VAT on furniture import from Poland

[2by2Furniture]

I am trying to source some children's furniture from Poland. I am not VAT registered, so will not charge VAT on my products. The total value of the import in this instance is £4,000 plus shipping. I was wondering if someone could help me with the following:

1) I am being quoted 23% Polish taxes on top of the furniture cost. I presume I have no option but to pay this to the supplier?

2) Will I have to pay VAT on these products when they arrive in the UK. I am hoping not.

3) I am assuming I will not have to pay any duty on these products as they are from a European country.

4) Would it help me to become VAT registered? I am quite a way off the £77,000 threshold and would prefer not to become registered, but if it helps for this import then I may consider it.

Many thanks for any advice!

 

[TimCaprica]

Hello,

I'm going to start this by caveating that all countries seem to have slightly different rules to make life unpleasant and complicated, which is probably why no one has been brave enough to comment.

The way imports from the EU normally work are that if you are VAT registered you tell the seller and they raise an invoice that is net of VAT and includes a comment about VAT reverse charges. Obviously you are not VAT registered so that won't work.

Something I have read though is that you only need to be 'in business' rather than VAT registered for reverse charges to apply, although this goes against the logic of the VAT reverse charges. It's not something I've dealt with before so I'm not going to research it more for free but here is a decent starting point to get you going - http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/anya...where-eu-customer-business-not-vat-registered

As for registering for VAT yourself it should definitely be avoided until it's legally required. As a rule if you are selling to people who aren't VAT registered (eg children) you will be worse off.

Hope that helps.