European Union Import VAT - A potted overview and perspective

In 2015, the EU voted to apply import Value Added Tax (VAT) to e-commerce businesses selling telecommunications, broadcasting, and electronic services.

The assertion was that these products were slipping under the domestic VAT radar. As such, they were flooding the European market and undercutting the sale/tax-generated revenue of EU services and manufactured items.

In 2017, the EU voted to extend these regulations to include all e-commerce sellers trading goods. This law came into effect on July 1st 2021.

Its stated premise in 2017 was to recoup the five billion Euro VAT lost in online sales yearly, rising to a projected seven billion by 2020. In turn, protecting EU manufacturers and jobs from cheaper imports made with low-cost labour, and a possible lack of environmental oversight. 

The EU import VAT applies equally to all non-EU countries; technically, every nation outside the EU is a third country. The UK was part of the EEC/EU from 1973 to 2020. As such, it participated in and agreed to EU decision-making. The UK was a willing signatory to the EU import VAT regulations of 2015 and 2017.

By leaving the EU on January 1st 2021, the UK effectively and unilaterally placed itself into the orbit of being a third country.

Consequently, goods from the UK into the EU became subject to the new import VAT rules governing third countries. The same edicts apply to goods imported from the EU and beyond into the UK. 

Balanced against this cost and with direct reference to garments purchased from Westward Bound, the UK domestic sales VAT rate of 20% is removed from all sales into the EU.

The UK sales VAT savings on sales to the EU are replaced by EU import VAT, paid on delivery. The overall difference in cost is marginal.

The Import VAT rate varies per the sales VAT set by each of the 27 nation-states.

Westward Bound garments are manufactured in the United Kingdom and are imported into the EU at a 0% customs tariff under the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. EU import VAT and applicable customs handling or clearance charges remain payable.

Goods Sent: Delivered at Place (DAP). Product Description: Rubber Apparel. Commodity Code: 4015900000 Import VAT Calculator.

Model Comtesse Léa. Photography by Rémi Cozot in Paris, France. Ishtar Latex Catsuit