It seems there's some confusion on this. Until a few years ago, I was VAT
registered and
the rulings at this time were as follows - I doubt they've changed that much,
if at all.
1. Goods or services sold or provided in the UK direct to the consumer who is
within UK
frontiers at the point of delivery and paid for by cash, cheque or credit card
are VAT
chargeable - without exception. Motor parts usually show VAT as a separate item
on the
invoice. There are one or two exceptions to what VAT can be charged on. Books,
magazines,
newspapars, food and childrens clothes/shoes etc are VAT exempt - currently. If
the goods
are later exported personally by the purchaser, he/she can and should ask for a
VAT
receipt at the time of purchase which gives the seller's VAT number. This will
be given
anyway in 99.9% of all cases. That receipt can be presented with the goods in
question at
the port or airport of export/departure and quite often, a cash refund can
obtained at
that point for the VAT paid. Might be a good idea to get an authorised copy of
the receipt
so you don't get 'stung' by your own Customs people when you get off the plane.
Depending
on the nature of the goods and refund value, if a refund is not given at that
point, it
can be sent on at a later date. Important Note - if you bought goods in UK and
paid the
VAT, you will not get a refund if you leave England for a European destination
before
returning home. This is because you are still moving within the VAT legislative
area. You
won't get a refund either at the European point of departure because the
Europeans don't
refund British taxes any more than the Brits refund European taxes - so you'll
have to
bite the bullet on that one. The only way round this is to pay for the goods
while you're
here and get the seller to send them direct to your home by independent carrier.
2. VAT has to be charged to purchasers who are resident or moving within the
European
Union / European Economic Community (or whatever its now calling itself) and is
non-refundable. Mostly, Europeans seem happy to pay this as UK VAT levels are a
flat rate
of 17.5% and among the lowest - if not the lowest in Europe. This means
(usually) they
don't get screwed when they get home by their own authorities.
3. If you buy goods by mail order using whatever form of payment in which the
seller ships
those goods direct to you by mail, air-freight or sea, VAT is not chargeable -
unless the
delivery address is within the UK or European Community. From the sellers point
of view,
all sales he makes are VATable. When buys the goods, it is assumed he will sell
them with
VAT and he has to prove to the UK authorities that VAT was not charged as the
goods were
exported direct by a recognised form of carrier to a consumer outside
legislative
territorial scope. A copy of the sales invoice usually suffices as proof
because it shows
the despatch address and method/cost of shipment. Ethical companies (and this
relates to
all bona fide parts suppliers) will not invoice VAT on overseas transactions
because the
buyer is *remote* and outside the UK/EU. I wouldn't expect ANY of the parts
suppliers this
list deals with to be intentionally UNethical.
4. Import duties are an entirely different and separate ballgame. Under UK law,
the seller
is required to itemise his charges on his invoice copy for his own UK company
and tax
purposes - for the goods themselves and any freight or packing costs - unless
those are
free of charge through a promotion, or in-built in the selling price etc. When
the goods
arrive in the destination country and depending on their nature, how local
import
authorities assess the duties to charge, depends on the goods and what is
written on the
invoice/shipping papers. In my experience, most frontier authorities are
"bottom line"
people and will apply import duty to the bottom line total value of the
transaction -
including frieght or mail charges. That's tough titty. Personally, I don't see
why a buyer
should pay import duty on a shipping/freight charge but that's the way the
cookie crumbles
...
Someone said he paid a high price for Castrol Racing R oil. While it might have
been
shipped free of VAT, it's inevitable he paid hidden UK taxes - tax on tax on
tax within
the wholesale buyers price - which is in no way refundable to anyone. Sorry,
you were in
with us on that one - whether you like it or not.
The moral on this obviously thorny issue is this.
If you plan to buy via mail-order, get the seller to confirm in advance in
writing that
you will not be charged VAT if the goods are coming to you direct by an
independent
carrier. If, on arrival, you find you have been charged VAT (because it will
appear on
your invoice copy) raise all shades of hell with him and insist on being sent a
credit
note to the value of the tax paid which you can use to offset your next
purchase and make
sure it's open-ended in terms of its validity. If that fails to work and the
supplier is a
Triumph specialist, threaten to blackball him to all the Triumph clubs you can
think of -
especially in the UK. These organisations don't like taking advertising and
associated
revenue into their club mags from companies who might appear to be anything
other than as
white as the driven snow.
Jonmac
Current Book: IN THE SHADOW OF MY FATHER
http://www.toolbox.ndirect.co.uk/triumphbook
New Book: THE CROCUS AND A CORNFLOWER http://www.toolbox.ndirect.co.uk/crocus
The SLOW progress with 'Canley Girl': http://www.toolbox.ndirect.co.uk/
Triumph Charity Run in 2000 (in UK): http://www.toolbox.ndirect.co.uk/stories/
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