Ordering from LTT store from EU - the extra tax added in checkout and required IOSS certificate

[Just that Mario]

I got first reply from LTT support earlier this week I believe or was it end of last week. Solution offered was for me to pay the taxes again (which I already had) and then send them proof of it and they would refund the amount I was charged on checkout.

For people facing same issue: I suggest doing like I did - just pay tax second time so you receive your goods. Then you can sort the double tax thing out.

[Just that Mario]

On 1/24/2022 at 1:28 PM, diynevala said:

I have waited my waterbottle since father's day November 14, 2021.

Where are you from? I ordered mine like few days before Christmas and received it early in January. Think it was approximately two weeks from ordering/payment to receiving it.

[Brrrrrr]

Have the same issue. VAT paid in LTTStore and with the carrier. Lets see if support can fix it.

[Tero H]

Yup, same issue here.

 

I did what the support asked me to do (pay VAT and postal office handling fee and then send them a proof of doing this) and they refunded me the extra costs.

 

I admit I was probably annoyingly stubborn on them giving me the IOSS number but the response was that they would not be able to give it to me ”under any circumstance”, whatever this means.

 

It is great you are working to fix this once and for all, but in the mean time, giving the IOSS number would be the second best thing.

 

I just received notification on my second lttstore order being held by the customs.

 

I am also in Finland.

 

—Tero

[Draft]

Same issue for me, in France, still no answer from the support teams, but I will update here if they offer to help

[LAwLz]

5 hours ago, Draft said:

Same issue for me, in France, still no answer from the support teams, but I will update here if they offer to help

Judging by the other replies here, lttstore will not give you their IOSS number. Not sure why.

Your best bet is to pay the tax and then ask to have it repaid by lttstore. That's what others have been asked to do.

[wout3r]

Chipping in from the Netherlands: same issue, just got a notification from PostNL, the local delivery company asking for VAT and import charges. Will get in touch with the LTTSTORE.com team to get a refund on my original taxes.

[Thaldor]

Same here. Most likely their customer support is pack jammed because of this (people asking for the IOSS registeration number [IM123456789 or whatever] and/or people asking refunds for the taxes). I would guess LTTstore doesn't have one because they seem to use 2nd (or even 3rd) hand to manage their warehouse/packaging/sending (wizmo/creator warehouse) and IOSS system just doesn't like when it gets mixed signals (IOSS data going as LTTstore but packet itself going as Wizmo/Creator warehouse or something).

 

For info to whoever it may concern. The IOSS registeration number isn't something someone could use for malicious intents so adding it to the... Oh wait, we didn't even get an actual receipt for the purchase from the LTTstore (I paid with PayPal so I got that receipt and delivered that to the customs). Like yeah, we can see what we bought and what we paid and all that info on the order page but that isn't an actual receipt where you could put the IOSS registeration number for us living in the EU (you could put it in the store page too for everyone to see). But I guess Canadians are the same as US and any kind of regiteration ID/number is same as a holy goat that anyone could snatch from them if they even slightly show it and so they won't show them to anyone (at the same time almost on the otherside of the world companies selling goods in online must state their company redisteration ID on their store pages because that's how customers can validate that you actually are who you claim to be and you actual are tax paying rightful company).

 

But anyway, going to be in the long list of customer support tickets over taxes that I needed to pay twice once I get my order and everything is finalized.

[Thaldor]

On 3/20/2022 at 10:52 AM, Thaldor said:

-snip-

Actual customs came today and I had a lovely talk with Finnish Customs. IOSS data is bound to a tracking number and it's one thing that often doesn't change even when the package goes around the world twice. At least in my case my package has changed its tracking number: "YZ_******************PAW" was tracking number from Canada to US with Wizmo but then it came to DHL and from US to Germany to Finland it has been "CG*********DE". They couldn't tell me if the "YZ_******************PAW" tracking number has IOSS data bound to it because they do not have a package with that tracking number (as far as global trackings go that one never left "Whittier, CA, US") but they could tell me the "CG*********DE" doesn't have IOSS data bound to it so "pay up".

So as far as my tracking goes LTTstore send "YZ_******************PAW" package to me which Wizmo tracked from "Vancouver, BC" to "Whittier, CA, US", in "Whittier, CA, US" DHL eCommerence took the "YZ_******************PAW" package and added to it the standard tracking number "CG*********DE" and both work from "Whittier, CA, US" to "Local Distribution Center, Germany", in Germany DHL eCommerence probably gave the package to normal DHL with only "CG*********DE" tracking which then works from "IPZ Frankfurt" until the package leaves for Finland from "Hamburg, Germany". Finnish Posti has already got information about "CG*********DE" tracking number when it was created in the US and because IOSS data was not bound to it their system started to ask for customs (which I paid, again, because I save 2€ by ordering digital customs service from Posti than letting the package come to Finland and pay "service fee" to Posti for storing my package) and so Finnish Customs only have "CG*********DE" tracking information from Posti.

