Brexit: Selling Media Items (Books, DVDs, CDs) to EU Countries from January 1st
Apologies if this has already been raised as a topic elsewhere, but I couldn’t find anything.
I’m based in the UK and sell mostly fairly low-price media items (books, CDs, DVDs, cassettes) to customers all over the world. Orders from US customers have recently started to attract tax (US Marketplace Withheld Tax), which is deducted at source by Amazon. Does anyone know whether Amazon are planning to deduct any kind of tax or duties at source for EU-bound orders in the event of no trade deal being agreed by 31st December? At the moment, I’m assuming that even if there’s no trade deal in place there will be no tax or duty payable for low-value media items (depending on the tax and customs duty thresholds of individual EU countries) and therefore no tax deductions will be made by Amazon. After all, there is currently no tax or customs duty payable on orders from customers in non-EU countries such as Norway and Switzerland. Am I right in this assumption? Or will we just have to wait and see what happens?
Brexit: Selling Media Items (Books, DVDs, CDs) to EU Countries from January 1st
Apologies if this has already been raised as a topic elsewhere, but I couldn’t find anything.
I’m based in the UK and sell mostly fairly low-price media items (books, CDs, DVDs, cassettes) to customers all over the world. Orders from US customers have recently started to attract tax (US Marketplace Withheld Tax), which is deducted at source by Amazon. Does anyone know whether Amazon are planning to deduct any kind of tax or duties at source for EU-bound orders in the event of no trade deal being agreed by 31st December? At the moment, I’m assuming that even if there’s no trade deal in place there will be no tax or duty payable for low-value media items (depending on the tax and customs duty thresholds of individual EU countries) and therefore no tax deductions will be made by Amazon. After all, there is currently no tax or customs duty payable on orders from customers in non-EU countries such as Norway and Switzerland. Am I right in this assumption? Or will we just have to wait and see what happens?
20 replies
Seller_sFEUMUfeW5484
It all depends on what the deal is. Amazon also haven’t made it clear at all as to if they will be deducting taxes from sales into EU countries from the UK (FBM). Unless I have missed an announcement.
Seller_tj5bg90i9gyCk
And stock up on customs declaration forms, of course, if you’re using Royal Mail for shipping!
Seller_sFEUMUfeW5484
We sell fancy dress and magic tricks, so VERY diverse items. From Jan we’ll have to input the customs code in click and drop when we ship, but obviously finding the code for a clowns sponge nose, or a rubber toy rat is not easy.
Royal Mail have said they provide a service where you send them all your product data and they send it back with the correct customs code. But they charge a fee, has anyone here used that service?
Seller_HbtEgJLFVZHWb
(Maybe it’s dicussed in another thread but haven’t found one).
I guess you’ve all received an email titled:
" Upcoming changes to the Amazon Services Europe Business Solutions Agreement and programme policies",
yesterday night?
I played all 3 recommended videos
( https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gc/sell-online/brexit?ref_=brexfhp
Onboarding with a customs broker etc…)
All this because of Brexit?!
It’s mad, who will have money & time for all these new requisites, just to sell to Europe - not an individual seller like me, that for sure!
But does that all apply to small non-biz sellers too?
I don’t understand: Brexit means that selling to Europe becomes the same as selling anywhere else in the world, like to the USA.
So why all this fuss?
When I sell a £15 CD to the US, it gets there without any of this fuss, I just need to stick a customs label…
Seller_tj5bg90i9gyCk
Whether or not you are registered as a Business Seller, selling low-value media items to EU customers should only become a problem (in terms of extra taxes being deducted from Amazon payments) if the EU decides to impose customs duty or other taxes on these kinds of goods (whether above a certain value or across the board). In the absence of any information to the contrary, I’m still working on the assumption that the only change I will need to make is to complete and attach a customs declaration form (Royal Mail CN22) on each package. We already need to do this for other international orders. I have an EORI number, though I don’t expect to need to use it. There is certainly no need to use a ‘customs broker’. The only thing I’m not sure about is whether we need to include the HS code on the customs declaration form: I haven’t bothered with HS codes until now, I simply give a description of the package contents. Will it make a difference entering the HS code in addition to the description provided on the form (e.g. ‘Music CD’)?
Seller_tj5bg90i9gyCk
Wait a minute, I may have jumped the gun (probably reading what I wanted to read in the link provided by BM5 earlier)… The EU statement says that customs duty won’t be charged on items with a value below 150 euros (imported from anywhere in the world), but it also states: “From 1 January 2021 the existing VAT exemption for goods up to 22 € will disappear”. Since most EU countries charge VAT on books and other media items, perhaps we will still be caught by a VAT liability, since VAT will presumably be due on imported goods. In which case, perhaps Amazon will pay the VAT on our behalf (at source, by deducting it from payments to sellers). But they don’t do this for any other country in the world, so why do it for EU countries?
I still don’t know what to expect, I’m just as confused as ever.
Seller_tj5bg90i9gyCk
The more I look into it, the more it seems probable that in the event of there being no trade deal with the EU from 1st January (and possibly even if there is a trade deal) either we (Amazon Marketplace sellers) or our EU customers may be liable for the VAT charged by the destination country within the EU on our exported goods. Amazon seems to be silent on this point.
I found a useful Estonian government website news article, which was published nearly three years ago but seems to be still relevant regarding the January 2021 abolition of the VAT exemption for goods up to 22 €:
It says: “From 2021 the value added tax exemption will be abolished for the goods with the cost below 22 euros (small parcels) and from then on all parcels delivered from countries outside the EU with the value of up to 150 euros will be taxed with the value added tax.” In other words, from January 2021 every package we send from the UK to the EU may be subject to VAT, if not customs duty. Prior to January 2021, of course, there was no checking of packages posted to EU countries - they were treated the same as if they were being posted to Birmingham. If the goods we sell to EU customers are going to be subject to VAT, and if this VAT is collected at source by Amazon, it will make selling to EU customers economically unviable - which is probably the whole point of the EU legislation. Who knows whether this will also affect ‘exports’ from Great Britain to Northern Ireland (due to the Northern Ireland Protocol)?
