What did postman bring today ?

JahLaza And are there any import duties/vat from the EU due to hmrc?

Because of the value of the goods being less than £135, that’s up to the seller to sort out.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-and-overseas-goods-sold-directly-to-customers-in-the-uk#:~:text=Consignments%20valued%20at%20£135,their%20UK%20VAT%20registration%20number.

One of the reasons some sellers in the EU won’t sell directly to you if you spend less than £135. E.g.: it’s now harder to buy coffee machine spares/parts from the EU if you are in the UK.

OldGregg This was confusing, because to the best of my knowledge, coffee is Zero rated for VAT? https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/vat-food/vfood7720

MediumRoastSteam One size fits all policy I suppose… Keeps things simple.

It does mean charging VAT on something that has no VAT though, which, if they are doing this is probably not legal? If I were buying coffee from them, I wouldn’t be very happy with this arrangement.

P.S. It’s not beyond human ken to have the website only apply VAT to products where it should be applied

DavecUK - pfff… Plenty of good roaster in the UK…. I didn’t bother going further than the landing page where you get greeted with that message. So can’t comment if VAT is charged correctly or not.

However, I’m not clear how the £135 rule is enforced in terms of logistics. All I know is that for goods UP TO £135, it’s the responsibility of the point of sale to collect any duties. Above that, it’s the responsibility of the importer. What I am not clear, is that if the goods - any goods - are under £135, then it’s the responsibility of the point of sale to tell HMRC, via their system that the goods are exempt of VAT. Maybe they just can’t be bothered to deal with HMRC, for which I don’t blame them.

edit: Looks like it’s about the value of the consignment rather than whether the items in the consignment attract VAT or not: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-and-overseas-goods-sold-directly-to-customers-in-the-uk