EU Business customers MUST have a EORI number to be able to import their order into the country. This is no longer an option but a requirement. If you are purchasing as an individual EORI’s are not required.
As of July 1st 2021, the EU implemented changes to key aspects of International eCommerce, export and import of goods into the EU. As such this document has changed drastically including:
- There is no longer a VAT/Duty-Free Threshold.
- VAT is applied to ALL orders into the EU except VAT registered businesses.
- EU based VAT registered businesses are required to provide their EORI and VAT registration details so they can be validated before goods can be shipped.
Please note that this article is being written and updated from a myriad of confusing and contradictory sources (including the UK government) so please bear with us as we work to discern and summarise the key information.
VAT & charges based on order value:
All EU orders now can only be transacted in Euros (EUR) to avoid any problems with customs clearance and supporting documentation.
The store will now switch to Euros as soon as the country for shipping has been identified as a EU member state so you will not need to select it manually.
22 EUR or less
Orders values at less than 22 Euros can be sent into the EU and will not attract or require payment of Import VAT.
- Up to 150 EUR**
- VAT will be charged directly on the website as part of the ordering process.
- No import duty is charged to non-business customers
- There should be no additional charges made by the postal/courier service before you can receive the goods.
- Business customers orders will be treated the same as any order over 150 EUR in value (ie: Import Duty & VAT will be charged by the delivery service)
- More than 150 EUR
- Customers will be charged Import VAT, Import Duty, a processing fee and possibly import tariffs (See below).
- The charge will be made via the courier or postal service used.
- OctoInkjet cannot pre-charge these fees at present.
Customs Handling Fees (Guidance only!)
The following table now only applies to orders over 150 EUR in value or orders placed by EU based Businesses.
| Country (Code) | Std’ VAT % | Customs Handling/Disbursment Fee(s) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring/RM | DHL | DPD | Fedex | |||
| Austria (AT) | 20% | 10 EUR | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | |
| Belgium (BE) | 21% | 24 – 34 EUR | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | |
| Bulgaria (BG) | 20% | 16 EUR | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | |
| Cyprus (CY) | 19% | 3.50 EUR | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | |
| Czech Republic (CZ) | 21% | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | ||
| Denmark (DK) | 25% | 150 DKK | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | |
| Germany (DE) | 19% | 6 EUR | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | |
| Estonia (EE) | 20% | 10 EUR | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | |
| Ireland (IE) | 23% | 3.50 – 10 EUR | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | |
| Greece (EL) | 24% | 3 – 50 EUR | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | |
| Spain (ES) | 21% | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | ||
| France (FR) | 20% | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | ||
| Finland (FI) | 24% | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | ||
| Croatia (HR) | 25% | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | ||
| Hungary (HU) | 27% | 3.33 – 10.60 EUR | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | |
| Iceland (IS) | 24% | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | ||
| Italy (IT) | 22% | 7.50 EUR | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | |
| Latvia (LV) | 21% | 3 EUR | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | |
| Lithuania (LT) | 21% | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | ||
| Luxembourg (LU) | 17% | 15 EUR | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | |
| Malta (MT) | 18% | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | ||
| Netherlands (NL) | 21% | 13 – 17.50 EUR | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | |
| Norway (NO) | 25% | 16 GBP | 12 GBP | |||
| Poland (PL) | 23% | 8.50 PLN | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | |
| Portugal (PT) | 23% | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | ||
| Romania (RO) | 19% | 20 RON | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | |
| Slovenia (SI) | 22% | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | ||
| Slovakia (SK) | 20% | 4 – 9 EUR | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | |
| Sweden (SE) | 25% | 16 GBP | 3.50 – 6 GBP | 12 GBP | ||
VAT for EU customers (B2C)
Since the UK left the EU, we no longer charge VAT on physical goods for all International customers (including those in the EU).
Exception: AsendiaOne shipping option (Asendia) will allow customers to pre-pay their VAT for orders up to 150 EUR in value and thus avoid any additional import charges.
Digital Goods:
Digital goods are now charged VAT at the customers standard VAT rate. This currently only affects WICReset keys purchased individually. WICReset keys purchased as part of a physical product bundle are treated as physical goods.
Physical goods are handled according to order value (before shipping cost) shown in the “VAT & charges based on order value” (above)
B2B (Company/Business customers)
Apologies but this is the least understood aspect of the changes but the following is known:
- A valid EORI number is required for businesses to place an order and receive goods in Europe (from us in the UK or elsewhere outside the EU).
- Import VAT, tariffs, etc… will need to be paid.
- We strongly recommend using a courier/shipping service that uses DDU incoterms (ie: you pay duty/import vat to the courier) as this will allow you to reclaim the import VAT.
- EU business customers are not charged VAT via our store
Import tariffs
Some of our products are not EU or UK in origin and this means that they can attract import tariffs based on the value, product type and country of manufacture.
Products likely to be affected:
- US and South Korean manufactured inks (eg: STS-inks, Inktec..)
- Chip resetters (Not REdSETTER units)
- Compatible Maintenance boxes, porous pad assemblies
Products not affected:
- Printer Potty products
- Refill bundles & refill tools (excluding chip resetters)
- Inks manufactured in UK, Germany and elsewhere in the EU (eg: OCP)
- REdSETTER chip resetters
Rules of Origin
In case you want a bit more detail on this. The key problem we face is something called “Rules of Origin” (RoO for short) which can be summarised as a set of complex rules that determine whether your product(s) are of UK, EU (known as of “preferred origin) or not. This is further complicated by the way in which products can be bundled or manufactured as components of another product and thresholds where this bundling or manufacturing can convert a series of products into being considered of UK origin. Fascinating and utterly brain numbing to work out.
Why is this important? Any products that originate from the EU or the UK are considered to be of “preferrable origin” and as such they do not result in any additional charges (except VAT). Anything that is deemed to be from outside the UK/EU will often attact import duty and may also incur additional tariffs.
Changes in the future
Many of our other couriers (DPD, DHL Express) provide the option to preview and charge all relevant import costs (duty, vat, tariffs) to the customer when they place the order and remove any unwelcome suprises. However this would currently require us to register a sub-division for our small company somewhere in the EU or register for VAT in every one of the 26 countries in the EU. Clearly this uneconomical, but changes are coming that will reduce the administration on this considerably.
July 1st 2021 – Import One-Stop-Shop (IOSS)
From July 1st, it will be possible for us to register in just one EU country for VAT and use the IOSS system. This then would allow us to pre-charge customers the import VAT, submit a simplified VAT return and hopefully use this with all our shipping options.
The IOSS was expected to be very similar to MOSS (used for digital goods) but the EU decided to introduce a requirement that an EU registered entity needed to be employed as an intermediary which has added a substantial cost to the process. While it does mean we will be able to charge VAT directly which will speed up delivery and remove additional postal/courier admin charges, it’s still a requirement we were not expecting. There will be a small charge applied through the shipping system to cover the new IOSS intermediary costs but they will still be much cheaper than the 8 – 16 EUR charges applied after January 1st 2021.
Orders worth more than 150EUR are currently being sent without VAT paid. The customer will have to pay their import duty/VAT before receipt of goods via the shipping service selected.
Longer term
We are looking at multiple options for selling into the EU (and the wider world, globally) in the future. Options such as setting up an EU based company division, developing resellers for some key products and also fulfillment services. Investigating and balancing the opportunities/costs of these will require considerable time so we’re not expecting this until late 2021, if not later.