Is VAT payable?

[stefcep2]

Thought i'd ask if anyone knew if VAT is payable on stuff bought in the UK but shipped overseas?

[McVenco]

You will always have to pay VAT when buying from non-private sellers, simply because they themselves have to pay taxes on their sales to their own government. Wether you can have VAT refunded when you buy at a foreign store depends on your local customs policy.

[hardlink]

McVenco wrote:
You will always have to pay VAT when buying from non-private sellers, simply because they themselves have to pay taxes on their sales to their own government. ...

Except if you buy from a USA non-private seller, that loophole (we call it sales tax) has not been closed yet. However, unless it is tiny and light, shipping across the pond will make VAT look like a real bargain! Going the other way, VAT on top of shipping makes for expensive toys here.

[Darrin]

Buying from the UK from the USA, I always have VAT deducted from the price which is handy because it helps to pay for the extra shipping costs.

I buy a lot of DVDs from Amazon.co.uk and when I eneter my USA address it deducts the VAT from the invoice and shows "0.00" owed.

However, MVC (when they existed) wouldn't do it and charged the VAT, so I stopped using them.  No wonder they went bust.

[amigakit]

If you purchased from our UK or European stores, VAT would be removed completely at checkout if you are not in the EU.

[wurzel]

There seem to be conflicting opinions here, but I hope i am able to solve it.

All companies (non-private sellers) pay VAT to the UK Gov't on sales.

However, some companies do have an arrangment with HM Customs & Excise (to whom they pay the VAT) cam reclaim this, for goods shipped out of the UK. However, not all companies habve this arrangement, thus, some companies charge VAT, whilst others will refund it.

The best course of action is to ask first, before buying, if VAT will be refunded.

If a company says no, then they don't give a refund. They are not obligated to do so.

Some companies (such as AmigaKit (plug ) do givr refunds. Give them your business

Do be aware, however, that you may well have to pay tax on the goods when they are imported into your country. Check out your own Customs Department to find out more/.

Hope this helps.

[Darrin]

wurzel wrote:

Do be aware, however, that you may well have to pay tax on the goods when they are imported into your country. Check out your own Customs Department to find out more/.

True.

It's only happened to me once though, but I got a letter from UPS stating how much sales/importation tax I had to pay on some toys I had ordered for my kids.  Still, considering I get a least 1 package a month from the UK then that's not bad.

My C-One board and everything I've ordered from AmigaKit have arrived with no problems and required no extra payments.  However, it's really a roll of the dice.