HMRC webinar and VAT: Getting ready for a no-deal Brexit
Neil Warren reviews key VAT matters raised by HMRC’s ‘Getting ready for a no-deal Brexit’ webinar, including the importance of EORI numbers.
You might also be interested in
Replies (4)
Please login or register to join the discussion.
'For imports of goods by parcels and similar means, where the value is less than £135, the overseas seller is liable to pay the import VAT.'
When I first heard this idea I said it was mad. Are they really going to try this? I can imagine the response they will get from my Australian supplier of model railway parts if he is asked to register with HMRC and pay UK VAT on his supplies. He will either ignore them or he will stop selling to the UK. The same applies to my USA suppliers of low value items for the American equipment on our boat. I bet they will never succeed in even finding the Chinese one-man-bands who sell low-priced electrical parts into the UK market by post, and even if they do find them they won't be able to extract any money from them.
Details of the scheme are set out in Notice 143. At present it only applies to traders in the Channel Islands, Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand and who are duly authorised by their national authorities to use the scheme so your Australian and US suppliers couldn't use it even if they wanted to. It only applies to packages consigned via Royal Mail or Parcelforce.
If it's proposed that the scheme is extended to the EU after Brexit then all I can say is that I haven't come across it in in the tens of thousands of words I've had the misfortune to have to read of the many millions of words available on line of HMRC's Brexit advice.
Anything to do with Brexit preparation is addling my brain so I was befuddled by the references to UK EORI numbers until I remembered that numbers issued by HMRC actually carry a GB prefix.
There is an article on HMRCs website stating that …..
Vat Registered businesses are to be automatically allocated a GB EORI number (See Link)
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-accelerates-brexit-prepara...
I had a client based in the UK enquire if he was covered and when I looked at the verification page (See Link)
https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/dds2/eos/eori_validation.jsp?Lang=en
I put 'GB' followed by the clients 'Vat number' and three zeros '000', it came up with 'This EORI number is Valid.'
So although it is definitely worth while checking on the GB verifier, this article has not mentioned that HMRC have automatically registered every Vat registered customer who have not already done so, for a GB EORI number.
(Although the article does state non-vat registered customers will still have to have one).
So as far as I can see, unless you have a company importing and exporting from somewhere else in Europe other than Great Britain, where they would need an EU EORI number, there is no need to panic.