Amazon.co.uk - Charging 21.5% VAT to Irish Customers now?

TouchingVirus

I just added a Canon HF10 Flash Camcorder to my basket, and proceeded through to the checkout only to notice the total price went from an expected £643 including delivery (£6) to £680 including delivery (£6). Just reviewing the order there it appears Amazon are trying to charge me 21.5% VAT and not the UK rate - what gives? The whole point of me shopping there is so I don't get ripped off over here

jhegarty

Any company that does enough business in Ireland has to charge/pay Irish vat.

TouchingVirus

jhegarty wrote: »

Any company that does enough business in Ireland has to charge/pay Irish vat.

In all my years of doing business with Amazon I don't think I've ever been charged the Irish VAT rate.

Even the price of the product went from £636 to £671 on the order total, which is certainly a new thing. I have to say I'm not impressed at all. I can have the same item for 50 quid cheaper off Dabs now

TouchingVirus

Should have just googled, because they're registered in Ireland now they have to charge 21.5% VAT to Irish Customers - they had to register to lift the Electronics restrictions.

What a rip off, whatever about me not being able to get electronics from Amazon before the restrictions this 21.5% change applies to all the stuff that used to 15%.

rubadub

TouchingVirus wrote: »

Should have just googled, because they're registered in Ireland now they have to charge 21.5% VAT to Irish Customers - they had to register to lift the Electronics restrictions.

What a rip off, whatever about me not being able to get electronics from Amazon before the restrictions this 21.5% change applies to all the stuff that used to 15%.

There is no real ripoff. Look at the prices before VAT, amazon is simply a more expensive shop than dabs, pre VAT, and now that the VAT is the same this has just become even more apparent. Also do not be so pissed off, you have also contributed VAT to the Irish economy rather than the UK ecomony who would have gotten that 15%.The more VAT revenue that comes in then the lower the need for the likes of wage levies and other taxes to make up the shortfall.

TouchingVirus

I know Rubadub, I know. It's just, I like having more money in my pocket and paying less for goods. We're all getting shafted by the levies anyway because of Government incompetence, not because I opted to give money to the UK coffers instead of ours

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byte

I'm pretty sure they've been registered here and charging Irish VAT for some years now, long before they reintroduced electronics being shipped here.

TouchingVirus

Well the fact it was mentioned in an Irish Independant article on April 12th of this year suggests otherwise. I know I paid 15% VAT for DVD's I bought 2 months ago

nava

byte wrote: »

I'm pretty sure they've been registered here and charging Irish VAT for some years now, long before they reintroduced electronics being shipped here.

I also have to agree with you on that, remember orders place a few years 4-5 back they had their Irish VAT number on the invoices that came with the order, also as mention I recall I also noticed a few years back that the price show on the Amazon page never matched the price paid because they show with UK vat and we were charge Irish VAT.

Probably a search in the forum might show some threads opens at the time about that.

With a quick search I found a comment that makes me believe that we been charged Irish VAT for a couple of years, just have a look at the reply from TheDriver

I am finding amazon uk with Irish VAT added is working out as cheap as play for lot of things tbh so going with them at the moment. And no risk of mr revenue

PowerHouseDan

Yup You are 100% Right.

byte wrote: »

I'm pretty sure they've been registered here and charging Irish VAT for some years now, long before they reintroduced electronics being shipped here.

TouchingVirus

Wow, then I have absolutely no idea why I wasn't charged 21.5% on those DVD's a few months ago, or the ones before that

A Dub in Glasgo

I have ordered stuff from Amazon for delivery to Dublin and I was charged 21% VAT, the earliest I ordered was March 2004.

A Dub in Glasgo

TouchingVirus wrote: »

Well the fact it was mentioned in an Irish Independant article on April 12th of this year suggests otherwise. I know I paid 15% VAT for DVD's I bought 2 months ago

Amazon do not charge 15% VAT on DVD's as they would sell those DVD's to the UK through their Jersey operation (Indigo starfish). All non-UK DVD sales go through Amazon and they charge the appropriate VAT rates.

Red Sleeping Beauty

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

Amazon do not charge 15% VAT on DVD's as they would sell those DVD's to the UK through their Jersey operation (Indigo starfish). All non-UK DVD sales go through Amazon and they charge the appropriate VAT rates.

Are you saying that Amazon's DVD sales to the UK mainland are shipped from Jersey (to avoid paying VAT) and then anything shipped outside UK mainland incurs whatever the local VAT rate is if they're registered there ?

