Reply To: Dear UK miniature makers

[phaidknott 7023xp 0]

Sorry Avenos, all we got here was all the stuff on “sausage-gate” and VAT and the confusion around that.

I suppose with the decision to allow companies with a small EU turnover in mainland Britian to add VAT to EU customers there must be a way for EU customers to claim back the VAT charged on the invoice (I assume they still have to pay the VAT/Sales tax in the receiving country). I imagine the wait is probably weeks for even months to get this back and even if you know how, many probably would just give up after being faced with loads of paperwork. It seems completely daft to allow a customer to be charged for VAT twice (even in the US they don’t add sales tax to exports outside US borders (and even outside state borders)), and I can’t believe this is “working as intended”.

Problem seems to be the guidance has been given to the small business owners to charge VAT in the UK when selling to the EU…..and then all information stops. For a larger company they can register for an VAT number in an EU country (or set up an office there), but for smaller one man operations (like Fenris) the costs of doing so would be prohibitive. It’s all a black hole for the two sides to sort this out (no doubt it will in a decade or so) so far. The whole this is really punishing for small businesses on both sides of the channel, and paying for a legal professional to give the proper guidance to each individual trader is again extra costs to that trader (for example I don’t know what the situation on books is now. Previously books were always zero rated for VAT in the UK, but I know some countries in the EU don’t have them zero rated).

It’s all damn confusing, cost money, and I don’t see the “win” for anyone with this damn thing 🙁