 

What I think the problem is that Wizmo tracking number getting changed. While DHL eCommerence tracking can connect "YZ_******************PAW" and "CG*********DE" tracking numbers together, in reality the "YZ_******************PAW" is just "Customer Confirmation #" and the next step that only works with "CG*********DE" tracking number doesn't inherit the "Customer Confirmation #" and so the bit of hope for IOSS data to reach the right official ends.

What I think would fix the problem is that the package used standard format ("CG*********DE") tracking number already when it left the Creator Warehouse. Maybe then it wouldn't change in the middle and so instead of relying that LTTstore, Wizmo and DHL systems all work as supposed and the IOSS data was correctly transferred between the tracking numbers, LTTstore already made the IOSS data for the correct tracking number that reaches the customer (*wink wink* this way as a company LTTstore could also confirm packages really reach their destinations and see if then where package was lost, that can be done already but instead of using 3 different tracking sites all probably would be nicely in one place).

[Gnitset]

Today I got the request from Postnord (the Swedish postal service) to pay an additional SEK 3639 (close to USD 400).

SEK 2460 VAT, SEK 1054 import duty and SEK 125 handling fee. The VAT in Sweden is 25%.

The big problem is that they based this on the "Total value" field on the customs declaration on the package where it said USD 939.79.

But where does this number come from? I summarize the specification on the customs declaration and end up at USD 597.85 (my subtotal for all the products).

Customs and import and VAT should also be calculated on the shipping cost, lets add USD 26.99 for a total of USD 606.84. Still very far away from USD 939.79.

Since I also paid 25% VAT to lttstore at checkout (USD 151.73) it's probably included in the specified total. Especially since that's what I actually paid to lttstore. But we only end up at USD 758.57. Where did the remaining USD 181.20 come from?

It doesn't look like a round nice percentage of anything.

 

I also got the same thing as Thaldor: 3 different tracking numbers, and they followed the same pattern, except that the final country was Sweden.

 

It doesn't make sense for lttstore to compensate what they ask me to pay (almost USD 400 on a USD 597.85 order)

If lttstore only compensates me for the VAT they charged, then the customs value I have to pay based on has been inflated by USD 333 and it will cost me a lot extra for nothing at all.

 

In summary:

If I should pay customs and import taxes my self, it must be on the products and shipping cost: USD 606.84.

Even if I would have to pay it on the "whole order" that already include taxes it would be on: USD 758.57

Where did the total value of USD 939.79 come from?

[Dracarris]

On 1/4/2022 at 1:39 AM, nicklmg said:

Legally, as of mid-last year, we have to charge VAT on any items sold to customers in the EU through our store. Unfortunately this has been an absolute mess of a policy rollout, so either countries within the EU are not properly updating their own policies, or the people managing this process on their side are not following it.

Thanks Nick for clearing this up.

 

One question: I live in Switzerland and AFAIK since 1-2 years there is a similar rule in place. If you exceed a value of 100k CHF (approx 100k$) in yearly duty-free

shipments/orders, you are required to register a Swiss VAT id, collect VAT at checkout and deliver DDP.

 

The threshold for a duty-free shipment is around 60$ of total value (times 8% Swiss VAT must be smaller than 5 CHF), so I suspect you might be exceeding that 100k$ threshold.

 

I know that e.g., Mouser and Digikey are following this rule, and the huge advantage for us is that the local carriers have no grounds for charging their insane handling fees. To avoid that I usually order below the threshold value from lttstore.

 

4 hours ago, Gnitset said:

Today I got the request from Postnord (the Swedish postal service) to pay an additional SEK 3639 (close to USD 400).

SEK 2460 VAT, SEK 1054 import duty and SEK 125 handling fee.

OMFG. Besides the totally wrong total value, imho you also shouldn't be required to pay any duty. There are trade agreements in effect that make basically every product on lttstore duty-free (not tax-free) when imported to the EU.

 

[Spotty]

3 hours ago, Gnitset said:

Today I got the request from Postnord (the Swedish postal service) to pay an additional SEK 3639 (close to USD 400).

SEK 2460 VAT, SEK 1054 import duty and SEK 125 handling fee. The VAT in Sweden is 25%.

The big problem is that they based this on the "Total value" field on the customs declaration on the package where it said USD 939.79.

But where does this number come from? I summarize the specification on the customs declaration and end up at USD 597.85 (my subtotal for all the products).

You should definitely reach out to both LTTstore support and your customs/postal service for clarification on the extra charges. Ask the postal/customs office why the value they calculated doesn't match your order total, you might be able to provide them a copy of the receipt to prove the items value. 

