Has anyone registered for VAT in Ireland / IOSS?

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Has anyone done this yet for any smaller businesses who export items B2C under £135?  Our VAT advisors aren't much help and possibly not in their remit to be fair.  Client has decided purchaser having to pay VAT on imports in EU is impacting their smaller sales, IOSS is solution, they speak English in Ireland so will register for IOSS there.  Just wondering if anyone would like to impart any useful knowledge about the process?  It looks fairly straightforward, we are going to do it as soon as our client's website is ready to rock n' roll with regard to adding the correct EU rates of VAT.    We are all a bit at sea on this one, did wonder about asking a larger trusted firm in Ireland (KPMG/Grant Thornton etc) to do it for us but my view is that our client may get a hefty bill for something that isn't that complicated, we don't think..... Many thanks for anything useful that can be shared on the process, even if it is to use the Irish firm of accountants..... !

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By Leywood
23rd Jun 2021 12:41

No direct experience of IOSS but have had dealings in the past with the Irish revenue via phone and email and they are super helpful and very friendly, so worth a dig about their site.

Am sure someone will come along who can provide more specifics.

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By Cylhia66
24th Jun 2021 07:51

Just do it yourself. It's very straight forward. And I agree the staff at The Irish Inland Revenue are very helpful if you get stuck.

This is where you need to start. Good luck!
https://www.revenue.ie/en/vat/vat-moss/how-do-you-register-for-moss/how-...

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Replying to Cylhia66:
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By Constantly Confused
24th Jun 2021 08:38

Cylhia66 wrote:

Just do it yourself. It's very straight forward. And I agree the staff at The Irish Inland Revenue are very helpful if you get stuck.

This is where you need to start. Good luck!
https://www.revenue.ie/en/vat/vat-moss/how-do-you-register-for-moss/how-...

That's for MOSS, I don't think that's the same as the IOSS (is it?).

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Replying to Constantly Confused:
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By Cylhia66
24th Jun 2021 12:36

Sorry, no it's not. I should have read your question more carefully. Apologies.

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By Constantly Confused
24th Jun 2021 08:59

Rather than starting a new thread I hope I'm ok to contribute to this one with my own spin on the query (I don't believe I am hijacking as I'm asking the same question as the OP and at the same time, but I will let the jury of AW decide that ;) ).

I've read various guides and newsflashes on the OSS/IOSS and as I understand things:
The OSS is for anyone providing services to EU consumers OR selling goods that start and end in the EU.
The IOSS is for anyone selling goods with a consignment value of less than €150 from outside the EU to consumers in the EU.

So if you have goods that will move around in the EU or are supplying services, OSS. If you are selling low value goods from outside the EU into the EU, IOSS.

I can see lots of places to register for the OSS (Union and non-Union) but can't find anywhere to register for the IOSS. Jason Croke's articles suggest Ireland may be insisting that GB businesses use a local advisor to join the IOSS (or were at the time of his writing), I'm not sure if that came to pass or whether something has changed since he said that.

The page he links to on the ie website is now a dead link (and my attempts to get at it through Google reach the same dead page).

I hear mention that HMRC will be allowing businesses to register for the IOSS via their site from the 1st of July, but can't find anything to suggest this will actually happen.

The OSS page Cylhia66 links to above specifically says If you are a non-EU established supplier and wish to apply for the VAT OSS Non-Union scheme to declare supplies of services to consumers in the EU, you can register here: , so I don't think it can be used to join the IOSS.

I'm frustrated - clients are badgering me to help them get set up but I can't see how to do it, and we are a week away from the change!

Can anyone offer advice?

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Replying to Constantly Confused:
VAT
By Jason Croke
24th Jun 2021 10:12

HMRC are offering IOSS registration for businesses that come under the Northern Ireland Protcol (ie, NI based traders), it is not there for GB traders, as I understand it.

With regard Republic of Ireland, my earlier article stated that Ireland required a tax agent and my article on this suggested this was wrong as the EU law clearly identified GB as having a co-operation on tax agreement with the EU".

I was looking at Irish website last night and I noticed they've updated the guidance since my article.

If you visit here
https://www.revenue.ie/en/vat/vat-moss/ecommerce-rules-010721/oss-and-io...

On right hand side is a box "Further guidance", there are two links in that, the top link is the newest version, but comparing both, the old guidance states you need a tax agent, but the new guidance doesn't mention anything at all about agents and so perhaps Ireland has since recognised that EU law applies to them after all.

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Replying to Jason Croke:
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By Constantly Confused
24th Jun 2021 12:03

Jason Croke wrote:

HMRC are offering IOSS registration for businesses that come under the Northern Ireland Protcol (ie, NI based traders), it is not there for GB traders, as I understand it.

