montesquieu
pfm Member
The requirement to register with the UK, submit accounts to the UK and pay that assessed vat to the UK is a post brexit worldwide requirement and is pretty unprecedented. Some traders, in the US for example, are boycotting registration as they see it as setting an undesirable precedent.
I agree. HMRC seem to be setting a worldwide precedent for this under cover of Brexit (though I've read elsehwere that the main target is China not goods coming from the EU). Be interesting if it sticks or if HMRC have to climb down on it. They love a bit of red tape.
It requires businesses exporting to the (for now) UK to be registered with the UK for VAT. Many - most - are not bothering, as this process and the associated paperwork is too onerous.
Smaller dealers such as those selling LPs and CDs are required to pay duty in advance by the platform, eg ebay and I believe discogs. Now many listings specifically exclude the UK.
The UK is charging full duty on everything, including of interest here, second hand audio, regardless of value. You could of course try and reclaim this if you have an unfulfilled love of paperwork and being stonewalled.
I haven't seen evidence that many businesses are refusing UK orders. There was a big splash in The Groan that some Dutch bike shop was stopping selling but that's about all Ive seen.
It's not yet been my experience that duty (as opposed to VAT, which is a different thing) is being charged on full value of everything. I've had several delveries of late of records, headshells etc, no duty applied, though they were under declared value of £135. VAT is being charged by eBay and etsy on checkout. I assume Amazon will do the same when they get their act together and may even be doing it by now - no big deal really for sellers going through large online marketplaces, but web sites selling directly will have some admin to set up for sure. If they can't be bothered then it's an opportunity for UK-based businesses to mop up the custom.