Post Office UK: new checks in place to ensure marketplace sellers can continue to send their goods with confidence
Post Office is alerting its customers that a new post-Brexit change concerning VAT will affect goods being sent from Great Britain to the EU from Thursday 1 July.
Items sold to EU destinations from Great Britain with a value of €22 or less will no longer be exempt from VAT. They will be subject to the local rate of VAT and charges of the destination country.
The EU have set up a new scheme called the Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) that allows businesses that register on the scheme to apply VAT and customs charges at the point an item is sold. For Post office customers, the change predominantly affects marketplace sellers who sell via marketplaces registered on the scheme. Post Office has put in place new checks to ensure the correct information will be collected for the IOSS scheme, so marketplace sellers can continue to buy their postage in Post Office branches with confidence.
Mark Siviter, Post Office Mails Product Portfolio Director, said: “Whilst these changes don’t impact customers sending gifts to the EU, we’re concerned that thousands of marketplace sellers, particularly smaller ones could get a shock on 1 July when having to deal with these new VAT arrangements. We have put new checks in place to ensure marketplace sellers can continue to come to their local Post Office to send their goods with confidence. Crucially they can also receive advice and specialist knowledge from their Postmaster if they need it.”
Marketplace sellers that use Amazon, Ebay, Etsy and Not On The High Street can continue to visit their local Post Office and the Postmaster or their staff will capture the necessary information now required following this post Brexit change to the VAT rules.
Customers sending gifts to EU destinations are not affected by these changes either. Gifts under €45 remain exempt of VAT or charges.
These new changes do not apply to anyone visiting a Post Office in Northern Ireland and posting gifts or sending items sold to EU destinations from Northern Ireland.
