Looking at some of the questions on here from accountrants with clients selling goods direct to consumers in Europe it seems very complicated and fraught with difficulties.
Is this an area we should be advising in as accountants or should we leave it to the shippers and couriers to make sure clients get the paperwork and other aspects right?
In particular the VAT issues seem tricky and although VAT is an accountants' area I wonder again if the shippers better placed to help exporters get things right?
I have some clients who do sell a bit to consumers in Europe (albeit not a great deal) and I am looking out for any advice that crops up on here for when I'm asked.
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The freight forwarding companies are experts in this area. I told a client yesterday that she needs to talk to her business association about this, as I am never going to know enough about it. There are probably a good few articles on Google worth looking at.
I have enough issues to advise on without turning into an expert on exports!
It is a pain enough when you are 'in' a business that you understand, and selling to customers that you know. (or buying for that matter).
Fortunately I do not deal with perishable goods, but even so deliveries to / from are all being held up in ports.
Here is your one stop shop from Accounting Web. (It really would be helpful if A Web pinned the link somewhere easy to find)
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, DJKL. We're working on a solution for this now.
Thanks,
Maddy
Here's what our team have put together: https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/hub/brace-for-brexit
You can find it on the homepage.
Thanks for requesting this.
Thanks, given the number of questions people have on here that will be invaluable (not that it directly impacts us ) and will hopefully dispel a lot of current misunderstandings.
I think OSS will make it difficult instead of very difficult.
Leaving the single market results in frictions - such as the need for veterinary inspections for animal products. OSS will not make these go away.
I am the wrong person to ask, I merely knew the articles existed and had skim read them, luckily for me property does not travel over borders. (Though I do still help my brother in law whose business as a Qualified Person in the pharma industry, with previously multiple EU based clients, is lying in tatters though he is carrying on, albeit much less work and greatly reduced profits, as he enjoys what he does)
One of my clients who exported to Europe (small business) has already given up as it was far too complex. He was close to retiring anyway, but this definitely sped up his decision to retire.
Some Accounting practice have a VAT person, like me, but appreciate smaller firms (and even larger ones) can't always justify the cost of a specialist, so in that situation, you should always have a handful of people you can call upon.
I think the situation is more nuanced. Accountants are not customs/freight experts, but then freight agents aren't Accountants and it really requires some joined up thinking. the freight agent doesn't care about the buyer or the seller, just that the paperwork needs to be correct.
The Accountant may not be able to give detailed advice but there are plenty of articles on AccountingWeb, some written by me, covering the precise steps required to use Postponed VAT Accounting, how to register for CDS, how import/export works and I do this because I realise VAT is a specialism that not every Accountant has and if I can share some knowledge to help fellow number crunchers, then that's great because then we're all making money, with happy clients also making money.
If you leave this to the freight agents, your clients will struggle, freight agents don't give advice on VAT and import rules, anymore than Accounts give advice on import protocols. There is a role for the freight agent but from what I've seen so far, they are not advising they are waiting to be told by the customer and the customer doesn't know either.
So keep on visiting AccountingWeb, I've got some more articles coming shortly that revisits all of these aspects and then of course don't forget Domestic Reverse Charge for Construction is coming up in March so another plate to keep spinning!
T
Even with our sister French co and some knowledge for French rules, I am caveating everything with "We are not experts in the VAT systems in 27 countries and you need to take local advice"
Same here, I can't help clients with things like VAT registration in Germany or setting up a subsidiary in Austria, many EU member states requires a domestic based tax agent and beyond that, there are many little nuances and localisms that a local Accountant will know that an outsider never would when dealing with the tax office or paper forms.
And you still have not answered the many questions asked on here regarding the requirement to register in other countries when providing services from the uk to an EU customer (sorry I should not hijack a post that way).
I assume that comes under the 'take advice in the other country ' category although Neils article was definite about not needing to register contradictory to other articles i have read
Huh? I answer as many questions I can on here, to help Accountants and business owners. I have answered the matter of services to the EU on several occasions in Any Answers, perhaps you missed them.
Thank you Jason for your excellent articles. I've referred a desperate client to 2 of them, which are very pertinent to her. I couldn't find this sort of information anywhere else on the internet.
Sorry Jason, I know you are doing a wonderful job, the one thing I keep getting contradictory advice on is B2C services. These are now outside of the scope of UK VAT.
However Neil was quite clear that there would also be no requirement for a supplier to register in the EU country where the services are deemed to take place, are we sure about that?
I believe DHL and DPD are offering what they call a DTP (duties and taxes paid) service which might enable U.K. e-commerce sellers to carry on selling to the EU in a fairly smooth way - I don’t know if they are offering this to all customers or what the small print is but on the face of it, it looks like an option.