A Dub in Glasgo

Yes

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=13378011/ref=hp_ln_ord_isf

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=502576

TouchingVirus

Bought my DVD's in the Marketplace ..thats how I got charged 15%

Red Sleeping Beauty

* Under EU VAT legislation certain Books items (such as audio books and e-Books) are not eligible for reduced-rate VAT and in those cases the standard VAT rate will apply.

At least you don't pay anything on books!

EricM

It sucks about amazon increasing the VAT.
I just read the story about amazon did not sell electronics to ireland was due WEEE and PRF.
How does Ireland enforce their rules on a UK company?
I thought the EU was supposed to be a free market.

I have no problem buying electonics from other EU companies which I do all the time because Ireland is a rip off for electronics even before VAT.

Wertz

byte wrote: »

I'm pretty sure they've been registered here and charging Irish VAT for some years now, long before they reintroduced electronics being shipped here.

Agreed. I have amazon invoices going back some years and they always charged the equivalent Irish VAT rate, just back then it wasn't so noticable becuase there wasn't a 6.5% difference between the two figures.
Plus as Rubadub said, at least the VAT is going to the Irish exchequer, whether or not you agree with how it is wasted spent...

jor el

EricM wrote: »

It sucks about amazon increasing the VAT.
I just read the story about amazon did not sell electronics to ireland was due WEEE and PRF.
How does Ireland enforce their rules on a UK company?
I thought the EU was supposed to be a free market.

Amazon always charged Irish VAT to Irish customer's, as they are required to do by law. It has nothing to do with Irish rules, the free market, or that they are a UK company. VAT is a European tax, but varies from country to country. Amazon export such a large amount of products into Ireland, that they are required to apply the Irish rate of VAT to those products.

EricM

Required to by law? what law is that?

EU Companies charge VAT based on the country they are registered in, not the country of the buyer of the products.

If an Irish company sells something to a customer in another EU country like UK, France, Spain etc.. they charge the Irish rate of 21.5% regardless of the country the buyer is in.

Registering a company and VAT in every EU country you want to sell to would be over complicated, thats why the system works this way.

It also is supposed to work the other way around, if I buy something from UK im charged the UK rate at 15%, which I have done many times.

Its different for amazon because they are VAT registered in Ireland, but that was unnecessary, no EU company has to register here unless they have a physical presence here like a store or a warehouse, but because they did we have to pay 21.5%, but why would amazon do this since it just costs their customers more??

treefingers

Amazon are unfortunately required to charge the irish rate of VAT when shippnig goods here.

companies are obligated by law to charge the vat of the country where the goods are being sent to, if their total sales in that country exceed a certain threshold (100,000 euro, which Amazon obviously would)

relevant eu directive:

Recast 6th Directive, Council Directive 2006/112/EC, Title V, Chapter I, Section 2, Article 34.

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/vat/how_vat_works/distance_selling/index_en.htm

Wertz

EricM wrote: »

Its different for amazon because they are VAT registered in Ireland, but that was unnecessary, no EU company has to register here unless they have a physical presence here like a store or a warehouse, but because they did we have to pay 21.5%, but why would amazon do this since it just costs their customers more??

Because their european CS call centre is located in Cork? Of course they were going to be VAT registered here...

jor el

EricM wrote: »

Its different for amazon because they are VAT registered in Ireland, but that was unnecessary, no EU company has to register here unless they have a physical presence here like a store or a warehouse, but because they did we have to pay 21.5%, but why would amazon do this since it just costs their customers more??

That's not the reason they charge 21.5% VAT to Irish customers, it's a separate issue due to them having an actual presence here.

cormie

Hi,
Can anyone tell me, if I'm VAT registered and order through amazon.co.uk and pay 21% VAT, how do I go about claiming it back? Can I put it through my normal returns or do I have to chase the UK tax folk for it (which would probably be more hassle than it's worth). It would be handy if the receipt would show the EURO price and EURO VAT so you could just do it normally?

Any advice appreciated

nava

cormie wrote: »

Hi,
Can anyone tell me, if I'm VAT registered and order through amazon.co.uk and pay 21% VAT, how do I go about claiming it back? Can I put it through my normal returns or do I have to chase the UK tax folk for it (which would probably be more hassle than it's worth). It would be handy if the receipt would show the EURO price and EURO VAT so you could just do it normally?

Any advice appreciated

They are register with Irish VAT so you should claim as normal, haven't ordered anything for a while but I think they do show you the EUR prices too.

jor el

This question belongs in the Taxation forum, not a year old thread here.