VAT Collection When Buying Within EU

[tridy]

Hi.

Do you know how the VAT collection works within EU? During the last week I bought Electronics/computer stuff to be shipped from Portugal, Netherlands and Spain to Sweden (all within EU). The results:

 

[€120] buying from Portugal store online => had to pay VAT

[€170] buying from Netherlands store online => no VAT

[€150] buying through eBay form a seller from Spain => had to pay VAT (eBay charged that)

 

does anyone know how it works?

 

Thanks!

 

[tridy]

Here is the info about Sweden:

https://www.tullverket.se/en/private/generalaboutshoppingonline.4.311bf4f016e69d6ea0d424.html

 

[tridy]

Here is my chat with eBay.

 

They should have not charged the tax, so there is hope that I will get the refund when I will receive the goods. Check.

 

 

now to the Portugal online store.

[tridy]

2 minutes ago, James Evens said:

For you as a consumer it is simple. As the price you see includes the tax and there are no additional fees within the EU. For the seller it is a different story.

Depending on the kind of offer they either pay the tax in the country they are registered in or in the customer country.

Well, as you said, I pretty much do not care what and how they do, and there are other taxes and fees that stores have to pay. My point is that I want to see the price I have to pay. If some of them do not show additional taxes that I would have to pay later on, it is going to be hard to compare the prices. As about VAT, according to the customs I either pay it (when it gets shipped form USA or UK, for example) or I don't.

[tridy]

1 hour ago, James Evens said:

Usually there is some indicator if the price includes the tax.

Yep, that was me being blind and rushing. The price in the store there does say (excl. VAT). My bad.

 

How about the purchase from eBay? Is it more like C2C and it was not a new product and that's why it is a different story? Sort of like reselling used product should not apply VAT every time it gets sold second hand?

 

[tridy]

So one of the stores that I bought from probably already included VAT. I checked the receipt it did not say anything about VAT at all. It is a bit strange that it does not show up anywhere. Unless it is a fraud and I am not getting my stuff :).

[_crazy_crazy_]

well..... so sorry that you had to buy something from Portugal .. let it be a lesson don't buy anything from here our customs and financial system is just another name for institutionalized organized crime.... since the beginning of the year , every item shipped from and to Portugal has to pay Iva/VAT and be glad you don't live here ... last item i bought from outside i had to pay vat from the origin country and then when it got to our customs they made me pay IVA over the full value including shipping  .....

https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/2021-08-13/customs-and-ctt-total-meltdown/61690

[tridy]

I would think that there would be some sort of agreement within EU so that generally, if the tax is payed in one country of origin, for instance, it should not be paid in the country of destination (with the exceptions of some types of products, like perfume, tobacco and alcohol). Then, from what i read somewhere that there is a max limit after which only the destination country becomes the responsible for collecting VAT. So the thing about from and to Portugal could be that there are different scenarios that should not lead to the double VAT.

 

There are sometimes things that are only available in certain stores, such as RetroShop.pt, in my case for example. So next time I might ask for the shipping insurance and pay a bit extra to make sure. Or I could ask to use a different shipping provider like DHL or UPS. As for now I have got the tracking number and I hope it will arrive at some point. The store says "EUROPE EXPRESS SHIPPING" so we will see how express it is going to be. Another order from Spain was done on the same day, so let's see which one comes first.

[tridy]

I do not think that this is the case, since the tracking number ends with PT. And the item from Spain was through eBay and the tracking number also ends with ES. That is unless they have special tricks.

[tridy]

After contacting eBay, I got a refund for the VAT I paid when purchasing within EU. I believe it was due to the fact that it was C2C purchase and not B2C.