15 years. This requirement that I collect VAT, send quarterly payments, and keep all the appropriate records etc. is new. I'm sure the govt expected to collect VAt on shipments from outside the UK but they never made it incumbent on the seller before!

de Ligne

At the moment they should be removing VAt and then YOU will be charged the VAT in France when the order is imported.

This is changing in July so it will be possible to charge you the appropriate French VAT with the order thereby saving you the handling charge.

Mike

Perry Miniatures do remove VAT for orders outside of the U.K. However, they've introduced an additional postage charge of £6.00 GBP for shipping outside the U.K. So, customers are paying the stated percentage shipping charge for their region plus £6.00 GBP Europe, for example, is 17% +£6. This is obviously what's been causing the confusion.

@Canuck64.
postage rates from UK to overseas have gone up massively. Just posted a 1.6kg parcel to my grandson in Australia for his birthday Cost £31.00 GBP Similar parcels were costing me around £23.00 GBP before Christmas.

As an 'other-side worlder' I leapt on the discounts offered pre-xmas and amassed my years painting requirements before the bust-up.
We've always paid more than you folks, so welcome to the planet!

Postage/freight rates have been climbing over the last two years as the intergovernmental processes decline/ dismantle due to cost/ losses and reliance on the 'big shippers' means they charge whatever the hell they want. I no longer purchase from US for this reason.

regards d

I just went to place an order with a UK company and the shipping back to the US was astronomical compared to was it was just a few months ago. It was 50% on top of my order although if I ordered a lot of figures the shipping costs would level out a bit. But still, shipping costs is what may kill business to the U.S.

The UK/US costs seem to work both ways.

Sometime back, I ordered a stack of bases from Litko, I wanted rounded corners. The cost of postage, import duty and Royal Mail's handling charge for collecting the import duty added around 40-45% to the original costs.