Help European Union new custom rules 0

[Garry Ghoul]

Hello everyone! I'm a eurpean collector from France. I bought a pag, last month,  from the US via ebay. Ebay can me to pay VAT (first time ever)! The package was blocked at the french custom for 2 weeks  and then for unknown reason returned to the original owner in California. It is the first time that kind of problem happened to me. Usually when i had to pay some custom taxes, i pay it at the delivery. Does anyone have any clue?

Thanks for your help.

[filmboyuk]

That is very odd. Sales VAT shouldn't apply as you're buying from outside the EU; import VAT might apply, but as you say, the courier company usually handles the payment of that, and charges it on. I haven't bought art from Ebay for a few years, but that does all sound quite strange. There may be two different issues (Ebay charging VAT and the parcel entering France) depending on how the original owner shipped it - if they didn't put the right customs paperwork on the parcel, with the right HTS code etc. then maybe the French customs refused to accept it? All quite aggravating, I'd imagine!

[filmboyuk]

Just another thought - if the seller listed the art in the wrong category, maybe that is why Ebay mistakenly thought it needed to charge VAT? Might be worth looking closely at the original listing.

[Garry Ghoul]

On 3/31/2022 at 12:33 AM, filmboyuk said:

That is very odd. Sales VAT shouldn't apply as you're buying from outside the EU; import VAT might apply, but as you say, the courier company usually handles the payment of that, and charges it on. I haven't bought art from Ebay for a few years, but that does all sound quite strange. There may be two different issues (Ebay charging VAT and the parcel entering France) depending on how the original owner shipped it - if they didn't put the right customs paperwork on the parcel, with the right HTS code etc. then maybe the French customs refused to accept it? All quite aggravating, I'd imagine!

Thank you very much for your help.

[pemart1966]

Might have to do with eBay's Global Shipping Program.  I was not aware that governments world wide had given eBay the authority to collect taxes on their behalf.

[barneythecantankerous]

The EU brought in legislation so that VAT is collected at PoS. This was decided back in 2016 but only introduced last year. It could be that border force in France is strict about this or, more likely, the seller filled in the customs documentation incorrectly, they needed to contact one of you, but couldn't, and the package got sent back. 

The package will most likely have a sticker with the reason on it.

[Garry Ghoul]

On 4/1/2022 at 9:24 PM, barneythecantankerous said:

The EU brought in legislation so that VAT is collected at PoS. This was decided back in 2016 but only introduced last year. It could be that border force in France is strict about this or, more likely, the seller filled in the customs documentation incorrectly, they needed to contact one of you, but couldn't, and the package got sent back. 

The package will most likely have a sticker with the reason on it.

Thank you very much. I will ask the seller. He just received his package back.