Is Amazon UK safe for Import Duty/Tax?

Mizu_Ger

I searched the forum, but couldn't find an answer to this.

I want to order 2 DVD boxsets from Amazon UK. Total (inc p&p) comes to £30.50. This is over the limit for importing, but are purchases from Amazon UK liable to import duty? VAT is charged by them, so I assume its okay as ax has been paid within the EU.

eorpach

"I want to order 2 DVD boxsets from Amazon UK. Total (inc p&p) comes to £30.50. This is over the limit for importing, but are purchases from Amazon UK"

There is no import limit on importing into Ireland from any of the 26 other EU Member States.

One of the benefits of membership of the European Union is that customs duties and import tarrifs have been abolished between the 27 Member States of the European Union. As you know Ireland and the UK are both Member States. As such there are no restricts or import duties of any kind on the importing of goods into Ireland from a company based in the UK or elsewhere in the EU.

A company in another EU country may register with the Irish Revenue Commissioners for an Irish VAT number. This is however a different issue to import duty/tarrifs. If an EU company has registered for and Irish VAT Number (I'm fairly sure from memory that Amazon UK has) then the pratical result is a slight increase in price paid for the good by an Irish customer at the point of purchase. This is because Irish VAT (at 21%) is more than VAT in most other countries (eg UK VAT is 17%), so the price to Irish customers increases slightly because we pay VAT at the Irish rate of 21%.

No import duties will ever be owed to the Irish or any other EU government for the purchase of any products from websites based in another EU country.

Your confusion about the £30.50 being in excess of the import limit may relate to the fact that certain websites eg play.com are based in the Channel Islands. While those islands are dependancies of the British Crown they are not part of the European Union. As a result, goods coming from the Channel Islands are considered (like USA, Canada, Australia etc) to be coming from outside the European Union and are subject to import duties once their value exceeds a certain threshold (around €22 I think). This is why buying from Amazon.com (in the USA) can result in import duties, buy buying from Amazon.co.uk (in the UK) will not.

Rest assured, you can purchase several hundred pounds/euros worth of DVDs from Amazon UK (who are based in England) and you will not be charged any import duty whatsoever by an Post/the courier when your package arrives in Ireland. See: http://www.revenue.ie/index.htm?/leaflets/pn1882.htm


Regards,

eorpach

P.S. Purchasing online gives you extra rights and protections than purchasing in traditional shops. See: http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/consumer-affairs/consumer-protection/consumer-rights/distance_selling/?searchterm=import%20eu

Mizu_Ger

eorpach wrote:

Your confusion about the £30.50 being in excess of the import limit may relate to the fact that certain websites eg play.com are based in the Channel Islands. While those islands are dependancies of the British Crown they are not part of the European Union. As a result, goods coming from the Channel Islands are considered (like USA, Canada, Australia etc) to be coming from outside the European Union and are subject to import duties once their value exceeds a certain threshold (around €22 I think). This is why buying from Amazon.com (in the USA) can result in import duties, buy buying from Amazon.co.uk (in the UK) will not.

Thanks. That's the question I meant to ask! I wanted to make sure that Amazon didn't operate like Play.