purchasing valuable items from Isle of Man and parcel forwarders?

MuffinsDa

I am thinking of purchasing something worth around 880 euros from Isle of Man.

Has anyone purchased anything of value from Isle of Man traders recently, and if yes, how was An Post to deal with in regards to VAT and duties?

Also, has anyone ordered anything valuable from IoM to a ParcelMotel, ParcelWizard or AddressPal UK address, and how was their experience with that?

Help/advice greatly appreciated!

ED E

Dont send it to PM, if it gets caught by HMRC then they'll return to sender. Not sure how the others handle it.


Directly shipped through Portlaoise/Dublin would be circa €200 in VAT/Duty + €7 in handling fees. That assumes the 880 includes shipping charges.

Spocker

Is it large? Could you carry it on a plane for example, and have a weekend away at the same time? Aer Lingus would get you over and back for €135

MuffinsDa

Thanks guys. Yeah was considering the flight option, you can go there for a day trip for around 75 quids actually but then that's a day off work/family!

It is small (photography equipment).

Spocker

It's only a day, and you'd be able to satisfy yourself the gear worked as expected, and you'd be sure to get it back in one piece, with no additional fees

Miaireland

Is the Isle of Man not part of the U.K.? As far as I know there is no Duty/Import duties from the UK (except the Channel Islands). I don't think Brexit has kicked in yet.

Mind you give the high value of the item I would probably go over myself to make sure it works and that it will be handled correctly in transit.

joujoujou

Isle of Man is actually a Crown dependency with no EU membership...

The Isle of Man holds neither membership nor associate membership of the European Union

...although I wouldn't expect customs charges:

Protocol 3 of the UK's Act of Accession to the Treaty of Rome included the Isle of Man within the EU's customs area, allowing for the trade for Manx goods without tariffs throughout the EU.

Miaireland

joujoujou wrote: »

Isle of Man is actually a Crown dependency with no EU membership...
...although I wouldn't expect customs charges:

Thanks, never knew that!

NATLOR

MuffinsDa wrote: »

I am thinking of purchasing something worth around 880 euros from Isle of Man.

Has anyone purchased anything of value from Isle of Man traders recently, and if yes, how was An Post to deal with in regards to VAT and duties?

Also, has anyone ordered anything valuable from IoM to a ParcelMotel, ParcelWizard or AddressPal UK address, and how was their experience with that?

Help/advice greatly appreciated!

If you end up using a parcel fowarder I would suggest only considering Parcel Motel as they allow you to take out extra insurance to cover high value items up to €1500

rubadub

There is some sort of VAT arrangment between the UK and isle of man. Not sure if VAT is due if it did go to the UK (parcelmotel/wizard).

I know stuff from Jersey was VAT free to the UK, but may have changed.

edit: just see joujoujou's post now.

Quackster

Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man are all within the EU Customs Union so no duty applies on goods posted here from any of them.

Jersey and Guernsey are outside the EU VAT area (which is why VAT applies on goods over €22 posted here from them).

However, the Isle of Man is inside the EU VAT area so anything posted from the IOM is treated exactly the same as if it was posted from the UK. Therefore, there is no issue using Parcel Wizard or Parcel Motel.

Quackster

On the matter of Brexit, once the UK leaves it will be outside the EU VAT area so VAT will be payable on purchases over €22 brought here from the UK. Not sure how the parcel forwarders will deal with that - or if they will even be able to. On the flip side, it will mean the return of duty-free on flights/ferries to the UK.

Hopefully, post-Brexit, the UK will remain in the EU Customs Union so that at least no duty would apply to purchases from the UK.

rubadub

Quackster wrote: »

On the matter of Brexit, once the UK leaves it will be outside the EU VAT area so VAT will be payable on purchases over €22 brought here from the UK..

Customs here officially do not collect below 6 euro in VAT, therefore the effective limit on most items is roughly 26 euro at the moment. If buying from the likes of amazon.co.uk if your item is below 26 euro you will usually be paying less, if their VAT was to remain lower than ours. At the moment as they are in the EU they are obliged to charge 23% VAT rather than their own 20% as they do over 35,000 euro of business in Ireland anually, which is the limit after which they must pay Irish vat. The downside is the VAT paid goes to feed the corgis, rather than being frittered away by our own bunch of wasters...

Since postage is usually cheaper from the UK to ireland than say the US to ireland there are many items I would by buying which would be under 26 euro in total.

They may also come up with trade agreements so buying from the UK would not be the exact same as from other non-EU countries.