Why pay VAT on a product for the second time?

Andy From Sligo

So browsing for a part on ebay UK - this is pre-owned (second hand/used) so the person who bought the product would have paid VAT for the product already (OK granted paid the UK government what would it have been something like 17.5% or whatever their rate is / was) but then they sell it secondhand and I am to pay 23% VAT on the item that has already had VAT paid on it once already when it was bought brand new! and where does that 23% VAT go to? the seller or to the Irish Government in the end?

- i dont think VAT should be paid on an item twice personally , and especially on a used product why is it?

CJhaughey

UK is a third country and as such its immaterial whether the item is used or new. Its the same if you bought from US or Japan. You have to pay vat on items that come from outside the EU.

ShelbyInc

In addition to this, VAT is collected at every stage of the supply chain and ultimately the cost is suffered by the final consumer. Simple scenario, take a business who buys in stock for resale paying VAT at 23%. The supplier would have charged VAT and remitted this to the tax authority, the purchaser would have claimed an input VAT credit for the stock they acquired for resale. So really the tax authority collects zero tax revenue from that transaction. Only when the good is passed to the final consumer will the tax authority collect the full VAT revenue.

Andy From Sligo

if you are a business though and you buy an item new you pay the vat (applicable to the VAT rate of the country you buy the item in ) well then you can claim that VAT back on that purchase - but an individual person member of the public cannot claim the VAT back on an item so why is a private personal member of the public required to pay 23% and that being a used item at that?

L1011

Because that's the rules. They're outside our VAT area and there's no VAT exemption on the item category.

Domestically you pay VAT on everything second hand except for private sellers or charity shops anyway - second hand cars, antique dealers and so on.

ShelbyInc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118819224#Comment_118819224

VAT is a tax on consumption, so the final consumer foots the majority of the VAT bill. The final consumer is usually an ordinary Joe like us. A business person usually has a right to an input vat deduction as they’re carrying on an economic taxable activity and incurred costs associated with that activity. With respect to your purchase. The VAT registration threshold for a foreign trader is €0, so that individual you dealt with had an obligation to charge you Irish VAT at the VAT rate applicable to that good in Ireland.

YFlyer

At our research group we used to purchase pumps from the US. Much cheaper there than here. Got a person in the US to grease up the pump and send it over second hand as part of a joint US Irish project.