 

The only thing I could think of is if customs will reassess the value of items if they believe the declared value is incorrect, for example if somebody sends an expensive laptop and declares it as "books value $10" to try to dodge customs fees, but I wouldn't know why they would do that for your order or how they would arrive at the figure they did.

That's probably not the case here but just thought I would mention it as a possibility for why the custom fees/declared value might change.

[Gnitset]

7 hours ago, Spotty said:

You should definitely reach out to both LTTstore support and your customs/postal service for clarification on the extra charges. Ask the postal/customs office why the value they calculated doesn't match your order total, you might be able to provide them a copy of the receipt to prove the items value. 

I probably wasn't clear enough. The "Total value" they used is actually printed on the CN 23 form that are attached to the package. I got a picture of the labels on the package.

I spoke to the postal service, they only look at that field and basically gave me a big f-u when I asked them to clarify. I also sent this to the lttstore support, including the picture I got with the label/form.

[Just that Mario]

On 3/30/2022 at 6:46 PM, Dracarris said:

OMFG. Besides the totally wrong total value, imho you also shouldn't be required to pay any duty. There are trade agreements in effect that make basically every product on lttstore duty-free (not tax-free) when imported to the EU.

You should look up the stuff before commenting. Import fees are a thing.

 

On 3/30/2022 at 3:06 PM, Gnitset said:

Especially since that's what I actually paid to lttstore. But we only end up at USD 758.57

Did you actually pay this amount at LTT checkout? Also sorry for asking, but what did you buy for that amount? Are you addicted to LTT store ?

[Dracarris]

22 hours ago, Just that Mario said:

You should look up the stuff before commenting. Import fees are a thing.

You should carefully check what I write and check tariff lists. Clothing from US/Canada imported to EU/UK is duty-free. Not tax-free as I said, and paying taxes may incur import fees from the carrier.

 

I was talking about duty/toll/tariff, which is sth different - based on the type of goods you import and often charged by weight in contrast to import tax which simply is based on the value of whatever you import.

[Just that Mario]

27 minutes ago, Dracarris said:

You should carefully check what I write and check tariff lists. Clothing from US/Canada imported to EU/UK is duty-free. Not tax-free as I said, and paying taxes may incur import fees from the carrier.

 

I was talking about duty/toll/tariff, which is sth different - based on the type of goods you import and often charged by weight in contrast to import tax which simply is based on the value of whatever you import.

every goods imported to EU post worth of something like 130 euros has import tax. That's exactly what the person had to pay. I am not sure if you're just trying to cover yourself by calling something different or you are misinformed yourself.

[Dracarris]

6 hours ago, Just that Mario said:

every goods imported to EU post worth of something like 130 euros has import tax. That's exactly what the person had to pay. I am not sure if you're just trying to cover yourself by calling something different or you are misinformed yourself.

why the heck do you keep talking about import tax. The person claimed import tax and duty to be paid and all I said the latter does not apply.

 

There you go: The person said in addition to VAT, they had to pay import duty. VAT here is actually the incorrect term, they paid import tax which however is almost always the same percentage as the respective VAT in a country. I don't know why you go so aggressively at me and keep claiming I don't know what I'm talking about.

On 3/30/2022 at 2:06 PM, Gnitset said:

Today I got the request from Postnord (the Swedish postal service) to pay an additional SEK 3639 (close to USD 400).

SEK 2460 VAT, SEK 1054 import duty and SEK 125 handling fee. The VAT in Sweden is 25%.

 

[Just that Mario]

18 hours ago, Dracarris said:

why the heck do you keep talking about import tax. The person claimed import tax and duty to be paid and all I said the latter does not apply.

 

There you go: The person said in addition to VAT, they had to pay import duty. VAT here is actually the incorrect term, they paid import tax which however is almost always the same percentage as the respective VAT in a country. I don't know why you go so aggressively at me and keep claiming I don't know what I'm talking about.

 

You are completely misinformed about what is what and what they paid. They literally paid VAT and import tax. You're probably from 'murica or something. Go read up on some documentation before you come arguing over this. Go back to previous comments and you'll see for yourself.

[WkdPaul]

46 minutes ago, Just that Mario said:

You are completely misinformed about what is what and what they paid. They literally paid VAT and import tax. You're probably from 'murica or something. Go read up on some documentation before you come arguing over this. Go back to previous comments and you'll see for yourself.

 

@Dracarris is NOT American, and even if he was, it changes nothing to his statement, he even clearly quote the other members' reply and it's clearly listed he paid "duties" ... duties are NOT the same as VAT.

 

While tariffs and duties are technically taxes, they are of a different nature and are often confused with one another. Misunderstandings and disagreement don't need to be met with such disdain, so may I suggest you drop the attitude?

