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[Tug Fanatic]

I have, in the past, put small orders with Banggood in China and as they were uncder £15 I have had no problems

Now, after January 1st 2021 I am not so sure. Banggood say that the buyer is responsible for all taxes/ duties - they apparently have not registered with HMRC. As I understand it the £15 free allowance has gone and all overseas purchases are liable. I am not so concerned about the VAT but I am very concerned about the fees which the carrier adds as they would be more than the items purchases.

Am I right and small purchases are a thing of the past or are small purchases still duty/ VAT free? 

[Taranis]

Very good question and I don't know if it's official yet but looks that way


https://tamebay.com/2020/06/hmrc-propose-scrapping-uk-vat-free-imports-force-marketplaces-collect-vat.html

[HMS Invisible]

I have, in the past, put small orders with Banggood in China and as they were uncder £15 I have had no problems

Now, after January 1st 2021 I am not so sure. Banggood say that the buyer is responsible for all taxes/ duties - they apparently have not registered with HMRC. As I understand it the £15 free allowance has gone and all overseas purchases are liable. I am not so concerned about the VAT but I am very concerned about the fees which the carrier adds as they would be more than the items purchases.

Am I right and small purchases are a thing of the past or are small purchases still duty/ VAT free?

It is right here on gov.uk:-Tax and customs for goods sent from abroad 

If you are worried about delays then get an EORI number that suppliers can paste where a vat number would go.

[cos918]

Non tariffable goods. £0 to £15 no Vat. £15 to £125 vat applied to both goods and shipping cost. If the goods are from a private seller, taxes can be paid in the UK ie royal mail sorting office. If from a business tax is to be collected a source. The vendor must register with HMRC and collect the Tax due and send it to HMRC in £ or euros $ etc. The software to register with HMRC is very expensive about £2000 a year licence. £125 + just a customs form required regardless of the seller. Note these were import tax starts is applicable.
I have heard on different websites that the £15 lower limit will be removed. Think how many items would fall it to that bracket for a max of £3Vat. Sorry can't see that happening far too complex.
HMRC have made a right mess ,that was expected. Most overseas sellers are refusing to collect tax or register. They say simply will not do business with the UK.
The real question does the courier know the regs.


John

[Tug Fanatic]

The HMRC seem to assume that all overseas businesses will register for UK VAT. The regulations are very thin on what happens if they don't / won't.

POLITICAL COMMENT REMOVED Shopmate60


A lot of HMRC rules and agreements / allowances are not part of legislation. They could easily have a policy about small purchases, where the tax is minimal, that isn't part of legislation but the carriers obviously need to be clear about it all - as do I.

A lot of ebay buyers are in for a really nasty surprise. £1.50 for some widgets from China and a £9 to £15 carrier/VAT charge when it is delivered.

[justboatonic]

For god's sake, can some people not keep their politicised views to themselves?

[TomHugill]

For god's sake, can some people not keep their politicised views to themselves?

No.

[justboatonic]

Well they should do. That's explicit from the forum owner but a few seem to want to politicise everything.

[Taranis]

Sorry but I cannot see anything political so far. Simply about changes to tax on £15 and under imported from China
?

[Taranis]

That meant nothing to me

[justboatonic]

That meant nothing to me

LOL.

[Taranis]

I'm probably not old enough to get it yet 

[Colin Bishop]

Just part of the Brexit fallout unfortunately. Small UK modelling suppliers no longer want to ship to the EU and those in the EU don't want to register for UK VAT. I think China and the rest of the world situation is just collateral damage.

At the moment, if something has to be shipped to the UK from abroad then you could possibly be in for a nasty shock on the doorstep! This seems to be happening in all trade sectors.

The safest thing is to just order from UK suppliers if you can find what you want from them. If not, then it's a bit of a gamble. (but be careful that the item is not actually coming from a foreign warehouse, it seems that a lot of people are being caught out that way.)

Colin

[RST]

I paid almost £170 in customs fees a few weeks ago to receive a replacement laptop from our IT dept.  Not even my laptop!  At least I can back-charge it on expenses I suppose.

[Allnightin]

This subject has been covered in a number of other modelling forums very extensively especially Britmodeller.


HMRC have introduced a scheme where the VAT should go to the country the item ends up rather than where sold and this  system has no lower level threshold,  only an upper figure of £135 where the procedure changes.  If the seller abroad complies with the HMRC rules and pays the VAT to HMRC then the order should pass through Customs without further charge but it is true to say that plenty of small businesses abroad are not prepared to dance to the HMRC tune and are either refusing to take  UK orders or send them without doing anything about the VAT which risks them being returned or being taxed anyway with a substantial handling fee added on.  To judge from Britmodeller postings, there seems to be a "wave through" policy at UK Customs for most small packages perhaps while the aftermath of Brexit settles down a bit but presumably this will change soon.


As I understand it, other countries and particularly the EU are going to apply the same procedure in the near future so it is not really right to say that the situation is a result of Brexit,  rather something that has been brewing for a while mainly because of purchases from the Far East flouting the previous rules on a large scale.  Hopefully things will eventually quieten down but it is still a case of watch this space at the moment.

[Taranis]

Realistically it will only deter those sub £15 purchases. I often buy much dearer items and they get through undervalued so the charges are palatable.


I have also noticed for some time that UK Chinese sellers are often barely any dearer than Chinese based sellers. So just check the delivery time and location.

[Tug Fanatic]

This subject has been covered in a number of other modelling forums very extensively especially Britmodeller.


HMRC have introduced a scheme where the VAT should go to the country the item ends up rather than where sold and this  system has no lower level threshold..........................................

As I understand it, other countries and particularly the EU are going to apply the same procedure in the near future so it is not really right to say that the situation is a result of Brexit,  rather something that has been brewing for a while mainly because of purchases from the Far East flouting the previous rules on a large scale.  Hopefully things will eventually quieten down but it is still a case of watch this space at the moment.

The difference is that the EU is big enough and has enough economic clout to make it worthwhile for companies like Banggood to register with them. We are not big enough nor powerful enough to make it worth them bothering unless we make it much easier.