AliExpress now charging VAT

[Clive S]

It seems like aliexpress is now charging VAT from the 1 Jan 2021 on all orders .

Then they have to pay it back to the UK Gov.

Has anybody else seen this? I could be wrong of course

[MetalMagus]

I saw on another forum that it is anything shipped into the UK under £135 total value. The VAT has to be done by the supplier. Hence a lot of them are refusing to ship to the UK as they don't want the hassle or the paper work to collect tax for the UK tax man.

[Mister880]

I just bought something from Cloudray laser and they didn't charge VAT at source but it was added upon arrival, as well as duty :-(. I was hoping it would slip through the net but it wasn't to be.
Interestingly enough, when looking at their site and adding stuff to the basket, some items have a tax added but some don't. It didn't occur to me at the time that it might be VAT. It just said 'tax' nothing more. I'll go back in and see if the tax amount equals 20%.

[Gary]

This is a direct consequence of foreign suppliers, stating the wrong VAT value and defrauding HMRC of VAT revenue.
As well as Defrauding HMRC, it also puts a lot of pressure on UK companies who are already at a disadvantage.

I just bought something from Cloudray laser and they didn't charge VAT at source but it was added upon arrival, as well as duty :-(. I was hoping it would slip through the net but it wasn't to be.
Interestingly enough, when looking at their site and adding stuff to the basket, some items have a tax added but some don't. It didn't occur to me at the time that it might be VAT. It just said 'tax' nothing more. I'll go back in and see if the tax amount equals 20%.

[m_c]

Having to charge VAT at source is coming in for all EU countries on the 1st of July, it's just the UK has already implemented it as part of Brexit.

https://www.pwc.ch/en/insights/tax/n...july-2021.html

The days of evading tax on imports is coming to an end.

[Kitwn]

Same thing happened here in Australia a while back. We used to get overseas orders under $1000 free of GST (Aussie VAT) but not any more. In theory it helps local suppliers compete which is fair enough. There were some companies that stopped sending stuff to Aus for a while but I think everyone got themselves organised eventually.

[cropwell]

There seems to be a limit of £18, below which is not liable for VAT and Import Duty. Unfortunately, this was abused by suppliers understating the value of goods. If the VAT is paid by the supplier, it avoids the VAT collection administration fees and forwarding fees that carriers like Royal Mail and UPS add on. This has to be paid before delivery is completed and can be up to £30 for even a small value order that HMRC has arbitrarily determined to be above the lower limit. (Apparently £15 NOT £18)


Revision

The 1 January 2021 UK B2C ecommerce and marketplace reforms will include: All imported goods purchased are subject to VAT – ending the £15 VAT exemption thresholds, known as Low-Value Consignment Stock relief. Imported consignments of goods not exceeding £135 are subject to sales (supply) VAT instead of import VAT.

https://www.avalara.com/vatlive/en/v...20import%20VAT.

[cropwell]

Just made a small Ali-express order for some connectors and 20% VAT was added.