Looking at buying myself a watch, either a Stowa or a Laco, both bought direct from Germany.
Let’s say I place the order today, I will make a payment including German VAT.
Then there is the time to process the order, do any watch assembly and testing, package and send to me.
With Christmas looming I could easily imagine it arriving after 1st Jan and normally that wouldn’t be a problem.
But the UK won’t be in the EU then and unlikely there is any trade agreement.
So under what conditions will my watch be imported - import tax and duty. If it were coming from the US then it would be 20% VAT, possibly no duty and whatever admin charge the courier adds. But in this case I will have made the purchase while we are in the EU and paid German VAT.
Wonder if anyone has looked in this and found any answers.
Yes, I know, I shouldn’t have left it to the last minute.
Cheers,
Nigel
I have a Nomos (based in Germany) watch on order via the UK AD Jura Watches (CW Sellors); I ordered it in November, but because Nomos need to manufacture a new batch it won't be delivered until probably the end of January. The AD has confirmed that they will honour the original price, despite what is happening or not regarding a trade deal with the EU. So I suggest you consider ordering through an AD in the UK.
from the govt website:
If your goods are dispatched on or before 31 December 2020 but received from 1 January 2021
You do not need to complete a customs declaration or pay customs duty in Great Britain if:
- the goods are travelling under a recognised excise scheme at that time
- you can show that the movement started on or before 31 December 2020
The import requirements and any sanctions that may apply to these goods will be based on UK excise legislation and duty points that apply at the time the movement from the EU started.
HMRC or Border Force may ask for evidence of the date and time your goods were dispatched. You can show this by providing:
- for excise duty suspended goods - the eAD or a commercial document containing the ARC
- for excise duty paid goods, either:
- the request to import excise goods bought duty paid in an EU member state (HM4)
- the Simplified Accompanying Administrative Document (SAAD) form
If you cannot prove the date and time your goods were dispatched, the movement will be treated in the same way as one that started from 1 January 2021 and customs import procedures will apply.
Guidance about closing movements that started on or before 31 December but received from 1 January 2021 will be published at a later date.
Published 9 October 2019
ktmog6uk
marchingontogether!
User error! (Mine, not yours!)Originally Posted by Tatters
Last edited by lughugger; 5th December 2020 at 17:11.
I see DHL have said they pay to charge a minimum of £5 per shipment extra (on top of normal shipping costs) as effectively a Brexit charge so I would expect others to do the same.
UPS have put out similar notifications.
Last edited by Alansmithee; 5th December 2020 at 18:17.
Thanks, this is what worries me. It will be a mess because their statement does cover everything.
Let’s say I buy tomorrow. I will pay which includes German VAT at 16%. Then if it is despatched on 3rd January then the UK will want to charge me 20% VAT. So then I will have paid VAT twice and will need a refund from Stowa/Germany.
Cheers,
Nigel
I’m sure Nomos will honour the price, and with Stowa I would have already paid, but what I was asking is what the UK will do.
In your case, you will need to make sure that Nomos don’t charge you VAT otherwise you will pay UK and German VAT.
Also not that you will take off 16% (German VAT) and add 20% (UK VAT) so you will end up paying more but nothing to do with Nomos.
Cheers,
Nigel
Last edited by nheather; 5th December 2020 at 18:27.
Not sure how they are justifying adding an extra £5.00 or £4.50.I see DHL have said they pay to charge a minimum of £5 per shipment extra (on top of normal shipping costs) as effectively a Brexit charge so I would expect others to do the same.
UPS have put out similar notifications.
They don’t do that if I order from the US or Canada, what’s the difference. Sounds like they are trying to profiteer from the change.
Cheers,
Nigel
Have UPS just decided that Northern Ireland is not part of the UK - interesting.I see DHL have said they pay to charge a minimum of £5 per shipment extra (on top of normal shipping costs) as effectively a Brexit charge so I would expect others to do the same.
UPS have put out similar notifications.
Cheers,
Nigel
I believe they charge a lot more that £5 from US / Canada - more like £15 "admin fee".
Seems they have made their minds up before any trade agreement has been agreed. Anyway - getting very close to BP territory - so I won't comment further.
My point is that my deal is with the UK AD, and not Nomos, so questions about VAT etc are my AD's problem and not mine.
Has our wonderful government employed 1000s of new customs officials or will everything simply be stuck at Heathrow for months and months?
Nobody knows but the chances of things ending up accidentally better than expected are slim.
Why not wait until after January 1st to order your watch.
