Brexit woes: sales suspended to UK

[banpei]

Forum shop sales to the United Kingdom have been suspended, but don't panic! Read on!

New rules under Brexit mean that any European company exporting goods to the UK with a sales value under 135 GBP will have to pay VAT to the British tax authority. This means we, AEU86, have to get a VAT registration from the UK to be able to sell to customers from the United Kingdom. In addition to this we also are required to fill in export documents alongside. As we are a very small non-profit business keeping the forums funded this will bring too much cost and hassle. This means for now the sales to the United Kingdom have suspended.

We did figure out an alternative: you could make a donation to the forums and we will give you stickers out of gratitude. Please get in touch with the AEU86 admins (PM to banpei will do) to learn more about this if you are from the UK and looking for stickers/making a donation.

[totta Crolla]

Brexit is an utter disaster bought about by morons.

[Power_uP]

Brexit it getting infuriating. But then I imagine that Brentrance was just as bad at the time.

[decryphe]

(01-26-2021 11:07 PM)banpei Wrote:  New rules under Brexit mean that any European company exporting goods to the UK with a sales value under 135 GBP will have to pay VAT to the British tax authority. This means we, AEU86, have to get a VAT registration from the UK to be able to sell to customers from the United Kingdom. In addition to this we also are required to fill in export documents alongside.

That's retarded. In Switzerland (which isn't in the EU), the recipient has to pay customs that is the same amount as if he'd paid VAT locally. The seller only has to do the export declaration - for stuff up to 2k€ it's enough with the green sticker on the box (literally four empty fields: what, how many, how much, grand total) and optionally a printout of the invoice.

Why do the brits not opt for something as simple as this and instead force foreign companies to register for VAT numbers and even pay taxes from abroad?

The Brexit could have been such a great chance to really get ahead, but I guess it'll be botched by idiocy. I'm no fan of the EU, although I'm an EU citizen (but thankfully residing in Switzerland). The good intention of being humanity's largest peace project ever witnessed is probably going to lead to the opposite thanks to mismanagement and the same kind of idiocy that leads to these kinds of taxation rules.

Rant over.

[banpei]

(02-07-2021 11:58 AM)decryphe Wrote:  That's retarded. In Switzerland (which isn't in the EU), the recipient has to pay customs that is the same amount as if he'd paid VAT locally. The seller only has to do the export declaration - for stuff up to 2k€ it's enough with the green sticker on the box (literally four empty fields: what, how many, how much, grand total) and optionally a printout of the invoice.

That's similar to what we have here in the Netherlands when you import something from abroad. Up to 22 euros there is no need for paying import duties or local VAT, between 22 and 150 euros it's only local VAT you need to pay. Beyond 150 euros you need to pay both duties and local VAT. I think about 80 to 90 percent of our sales are below 22 euros.

(02-07-2021 11:58 AM)decryphe Wrote:  Why do the brits not opt for something as simple as this and instead force foreign companies to register for VAT numbers and even pay taxes from abroad?

It's probably to prevent cheap products from entering the UK and protect their own sellers. So instead of adding local VAT they made it much more difficult to sell to the UK. I think it's way more effective than adding VAT as now many sellers, like us, refuse to sell to the UK. Luckily we're able to still allow "donations" to the forums.