Quote:
Originally Posted by glend
I have purchased from UK suppliers and been able to get the VAT removed. Just make sure they understand at time of order that this is an export outside UK and EU. They have to process it to exempt and some can't be bothered or do it and pocket the VAT for themselves and don't remit to the government. This kills EU and UK export trade.
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Having run a business in the UK myself, it's actually not a simple case of sticking the VAT in their own pocket...you have to understand the tax laws to appreciate why it appears that way.
Beneath a certain revenue threshold, you are essentially charged a flat rate of VAT on your total sales that you must return to HMRC and there is no facility to itemise export sales. Above the threshold your VAT return is directly calculated from the VAT charges on your sales, and you can itemise export orders.
So it's actually the small businesses with relatively low turnover that are not VAT registered that generally cannot export ex-VAT, as it comes out of their bottom line, and if their pricing is competitive there's precious little margin in it for them to make it cost effective. There's no free lunch when it comes to tax law
Then there are the retailers who can't be bothered to export, since the UK and/or EU market is large enough to sustain their business. That doesn't always mean they're a bad business, but IMO if they can't be bothered to put in the effort, they don't deserve my business.
In my experience, the cost of shipping the item is about the same or more than the VAT. Adding duty + GST will reduce the attractiveness of buying from overseas, but the current exchange rate is doing plenty to discourage that anyhow
