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Brexit News
As of 1st January 2021, the UK has left the Brexit transition period which has applied during most of 2020. A UK/EU trade deal has been finalized, but only over the last few days of 2020. The UK / EU border arrangements have now changed. For sending goods, there is extra complication in the border process, which means that deliveries are taking a little longer than before. Shipments to Germany were taking a lot longer, but we are now using a different courier Fedex for Germany which has improved things. To most other countries in the EU we have found deliveries have been progressing quite smoothly via our courier DHL. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As a result of the new trading relationship, the goods we send to our EU customers from now on will need to be customs cleared into the EU. It means that you the customer will now be responsible to pay your local VAT and import taxes on the goods we send to your own home country. Will this cost me more? Yes. But to give more detail: If you are an EU private individual or business without a VAT number, in the past we added 20% UK VAT to your invoice. In future we will not add this 20% VAT. Instead you need to pay your own country’s VAT rate on the goods directly to the courier. If you are an EU business and we have invoiced you without added VAT in the past because you are registered for VAT in your home country, we will continue to invoice without UK VAT added, but you will now need to pay your local country VAT to the courier before delivery, and then claim it back on your VAT tax return. We
recommend that you check the guidance given by your local country government for
dealing with UK imports. It may be possible for EU VAT
registered businesses to arrange to avoid
paying the import VAT / import tax to the courier and instead
account for it only on the VAT return. But any arrangements will vary
from country to country and we can’t advise on the process. For all EU customers, we also require a reliable contact mobile telephone number in case the courier cannot get a reply by email for issues of customs clearance. There will likely also be import customs duty costs in addition to VAT, depending on the items in your delivery. Typically this should be around 4.7% of the goods value on most bicycle frame parts. We do expect that parts that are declared as of UK origin should be zero rated for import duty as part of the recent trade deal. However the customs process and taxes applied are outside our control and are dealt with by officers in your own home country, rather than here in the UK. Additionally, the courier will likely add a small fee (DHL’s is around £12) for collecting these taxes prior to delivery. The courier will email or text you automatically with details of the charges and methods for payment. They will deliver the goods to you after receipt of payment. If the charges are not paid, the courier will eventually return the goods back to us. |