Friday, June 18th 2021

EU Changes VAT Rules for Imported Products; Everything to be Taxed Independent of Value

European Union residents are now looking at paying even more tax - in even more products - than before. Following changes to the EU tax policy, all products imported from outside that special political, economic and frontier union will be subject to the appropriate tax according to its nature. Until now, imports of value (or should we say declared value) lower than €22 were free from the bureaucratic and economic burden of taxation; however, that situation is about to change come July 1st.

Following abuses to that €22 declared value exemption, all imported products from July 1st 2021 will be subject to customs processing and taxation. The decision follows years of abuse, with customers and businesses declaring false, lower values for products so as to try and skirt any additional taxation. Of course, this creates a lopsided, uphill battle for EU-based manufacturers and distributors, who have to collect the appropriate tax upon all sales - whilst businesses outside the EU enjoyed more competitive pricing due to the absence of tax for the final customer. That is what this change aims to fight against. A shame for users and businesses that did follow the rules, who now face more higher pricing for small acquisitions at the expense of those who employed these tax evasion practices.
Source: World Customs Organization
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65 Comments on EU Changes VAT Rules for Imported Products; Everything to be Taxed Independent of Value

#1
john_
Following abuses to that €22 declared value exemption
From what I know, that trick wasn't really working for some years now. Or at least it wasn't certain that someone would avoid taxation. The thing is that many people, me included, buy some stuff from China, stuff that can't be easily found in EU or they can be found at much higher prices. With everything getting a tax, EU is trying to get some extra income from all those imported stuff and also make buying directly from China less appealing. I guess it is also something that EU retailers where hopping to see, because they where losing customers.
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#2
traskot
And Amazon is ready to open bottles of Champagne!
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#3
noel_fs
they can suck it, no european warranty no european taxation
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#4
trsttte
This is terrible because VAT is not the only tax that will be collected, customs will also want their take to release the hostage parcel and the shipping companies will also take their cut for the extra hassle and processing. So something silly that before costed 2$ and that you would even be hard pressed to buy in a EU shop will cost 7$ on fees to different intermediaries, f****** bullshit!
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#5
TumbleGeorge
EU is in agony. But this measures against China hurts poor ordinary peoples not oligarchy and not EU bureaucracy with their very big salaries.
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#6
Sithaer
john_From what I know, that trick wasn't really working for some years now. Or at least it wasn't certain that someone would avoid taxation. The thing is that many people, me included, buy some stuff from China, stuff that can't be easily found in EU or they can be found at much higher prices. With everything getting a tax, EU is trying to get some extra income from all those imported stuff and also make buying directly from China less appealing. I guess it is also something that EU retailers where hopping to see, because they where losing customers.
Yea this sucks.
I still have a package coming from Aliexpress and now I hope it gets here before July else it will get taxed.:shadedshu:

I liked to order small stuff from China and so did my family, stuff we can't even buy here or way more expensive but now this option is also out of the window or at least becomes very questionable.

I'm not from a wealthy country to begin with but ofc lets make us pay even more.:banghead:

Only workaround is to find sellers who have warehouses/stock in EU but for now thats not too common and most of the time the stuff I want to order doesn't have it as an option.
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#7
Shou Miko
This kinda sucks yes, and I know the main post company here will do like they always do which is hold as many packages pack as possible and tax everything even if it was ordered 1 month or more back.

The law should have included that if a package was shipped before the 1st of July 2021 and official post stamp said the same or you could prove the order was before they should let the package through with no tax.
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#8
claster17
I doubt much will change for small low value items. Below a certain value the taxation process itself costs more than the tax they collect.
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#9
dorsetknob
"YOUR RMA REQUEST IS CON-REFUSED"
claster17I doubt much will change for small low value items. Below a certain value the taxation process itself costs more than the tax they collect.
Except that the importer/customer going to foot that bill
They will still want that revenue..................
Glad Britex hopefully exempts the UK

ps i only buy from UK Source's/ Stock since we exited the EU
to much hassle to deal with EU since then
Posted on Reply
#10
Space Lynx
Astronaut
TumbleGeorgeEU is in agony. But this measures against China hurts poor ordinary peoples not oligarchy and not EU bureaucracy with their very big salaries.
on the same hand, people should not be buying so much junk they don't need. we NEED very few things in life. so people should be more disciplined in how they spend their money.

but overall yes I agree with you.
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#11
LTUGamer
This law is created to defend european companies which overprice their goods several times...
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#12
Space Lynx
Astronaut
LTUGamerThis law is created to defend european companies which overprice their goods several times...
don't those same companies pay their employees a lot more than the employees competitions overseas though? 15 euro an hr vs 2 euro an hr...
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#13
Sithaer
lynx29don't those same companies pay their employees a lot more than the employees competitions overseas though? 15 euro an hr vs 2 euro an hr...
Thats also not a EU 'standard'.
In my mid EU country not exactly high on the list, ~3 euro/hour is like normal and average and even less is not that uncommon for most of the crappy jobs that a lot of ppl have here. 'myself included'