[IkeaGnome]

55 minutes ago, Just that Mario said:

You are completely misinformed about what is what and what they paid. They literally paid VAT and import tax. You're probably from 'murica or something. Go read up on some documentation before you come arguing over this. Go back to previous comments and you'll see for yourself.

https://www.shippo.co.uk/faqs/what-duties-and-taxes-will-i-have-to-pay/

Here you go.

Quote

If you pay your supplier USD$3000 (let’s call it £2000) for your goods, the UK Duty rating for these particular goods is 3.5% and the shipping quote is £300 then:

UK Duty = 3.5 % of £2000 = £70.00

VAT = 20 % of (UK Duty [£70] + Shipping [£300] + Cost of the goods [£2000]) = £474.00

Therefore the total duties and taxes payable to import these goods would be £544.00 (£70 for UK Duty and £474 for VAT) in addition to the £300 shipping cost.

 

[Kurorin]

It's a shame there are so many issues with this. I'd love to order something from the LTT store but being in Belgium, it would be extremely expensive if the IOSS is not used.

If the IOSS isn't used then there's a flat processing cost of 15 EUR.

For example, if I want to purchase the insulated water bottle. Item + shipping is 42,44 EUR. Import taxes are calculated on item cost + shipping cost (21%). So that's a total of 51.35 + processing costs of 15 EUR = 66.35 EUR or 90.85 CAD for one (1) water bottle. The IOSS at least takes the processing fees away.

But seeing as so many people have issues, ordering something from the LTT store as a European just seems like a big gamble at this moment.

[Just that Mario]

On 4/11/2022 at 10:05 PM, WkdPaul said:

 

@Dracarris is NOT American, and even if he was, it changes nothing to his statement, he even clearly quote the other members' reply and it's clearly listed he paid "duties" ... duties are NOT the same as VAT.

 

While tariffs and duties are technically taxes, they are of a different nature and are often confused with one another. Misunderstandings and disagreement don't need to be met with such disdain, so may I suggest you drop the attitude?

I didn't say it was VAT. Are you incapable of reading? OP said import duties, which is equivalent to import tax. It doesn't matter what you realistically call it, it is still the same thing. Every goods imported into the EU above 150 euros is subject to extra import costs depending on product type. Some goods even have extra tariff taxes. There's even a calculator by Norwegian toll: https://www.toll.no/en/services/import-calculator/

 

I don't get why everyone, who isn't even remotely familiar what needs to be paid to import goods outside of EU, EAA, are so keen on knowing it all.

EDIT: I had forgotten OP was actually from Sweden, not Norway. in which case everything is same as it is for other EU countries. Import duties/tax/cost is on average 17%. How it all is calculated is cost of ((goods + shipping) + import costs) + VAT.

[Just that Mario]

On 4/11/2022 at 10:06 PM, IkeaGnome said:

https://www.shippo.co.uk/faqs/what-duties-and-taxes-will-i-have-to-pay/

Here you go.

 

Since when is UK Norway Sweden? UK is not part of EU either. Is this a joke?

Also the site you quoted is not even the official site for such information and still counts UK as part of EU.

Official link for UK:

https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad/tax-and-duty

Note that it doesn't list exact import duty/tax/cost/whateveryouwanttocallit costs because it depends on the type of goods.
 

For EU:

     https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/buying-goods-online-coming-non-european-union-country_en
 

Everything the guy paid is correct except the VAT at LTT checkout.

 

[NiceER]

Finnish customer here. I recently purchased a waterbottle and shirt from the lttstore and it has yet to arrive but I got a message telling me to declare it for customs but I am unable to do so because it tells me that I need to enter the IOSS id which I dont have. I just a little while ago sent an email to the support@lttstore.com asking if they could provide it to me but no answer yet.

[Thaldor]

19 hours ago, NiceER said:

Finnish customer here. I recently purchased a waterbottle and shirt from the lttstore and it has yet to arrive but I got a message telling me to declare it for customs but I am unable to do so because it tells me that I need to enter the IOSS id which I dont have. I just a little while ago sent an email to the support@lttstore.com asking if they could provide it to me but no answer yet.

If the package is not yet in Finland (as in the OmaPosti tracking send you a message about declaring customs before the goods arrive to Finland) I suggest just to pay Posti the 0.90€ and do the digital customs declaration through them. You will save 2€ and a lot of hassle by not needing to first declare the goods through Tulli and then pay Posti the 2.90€ handling fee (if the package is already in Finland, as in Tulli send you a letter about it, you are going to have to pay the 2.90€ in any case).

 

Just keep the receipts around and send, at least, the receipt for paying customs to Tulli to LTTstore customer service telling them you have paid the customs again and in 1-2 weeks they will reply that they have refunded you the customs. Most likely you won't get answer before the timelimits are close with Tulli and Posti (IIRC 2 weeks) so I would say "better safe than sorry" and pay the customs twice and wait for the refund.