Things seem to have moved on from the Channel Islands' VAT campaign - and yet it's important to understand just how it was won - only a month or so ago.
For those with interest in the issue - this report and video by Richard Allen is well worth the time.
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I think the abuse of high-value imports continues, much of which could be illegal, and not as easily measurable as LVCR imports which was legal.
I am referring to the sale of items which cost £100s and £1000s on eBay, and elsewhere, and are manufactured in, and dispatched from the far east, e.g. camera equipment.
The sellers will attach misleading invoices to packages, so as to make it look like the goods were sold at a lower value, to reduce VAT and duty. Potentially 3 figure sums are lost in unpaid taxes on just one item, and these guys are big players dispatching many orders everyday to the UK.
These eBay sellers are fairly easy to spot, although they are a little more discreet about it now, compared to a few years ago.
Wording pulled from an E-Infinity auction for a “Canon EOS 5D Mark II Body Kit” priced at £2,199.99.
“All import duties, taxes and related charges are not included and not covered by our side.
However, legally accepted efforts would be made to reduce VAT / IMPORT DUTY, in most cases, buyer would have to pay a much smaller and reasonable amount.
Under legitimate circumstances, we always try our best to help our customer to minimize your VAT exposure upon your request.
Nevertheless, please be reminded that all mentioned TAX / VAT related charges are buyer’s responsibility and we will never be paying any for these.
All above charges might be charged by FEDEX / DHL instead of custom as they settled the bill for buyer in advance and will then charge the buyer back after.
Please do not confuse that they are extra or additional shipping charges.
In case buyer rejects the item due to TAX / DUTY charges issue, we will charge the buyer back for ALL charges including both in & out shipping charges and the TAX / DUTY amount. We will reduce above charges and costs directly in the time we refund to you.”
So, they’re suggesting that you could email them to discuss how to reduce VAT and duty.
I can imagine it would involve splitting the payment, so that the main item can be invoiced at a lower price – I would guess at the same price as their cost price, so that they can claim that cost on freight insurance, if the item is lost, without losing money.
There are many sellers on eBay offering a similar service, especially those based in Hong-Kong.