Cost of importing a parcel post Brexit

[saaby93]

Some people are being charged VAT if their imported gift is worth more than £39.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55752541
Does this mean VAT is being charged at both ends of the chain?

[V6Alfisti]

saaby93 said:

Some people are being charged VAT if their imported gift is worth more than £39.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55752541
Does this mean VAT is being charged at both ends of the chain?

I would be interested in the same, because if you look at Amazon.de they will deduct the German VAT, then add any UK VAT/duty as necessary. Which would indicate these packages would not fall into this trap.

Annoyingly places like Aliexpress are just adding a straight 20%, even though it seems Chinese VAT is 13%

I suspect it may come down to the maturity of the company you are ordering from, i,e they don't deduct their local tax, ship it as normal and then when it arrives you end up paying UK VAT, any applicable duty plus the courier handling fee for taking it through customs.

[Electro1980]

Outside the EU rules may differ, but within the EU you will not be paying VAT in the sending country. You will have to pay VAT on arrival in the U.K. (subject to the import limit and normal VAT rules.

However, smaller companies will continue to charge local VAT as they don’t want to/can’t/are unable to deal with international shipping and tax rules.

Basically, as a consumer, you end up with three categories:

1) Company charges you the price including VAT in originating county and you pay VAT and other charges in the U.K. (the company may or may not pay this VAT to their government, but in practice this makes no difference to you. This tends to be small companies that can’t employ a tax accountant (either on payroll or through an accounting firm)

2) Company does not charge you VAT but you have to pay VAT and import taxes when it arrives in the U.K. Normally companies with tax accountants that are not set up for international sale and logistics.

3) Company sorts it all out and you pay nothing more than what you were told at time of payment. Normally large companies that deal with international logistics all the time.

There is a fourth group, who either refuse to ship internationally or send you to their U.K. subsidiary, but that’s not strictly international shipping.