VAT on imported items

[tee]

Hi chaps

Is there any way of 'cutting down' on the VAT you pay on items. We've got about £15k worth of stuff coming in and VAT is going to kill us for a first time venture, pm's welcome

 

[Christine Hough]

It is probably a silly question but are the items coming in from the EU?

 

[tee]

Hi, no they'll be coming from the East

 

[Eagle]

Sell the items at a profit.

 

[Christine Hough]

I'm no expert but is there not a different tax applied here?
I thought VAT was just when you bought things from the EU.

You will get import tax charged by customs when they arrive.

 

[tee]

As far as I was aware you get charged customs and VAT on all items imported :? Does anyone know the rate of the import tax mentioned?

 

[Simon12]

VAT will be charged the only way to get around some of it is to get it sent to an EU country with a lower VAT rate. The import duty depends totally on what the goods are and could be anywhere from 0-100%.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Are the goods VATable?

There is no legal way around this.

Have you also taken into consideration possible duty, shipping costs, clearance charges, etc.

If VAT registered, this shouldn't be a problem, unless you have a cashflow issue.

 

[tee]

Not Vat registered yet, to be honest a large portion of the stuff is actually for personal use but there's still no way around the Vat/customs.

 

[deadgoodundies]

Yup as others have said VAT will always be applied.
If it's coming from Asia then chances are you will also get hit with import duty and the clearing fee from the courier.

When trying to source products I always first try and see if it's available from a country that has a free trade agreement with the UK so you avoid the import duty (EUR 1 certificate)