VAT free loop hole to be closed by budget

M

mangaman74

Akatsuki
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/pers ... phole.html

Chancellor George Osborne announced in the Budget that the government intends to work with the European Commission to explore ways to end the exploitation of Low Value Consignment Relief (LVCR) for a purpose contrary to its intentions.

From November 2011, legislation will be introduced in the Finance Bill to lower the LVCR threshold, below which goods imported from outside the EU are VAT-free, from £18 to £15.
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This will have an impact on goods being shipped through the Channel Islands. This will hit online retailers such as Zavvi, HMV, Amazon, Play.com etc who ship through Jersey or Guernsey. It will have little impact on cds and books but will have an impact on dvds, blu-rays and video games (new releases anyway).
 
All we can hope is that inspecting every potentially mislabelled package becomes more than a Customs officer's job is worth.
 
The way I understand it is that as per person of the UK, the Royal Family doesn't actually cost us very much to keep. This is probably gonna cost you more in then the Royal Family does.
 
Well, I'm quite happy to pay a little VAT on imported items.

BUT, the real problem is going to be the knock-on effect of things like Royal Mail's handling charges, which are really not acceptable.

And decreasing the limit really seems quite stingey. Haven't people called for that limit to be INCREASED enough in the past?
 
I think we get quite a bit of tourist money from having the Royals around. Them places are full of Americans, they like our history.
 
I can understand wanting an increase of the limit for imports like R1 dvds/blu-rays but as it is UK retailers are being hit by this loop hole - since I started my current job in 2000 I have seen the following shops close in the city centre - MVC, Our Price, Virgin (followed by Zavvi), Travelling Man, Forbidden Planet, Woolworths as well as small music shops such as Reveal Records and Way Ahead Records.

As for reducing the prices to £14.99 - I'm not sure all the online shops can do that.
 
A strange approach, punishing imports of things we can't buy locally more, but leaving the loophole open (albeit slightly smaller). I assume everything that can be will magically be reduced to £14.99 and meanwhile the coffers of Parcelforce/Royal Mail will quietly grow as everyone else is charged more in fees for other imports.

Doesn't make a huge difference to me really; it seems too small a difference to actually do anything meaningful other than shave some extra cash out of people here and there. I always order in huge chunks to ease the pain of delivery company fees anyway.

R
 
Not everything Amazon ship comes from Jersey. A lot of items are sent from inside the UK and you pay VAT as normal.

My summer wars pre-order, made long before the budget.
Subtotal of Items: £14.94
Postage & Packing: £1.24
------
Total before VAT: £16.18
VAT: £3.24
------
Total for this order: £19.42
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Also when stuff comes from Jersey that is over the import limit they prepay the VAT and duty for you, Royal Mail have no involvement.

This is going to have little effect and the high street retailers will still be whining.

A few years back the savings made by shipping via Jersey were not VAT based, it was because they could buy stock on the gray market and save a bundle by cutting out the UK importers.
 
Amazon don't seem to do it so much except with fairly mainstream things (I think the only DVDs I have had from their Jersey warehouses since it caught on have been Star Trek sets and some 80s cartoons). Certain other retailers however plainly do it with every single item that they can.

I don't mind them addressing this underlying situation, but I think it should be done more fairly. This is just a quick fix which achieves nothing in the long run :(

R
 
Bugger. It should not effect me too badly though as I stopped buying direct from the US awhile back when the dollar pound exchange rate crapped out and I was getting fed up with the Royal Mail charges. As Axelmusic, UP1 and the like pay the duty up front hopefully the only thing I will notice is possibly a few penny increase on things if anything.

It will be interesting how many companies will absorb the additional VAT and how many will pass it on or just change how they charge for things.
 
Dracos said:
As Axelmusic, UP1 and the like pay the duty up front hopefully the only thing I will notice is possibly a few penny increase on things if anything.
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I think it might be a bit more than a few pennies, but there's a sound point in there.

Axel and UP1 aren't the only ones who pay duties upfront so we don't have to. There are a few sellers on Amazon who are legit and reliable who also do this.

Ultimately, this is going to be a question of waiting to see how this actually affects anime fans in reality. I suspect it might not be that huge a deal. But I'm with Rui on this one. Seems like a very odd, not particularly useful step.

I can't wait for this government to disappear.
 
Good grief. As if £18 wasn't already bad enough...
It wouldn't be so bad if you could just pre-pay it on imports, since for every import over the limit you don't just pay the VAT on the item you also pay it on the shipping and they slap hefty "handling" or "admin" charges on top (because it obviously costs £7 or more to read a label, calculate a few figures and send out a bill).
 
Project-2501 said:
Not from amazon or play, they prepay the duty & VAT.
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Not in all cases (otherwise their disclaimers that appear on certain product listings would be redundant).

It basically comes down to the way the individual retailers do things, and whether the parcel gets inspected by Customs.

Frankly, it's a lottery unless you know that the seller you bought your stuff from has pre-paid VAT on the product, in which case you have t rely on dumb luck.

The arbitrary nature of this stuff is one of the many aspects of the situation that annoys me.

Seriously - it's time to admit that we have a global market now, and do away with all this crap. The guys at my local Royal Mail office know now that they're not getting any of my money under these circumstances, and that I WILL leave their office with my goods.

Say no to this stuff, people.
 
HdE said:
Not in all cases (otherwise their disclaimers that appear on certain product listings would be redundant).
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Amazon marketplace and playtrade don't count. (although playtrade Ts&Cs state the seller should collect and pay all necessary VAT and duty)

I've bought many many items from play that were over £18 and never once had to pay additional charges. These companies are not stupid. If you bought from them and got stung for a handling fee they know you probably won't go back. Its not like buying from amazon.com where their intended market is not the UK.

Look at your play.com packages, some will say "JerseyPost - UK Import, VAT Paid".

And as previously said most amazon.co.uk stuff doesn't come via Jersey so you've always paid VAT.

If you don't pay the goods get returned to the sender.
 
£18 Pound is a tight limit to work with but £15 will make it near impossible to find much worth importing at that price. It's certainly going to make it hard for me to finish collecting the One Piece DVD's and probably make Fist of the North Star TV & Gintama DVD out of reach which is a pity.

But at least Manga are improving their out put so most of the high profile show will at least make it over at some point.
 
Stuart-says-yes said:
You mean you force them to hand over to goods with out paying for the charge?
Is curious, as if this is the case, he shall try it should the situation ever call for it.
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It's something EVERYBODY who imports would do well to do some research into.

I will pay VAT without quibble, as it's required by law. But that Royal Mail handling fee? It's dubious. I've paid it in the past, but never again.
 
Project-2501 said:
Amazon marketplace and playtrade don't count. (although playtrade Ts&Cs state the seller should collect and pay all necessary VAT and duty)

I've bought many many items from play that were over £18 and never once had to pay additional charges. These companies are not stupid. If you bought from them and got stung for a handling fee they know you probably won't go back. Its not like buying from amazon.com where their intended market is not the UK.

Look at your play.com packages, some will say "JerseyPost - UK Import, VAT Paid".

And as previously said most amazon.co.uk stuff doesn't come via Jersey so you've always paid VAT.
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Yup - that's all true. The real concern in my mind is with orders of region 1 discs from the USA, for example.

I've also ordered dozens of DVD box sets from marketplace sellers on Amazon and Play that were above the threshold. I've been charged import duty a few of times - mostly down to bad luck, I think. It certainly seems to have been the exception to the rule.

My way around that has been to use the same reliable sellers each time, and more recently Axel Music for certain things. Since learning the 'lay of the land', I've had no further problems.
 
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