Now mix that up with 27% VAT and now this extra tax on foreign/Asian ordered things, yea what else did we needed right.:rolleyes:
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#14
Wirko
dorsetknobExcept that the importer/customer going to foot that bill
They will still want that revenue..................
Glad Britex hopefully exempts the UK

ps i only buy from UK Source's/ Stock since we exited the EU
to much hassle to deal with EU since then
Let's see what Exbrit can do for you ...

www.avalara.com/vatlive/en/vat-news/uk-post-brexit-vat-on-e-commerce-b2c-imports.html

On January 1, 2021 – the United Kingdom's tax authority, HMRC, changed the VAT rules on the import of ecommerce goods into Great Britain. This impacts both sellers and marketplaces for goods being sold into the UK. The new rules also include businesses that facilitate marketplaces, who are now also liable for the collection of VAT from overseas sellers. The EU is implementing a similar ecommerce VAT package from 1 July 2021.

...

The UK B2C ecommerce and marketplace VAT reforms included:
* All imported goods purchased are subject to VAT – ending the £15 VAT exemption thresholds, (known as Low-Value Consignment Stock relief).
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#15
Fluffmeister
At the end of the day someone has to keep those dodgy eurocrats in Brussels drowning in champagne and oysters.
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#16
ThrashZone
Hi,
EU souring the milk and making money at the same time
I rarely if ever buy from the EU warranty is overly complicated so makes it useless if the business doesn't have a rma center in the USA it's a easy pass.

As far as current admin not dropping tariffs well they do like free money and can blame prior admin for it lol
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#17
Why_Me
FluffmeisterAt the end of the day someone has to keep those dodgy eurocrats in Brussels drowning in champagne and oysters.
/thread
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#18
demian_vi
SithaerThats also not a EU 'standard'.
In my mid EU country not exactly high on the list, ~3 euro/hour is like normal and average and even less is not that uncommon for most of the crappy jobs that a lot of ppl have here. 'myself included'

Now mix that up with 27% VAT and now this extra tax on foreign/Asian ordered things, yea what else did we needed right.:rolleyes:
The 3eur/hr was an example rather than an actual amount. Considering we can afford to buy these things, we definitely make more than the average worker there, otherwise the factories would operate at a loss.
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#19
Minus Infinity
EU the ultimate big taxing nanny state. Totally corrupt, totally incompetent, so wonder the UK wanted out, not that Johnson and the Tories aren't utter morons and corrupt, better to deal with just one scumbag government than the EU autocrats.
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#20
Why_Me
mechtechYa, really loving the 3x aluminum prices up here in Canada because of that..........................................cough sarcasm..................................
China was using Mexico and Canada to flood the US market with cheap Chinese steel.
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#21
mechtech
Why_MeChina was using Mexico and Canada to flood the US market with cheap Chinese steel.
Ya now steel has gone up almost 100% in the past year now also........................

Good for the mines I suppose, not so good when you need 2 million pounds for construction projects........................
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#22
Why_Me
mechtechYa now steel has gone up almost 100% in the past year now also........................

Good for the mines I suppose, not so good when you need 2 million pounds for construction projects........................
Other than Chinese steel is porous and horrible to weld on, the previous administration was focused on bringing back jobs including the US steel industry. The downside is the cost of construction jobs go up.
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#23
Caring1
Despite all the karens moaning and whinging, people will still buy stuff, this has been proven in the GPU market.
Australia did this a while back, bringing in tax on low value imports and people still buy goods, surprise surprise.
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#24
TumbleGeorge
LTUGamerThis law is created to defend european companies which overprice their goods several times...
Most europeans has not enough incomes to live buying only goods made in EU.
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#25
Kohl Baas
john_From what I know, that trick wasn't really working for some years now. Or at least it wasn't certain that someone would avoid taxation. The thing is that many people, me included, buy some stuff from China, stuff that can't be easily found in EU or they can be found at much higher prices. With everything getting a tax, EU is trying to get some extra income from all those imported stuff and also make buying directly from China less appealing. I guess it is also something that EU retailers where hopping to see, because they where losing customers.
It's not that hard. If customs think your merch has a higher price, they will demand an invoice of the payment.

With smart chinese seller, you can manage to have a 20€ payment for the 200€ product, having the same 20€ on the box, and after that, you will buy a sweet little "nothing" from the seller for 180€ which he'll never ship.

This was the real trick. And customs can't do much with a 200€ product in hand with a 100% legitimate invoice of 20€... Even if they know it costs 200€.
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