With regard Republic of Ireland, my earlier article stated that Ireland required a tax agent and my article on this suggested this was wrong as the EU law clearly identified GB as having a co-operation on tax agreement with the EU".

I was looking at Irish website last night and I noticed they've updated the guidance since my article.

If you visit here
https://www.revenue.ie/en/vat/vat-moss/ecommerce-rules-010721/oss-and-io...

On right hand side is a box "Further guidance", there are two links in that, the top link is the newest version, but comparing both, the old guidance states you need a tax agent, but the new guidance doesn't mention anything at all about agents and so perhaps Ireland has since recognised that EU law applies to them after all.

Hi Jason

Thank you for clarifying.

The Irish website still only seems to give the option of registering for the OSS (either Union or non-Union), which I don't think is what my clients need (as they are moving goods from GB to the EU).

Am I missing the IOSS link?

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VAT
By Jason Croke
24th Jun 2021 10:09

Taxamo is a new app which Royal Mail are offering, a flat £2 fee per shipment and they will declare the VAT on their IOSS return and so the seller doesn't have to register. Maybe useful for small quantities, Taxamo suggest less than 3,000 shipments per year is cost effective and more than that, cheaper to register for IOSS yourself.

https://www.royalmail.com/import-one-stop-shop-ioss

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Replying to Jason Croke:
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By Julie.T
24th Jun 2021 11:36

That is incredibly helpful, thank you!

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Replying to Jason Croke:
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By Constantly Confused
24th Jun 2021 12:04

Jason Croke wrote:

Taxamo is a new app which Royal Mail are offering, a flat £2 fee per shipment and they will declare the VAT on their IOSS return and so the seller doesn't have to register. Maybe useful for small quantities, Taxamo suggest less than 3,000 shipments per year is cost effective and more than that, cheaper to register for IOSS yourself.

https://www.royalmail.com/import-one-stop-shop-ioss

I have severely underestimated the cost of filling in the IOSS forms if the expected cost is £6k a year!!!

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By Jdopus
25th Jun 2021 11:05

I have pretty regular dealings with the Irish Revenue. Agree with the advice above that their staff are generally pretty knowledgeable and helpful, but the other side to it is that it's much more difficult to find properly documented information on their processes or how you do certain things than it is in the UK.

The form you'll need to submit to register your client is TR2 which will get you a VAT registration within RoI. It's pretty self explanatory when you see it.
You'll also need an Irish address to receive post from the Irish Revenue, so you'll probably need to pay a registered office service to provide this for you unless your client has any other existing premises in RoI.

Irish Revenue's online service is called ROS, you'll need to get officially registered as an agent with the Irish Revenue to submit returns on there, then you send off a signed agent link form, they will generally add your clients onto the portal within about 2-3 weeks.
The Irish Revenue will try to get your clients to pay via ROS's online payment portal, I would just give a bit of warning that it is unreliable, I've regularly had clients double charged when trying to pay via this system and my advice is to avoid using it and to instead settle liabilities via card or just by ringing their payment helpline.

Happy to answer further questions. It's not that complicated but there are a few tripping points.

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By Julie.T
28th Jun 2021 11:25

For anyone else following this thread, I spoke to Irish Revenue on 28th June 2021 (as suggested above, very helpful!) and lady spoken to said any UK company wishing to register for VAT and IOSS in Ireland needs an intermediary if they are selling GOODS. Intermediary is someone who is registered for VAT in the EU. A firm of accountants can be your intermediary. I see that bigger firms with an Irish presence like Deloitte/KPMG have already grasped the fact that an intermediary might only get paid once (to set up the registration) have set up their own IOSS /VAT return completion scheme at £2000 a pop per client per annum (KPMG are a little cheaper for those who do less transactions). I see also there is some doubt about whether an intermediary is needed under EU law but the Revenue lady is sticking with it. Taxamo looks best for us, I am going to suggest to our client that they use that as it is "pay as you go" and seemingly not just linked to the post office. Once the dust has settled, we may find joining IOSS in Ireland is easier and can ditch Taxamo and its seemingly high cost. This is a real pain for us small accountants with our smaller businesses. We have ONE client who sells to the EU and in small quantities..... I have spent hours looking at this now. CPD hours looking great! lol.

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By zatinojf
02nd Jul 2021 13:24

This is what from the Revenue website: The provisions on
administrative cooperation for VAT in the Trade and Cooperation agreement
between the UK and the EU are not considered as similar in scope for the purposes
of the IOSS. As such, a supplier based in the UK can only use the IOSS through the
appointment of an EU established intermediary. It appears very clearly that an Irish intermediary has to be used if UK goods want to declare VAT through the IOSS. I made a submission for the IOSS through the VAT OSS section in Revenue Online Services (ROS), and got an email reply back from the Revenue within one hour to ask for further information.

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