Avoiding VAT when returning knife to EU?

[Delat]

Hi guys, I’m sending a knife back to the maker for some thinning and wondering what magic box to check (or form to include) to avoid tax?

Last time I did this, I included the original receipt and wrote “return to manufacturer” on the customs form but the recipient (the maker) still got charged tax.

 

[dehory]

Sending you a PM...

 

[MarcelNL]

I suspect you'd need to use a temporary import, the ATA Carnet is definitily too expensive , big question is how expensive that temp import is as you might need a customs broker...perhaps best to talk to a fedex rep. Or wait and see if anyone here knows how best to do this from experience

 

[Corradobrit1]

Couldn't the maker make the shipping arrangements and avoid any import taxes since they are a business and can prove its origin?

 

[esoo]

Back in the day when you could actually write on paperwork, I would declare value as 0, state "No commercial value, item for repair". Not sure how to do that on today's automated paperwork.

 

[MarcelNL]

Couldn't the maker make the shipping arrangements and avoid any import taxes since they are a business and can prove its origin?

I expect not, since the new EU law on VAT is in place you get zapped for VAT and duties and cost when you have paid all of them in advance but when something like the OISS number is not digitally completed on the customs forms.
Declaring you have pre paid VAT etc means that the company linked to the OISS number needs to declare (and pay) that VAT, and this being a digital system the check is 100% and pretty airtight, no amount of scribbling on paper will work.

As a business located within the EU you also pay VAT on importing stuff, you get to subtract all VAT you paid from the VAT you have collected but it's not like you can import at 0% VAT.
I might be missing something so let's see if there is someone with more info.

At least there is a 0% VAT on the bill for thinning work since it's being exported...

 

[MarcelNL]

https://taxation-customs.ec.europa....=Inward processing means that non,Import duty

 

[gentiscid]

Recipient paying VAT tax in the EU is a legal form of being robbed. It irritates me every time. Sent a couple of knives to EU as a gift and marked them as a gift with “used knives” and a total value of $45 and the recipient still got 25€ taxed. Smh…

 

[Corradobrit1]

Recipient paying VAT tax in the EU is a legal form of being robbed. It irritates me every time. Sent a couple of knives to EU as a gift and marked them as a gift with “used knives” and a total value of $45 and the recipient still got 25€ taxed. Smh…

Just shows how desperate the EU is for Tax revenue. Tax evasion is a huge problem in the places like Italy and Greece where self employed workers and shop owners can game the system and avoid paying their dues. Import duties are easy pickings since they can hold your goods ransom until its paid.

 

[Gavva]

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[MarcelNL]

Recipient paying VAT tax in the EU is a legal form of being robbed. It irritates me every time. Sent a couple of knives to EU as a gift and marked them as a gift with “used knives” and a total value of $45 and the recipient still got 25€ taxed. Smh…

unless you seriously undervalued the goods that 25 euro is likley including the service fee for the courier..some take the piss out of their customers because they can..

It's not 'the EU' who is taxing stuff, it's a common law imposed by individual members...As a company you even get to pick the country of your liking where to pay VAT..Germany as 19, we have 21... ;-)

 

[gentiscid]

unless you seriously undervalued the goods that 25 euro is likley including the service fee for the courier..some take the piss out of their customers because they can..

It's not 'the EU' who is taxing stuff, it's a common law imposed by individual members...As a company you even get to pick the country of your liking where to pay VAT..Germany as 19, we have 21... ;-)

I get it but why charge the recipient? Because they can’t charge the sender from USA. If I declare it a gift, recipient shouldn't pay a penny. Anyways… legal thieves.

 

[Jovidah]

The reasons things are the way they are is because everyone (both receivers and senders) have in the past gone out of their way to avoid taxes as much as they could - even when they legally should be paying them.
It's not a perfect system but it's largely a result of everyone trying to game it (me included).

The main ones robbing you are the postal companies who will charge you like 10 bucks minimum for what is at this point a fully automated process.

 

[MarcelNL]

I get it but why charge the recipient? Because they can’t charge the sender from USA. If I declare it a gift, recipient shouldn't pay a penny. Anyways… legal thieves.

sure, but do you know how may Billion Euro's of VAT have been/are being evaded on a yearly basis by moving goods around on paper?
This move, and don't get me wrong...I do not like it very much either..., was also to stem the endless flow of Chinese stuff competing regular business to death pretty effectively.

For now someone returning something for a repair gets screwed, unless that business is large and savvy enough to work out the regulations allowing them to do repairs at 0% VAT...guess how Tesla puts together their cars in the EU...0 VAT as they disassemble them largely and put them back together.

I reckon that there will be a system allowing smaller companies and easier way out of making customers pay VAT or swallowing it....in time...