selling goods abroad

[Batfink]

My little business is attracting possible customers from around the world.
I'm vat registered and basically have no idea what to do regarding vat on my goods when shipping to foreign lands.

Any good pointers?

[Eric Mc]

HMRC website?

The basic rules are:

Sales to overseas customers in Non-EU countries - Zero Rate

Sales to overseas customers in EU countries - Zero Rate if customer VAT registered in THEIR country. If this applies, you need to be able to quote on YOUR sales invoices THEIR VAT number. There is a service available where you can check the validity of any VAT numbers quoted to you by an EU business.

Sales to overseas customers in EU countries - Standard Rate for customers who are NOT VAT registered in their own country.

[plasticpig]

coyft said:

Just to complicate matters, each EU country has their own turnover threshold, if you sales exceed it, you will need to register for VAT in that country. For example Germany has a threshold of 50,000 Euros, Austria 25,000. So if you sales to non VAT registered persons exceed the threshold you are required to register for VAT in that member state. To further complicate matters, if you sell goods to VAT registered companies in the member state you must still zero rate those goods and account for VAT in the UK on those transactions.

You can also add intrastat returns and triangulation into the mix as well. The op really needs to get an accountant involved prferably one who has experience in international trading. I have seen inexperienced accountants get intrastat and triangulation very wrong.

[Eric Mc]

It has become a very tricky and complex area (like a lot of VAT related issues ) and anyone contemplating large scale EU selling needs to get a grip on what is required.