Paying VAT, import tax and custom fees, to another country.

[Knygathin]

When ordering a book from ABE-books in USA a few weeks ago, I had to pay VAT; that is, a preliminary estimated import tax for when I receive the book here in Sweden.
I don't see how that can be applicable!? Surely any import tax and customs fees should be payed first when the package arrives in my own country.

Anyway, I still had to pay VAT when I received the package, which means I payed VAT twice. The VAT I payed to ABE-books was in other words never remitted to the Swedish tax office. I contacted ABE-books and asked to be reimbursed, but they denied me that, saying I had to discuss it with the Swedish post office.

I used to order a lot of books from Ebay US, and they entrusted their shipping & handling to some agent called Pitney Bowes. Pitney Bowes charged high shipping fees, and added VAT and handling fees with the argument that the buyer would not have to bother with import and custom fees when receiving the package in his country - that it was all taken care of. Well, that was NOT TRUE - I ALWAYS had to pay those fees when receiving the packages. I usually contacted Ebay afterwards, and after som arguing with them, and showing my VAT receipts, I was reimbursed. I am convinced that what Pitney Bowes was doing at Ebay, was a large scale fraud, milking Ebay buyers with invented costs. And I don't think most buyers had the energy to pursue it, to get their money back, the way I did. But there were complaints at the time in Ebay user forums.

Thoughts?

 

[Lichen]

You are doing something wrong

I've been using AbeBooks and eBay for a decade now for book purchases, hundreds of books during the years, almost on a weekly basis. I've never had a problem with VAT payments. With eBays Global Shipping Program / Pitney Bowes it's all included; taxes, paper work, eBay does it all, like you said. My experience is that I don't have to do anything other than buy the item and it is deliverd to me. Shipping is damn costly, that's for sure. I'm located in Finland.

With AbeBooks it's a bit different. Some sellers sell on AbeBooks but they don't make use of the automated VAT collecting offered on that site, I guess it saves their time and effort, and on those occasions you have to pay VAT when the item arrives to your country. Most of the times Abe collects the VAT payment when you buy the book and when this happens, I can simply bypass the tax payments by checking a box "VAT already paid" and typing up AbeBooks IOSS number on the Finnish customs website. Every arriving parcel has to be cleared at the customs by me (what it contains, value etc.) but VAT is paid only if the selling party has not collected it yet.

I guess this is the main thing: by default, the Finnish system always suggests that you pay the VAT, even if you have already paid it when you made the purchase. You have to choose "VAT already paid + IOSS number" yourself on the website. If you don't, the only way to get the parcel is to pay the tax for the second time.

Of course I'm not at all familiar with the Swedish customs practises, but I'd be rather surprised if they are very much different from ours.

 

[Knygathin]

The Finnish post/customs routines seem to work better and more flexibly than the Swedish. The post handler in Sweden, usually PostNord, handles the VAT payments, and there is no such customs page where a box for "VAT already payed" can be checked. I have tried to argue with both the post handler and the customs office, but it's useless: "no payment, no package delivery".

I don't understand how VAT payed to ABE-books in USA could be remitted to the Swedish customs. According to the Swedish customs they have no such agreements of cooperation to receive VAT payments in advance from a third party (neither ABE-books or Ebay.US or Pitney Bowes). VAT cost is calculated when the package arrives in Sweden, and is demanded directly from the buyer - "or else package will be returned to sender".

Although lately PostNord has actually stopped charging VAT on packages from United Kingdom, if VAT has been payed in advance to the UK seller. Which is a glad surprise. So it seems the UK and Swedish tax offices have formed some kind of communication or exchange to make it work, so that the advance VAT fee ends up where it belongs.

I wonder if advance VAT fee is an issue in other European countries, such as when UK buyers order from USA?

 

[Knygathin]

According to PostNord the US seller must fill in the right VAT documents upon shipment, otherwise there is no way of knowing it has been payed. This negligence happens often.

According the Swedish customs the VAT prepaid in USA needs to be IOCC-registered (whatever that is) to be coordinated with European import tax. If not, there are no guarantees.

It is all a mess.

 

[Charon]

In theory, from July 1st of 2021, the EU has required for every merchant located outside the EU to sign up for their IOSS (Import One-Stop Shop) to pay VAT, so that the consumer does not have to deal with custom fees.
However i have been purchased books online (publishers, ebay, abebooks, biblio etc.) and even in this case i still pay the custom fee handling fee (charged by PostNord Sweden).
In the case of ebay purchases i always end pay up twice for customs (on ebay and later on PostNord), but i get a refund on ebay after submitting the receipt.However, yes in many cases ebay overcharges on the fees, and sometimes this is a reason for me to not complete the purchase.
And then, the people on US and UK do not pay customs fees when buying books from the EU, so yeah the import fees handling in the EU is not so great....

 

[Anna]

The USA and UK do not charge taxes on imported books. The EU does. It is really something that taxes should not be charged on, at least for individual readers, unless one wants to have a population without access to reading material. Also, whether prepaid or not, the taxes are very high.