Then you won’t have to pay the German 16% as they are exporting the goods and you pay the 20% when it lands in good old Blighty.
No hassle trying trying to get your money back from Nomos/German government.
Failing that a used one from the U.K. maybe.
Cheers,
Ben
..... for I have become the Jedi of flippers
" an extravagance is anything you buy that is of no earthly use to your wife "
The way I read it the £5 is in addition to any admin/brokerage fees.
This sounds like an additional Brexit tax.
Cheers,
Nigel
I’ll see what Stowa say on Monday.
A used one is a possibility I saw a good priced one on eBay this afternoon, but I’d prefer the specification that I want which is
40mm Type A, no logo, no date, hand-wound, military model number engraved.
Chances of finding that second hand are slim.
Cheers,
Nigel
I sent you a PM earlier but not sure if you've seen it.
I’ll jump on this thread if I may. Same issue but slightly different problem. I received a watch from Chronext in Germany this week. It’s a lovely piece, a Chopard LUC Time Traveler One, looks perfect on the wrist but is completely useless as a watch because, despite their claims that every watch is inspected by a master watchmaker, it is completely dead on arrival as the rotor is somehow jammed.
I’ve spoken to them and they’re happy to take it back to repair or replace but they don’t seem to be in any hurry to arrange a collection and I can’t drop it into their London office as I’m not supposed to travel out of my tier 3 area. Assuming that it doesn’t get sorted before 1/1 and I get hit with a VAT charge through UPS how easy is it to get that refunded seeing as the original despatch was in November? Guessing it involves a few forms and a long wait and the better option would be to get Chronext to deliver to the London office who can then forward to me.
The UK has left the EU on 31 January 2020 already, what you are describing is the transition period coming to an end.
[/pedantic]
Last edited by Raffe; 5th December 2020 at 23:32.
Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too.
For the purposes of leaving the EU it's not for a whole range of reasons that are more suited for long discussion in the Bearpit (and people born in NI have a whole range of rights not available to anyone else and some key laws like the British Nationality act don't apply to them and their spouses).
It was the fact that they are suggesting that sending a parcel from Wales to Northern Ireland will be an export.
Cheers,
Nigel
It likely will be for the purposes of taxes and customs.
Perhaps I’m missing something. Why would there be taxes and customs involved in sending a parcel from one part of the UK to another part of the UK.
Cheers,
Nigel
It's to do with the Northern Ireland protocol following our exit from thr EU.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/moving-g...FUEjGwodV34Aag
I'm going to grossly simplify a very complex issue - because it's impossible on a practical and political level to have a border between Ireland and Northern Ireland due to international treaty (Good Friday Agreement) - thus the border will likely be in the Irish sea.
Now if the goods stay in Northern Ireland they will get the taxes refunded but the couriers are charging because they will need to check if the goods are staying in Northern Ireland which they never had to do before.
Well that's not good news.
A week ago, I spoke to Stowa about a potential order. I telephoned them telling them exactly what I wanted and say said "no problem, it would be delivered before Christmas".
Very pleased with the news I placed an order.
I was going to ring them again tomorrow anyway because a week has passed and the order status is still 'order received'. Normally I would not have been that bothered but given they said that it would be delivered before Christmas I was a little surprised that a week has passed and according to the status it is still sat in a queue waiting to be processed.
But today things became much worse. Germany have announced a hard lockdown from Wednesday 16th December lasting until 10th January, so I presume that Stowa will be forced to shut down.
And again, if it weren't for Brexit I would have been happy to let the order just sit until it is ready.
But from what I have seen, if it is shipped after 31st Dec then it will incur import duty (at whatever WTO rates are), VAT (at 20%) and whatever handling fee FedEx wants to add. And if that weren't bad enough, because I have already paid in full, I will have to contact the German government to try and reclaim my German VAT which I imagine will be interesting because they will say that when it was charged it was correct to collect it.
Fear I might have to cancel my order.
Cheers,
Nigel
I think I would cancel until it’s known what the final outcome will be. There’s also the possibility that there will be no way the customs and courier companies can deal with at least a doubling in the amount of imports and pass everything through for a few weeks tariff free.
it's the [checks notes] bonfire of red tape we were promised.
You need to talk to Stowa - businesses are being recommended to shut down but they are not being forced to. They may opt to remain open.
8. employers are urgently requested to examine whether the workplaces, either through company vacations or generous home-office solutions, can be closed from December 16, 2020, to January 10, 2021, in order to to implement the principle "We stay at home" nationwide.
In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.
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