Occasionally-Asked Questions
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• What is actually the problem? Everyone else seems to manage to ship
to the EU, why not BCRA?
BCRA ships most of its orders over-the-counter at a Post Office or via Royal Mail's
Click-and-Drop. International agreements prevent these facilities from collecting your VAT, so we
have no means of paying it for you. If we could pay it then your goods would not be held up
in Customs. Other organisations manage because they are a lot larger than BCRA, and can afford to
pay to join an EU trading scheme called IOSS. This includes Ebay and Amazon, of course, so one
option for us would be to sell via those organisations. Some parcels couriers are also members of
the IOSS scheme. But for any small order that goes over-the-counter or via a click-and-drop
shipment, we are unable to operate as we would wish.
• But why can you not charge me VAT when I pay you?
It is not as simple as that! Firstly BCRA is a small organisation and is not registered
for VAT collection – our transactions are 'outside the scope of VAT'. Secondly, even if we
were registered we would still need to join an EU trading scheme in order to pass the VAT
back to your government. We are happy to pay your VAT and absorb the cost ourselves –
the problem is sending the VAT to your government.
• Why do you not just declare the items as a 'gift' on the Customs
Declaration?
Because they are not a gift. We would be breaking the law. And, in any case, gifts
imported into the EU are still subject to VAT, so that would not help.
• Why do you not just declare the items as 'documents' on the Customs
Declaration?
Because a published journal is not a 'document' within the meaning of the customs
regulations. We would be breaking the law.
• Why do I have to buy CREG journals one-by-one. Why cant I buy an
annual subscription from Ebay?
Ebay does not support 'subscriptions'. The salient point is that we need to have a
postage label that includes a bar code that links to the transaction in Ebay's tracking system, so
that your Customs authority knows that the VAT has been paid. This only works for one postage
label per Ebay sale – it would not work for subscriptions.
• Why do your items sometimes get through customs without a
hitch?
- The sampling process might be a bit random.
- The shipment of items between private individuals that are not involved in business is
not always subject to tax. The rules are complicated, and sometimes a commercial package might be
mistaken for a private one. But how ever much you try to twist or re-interpret the rules –
if you buy an item from BCRA, that is not a private transaction; it is a sale of
goods and your government says that you must pay VAT on the purchase. If you ask us to
deliberately mis-label the package you are asking us to break the law.
• I never have this problem with Amazon or Ebay, or many other
world-wide suppliers. Why not?
Because large companies like Amazon or Ebay are members of an EU trading scheme, known as
IOSS. They collect your VAT at source and pay it to your Tax Authority. BCRA is far too small an
organisation to be able to afford to join such a scheme. We try to make use of an IOSS-registered
parcel courier when we can, and we are investigating the use of Ebay, but items that are sent via
Royal Mail letter post remain a problem for all small organisations and individuals.
• Your shipment arrived without a problem, so who paid the
VAT?
- If it was a book sent via a parcels courier, BCRA has paid the VAT to the parcels
courier, from our own funds. The courier will pass the VAT to your Tax Authority
- If it was a bulk-mailing of an issue of Cave & Karst Science, the VAT was paid by
our printer/mailing agent, who will charge BCRA.
- If it was a CREG journal or a small book, posted over-the-counter, no VAT has
been paid – your shipment was probably considered by Customs to be a private
transaction.
- If the item was ordered via Ebay or Amazon, they will have collected your VAT from you
when you paid for the order. The prices that were displayed to you will have had VAT added at your
local rate. Ebay/Amazon will pass the VAT to your Tax Authority.
• Is this a Brexit problem?
The problem arises because the EU (and the UK too, as it happens) have abolished a scheme
called Low Value Consignment Relief (LVCR). Many countries around the world have such a scheme. If
the UK was still in the European Customs Union there would not be a problem, and the UK could have
left the EU but remained within the Customs Union so, to that extent, it is a Brexit
problem.
• What about countries outside the EU?
Although many countries have an equivalent to the Low Value Consignment Relief
scheme, some are considering abolishing it. The action is driven by the perceived need to create a
level playing field with regard to online trading. If you try a web search, do bear in mind that
the situation is changing rapidly and even some official-looking web pages can be out-of-date.
(E.g. it is still possible to read plenty about the EU's LVCR scheme – as if it were still
in force – even though it was abolished in 2021.
On 1 July 2021, the European Union abolished the Low Value Consignment Relief (LVCR)
scheme and this continues to cause us a problem. LVCR was a scheme whereby items valued at under
EUR 22 were not subject to VAT or duty – many countries have a similar scheme in place.
Abolishing LVCR has meant that all goods now imported into the EU must be declared at the
border using an electronic customs declaration and are subject to a VAT payment. Goods that do not
have the VAT pre-paid by the sender may be impounded until the customer makes payment, and this
could include a handling charge of up to EUR 25, depending on the country.
Large organisations can register with the EU and obtain a tracking number (known as an
IOSS number) to allow them to pay the VAT at source, but this process is too expensive for a small
organisation such as BCRA. There are several things we can do...
- Use a parcels courier that is a member of the IOSS scheme– we can do this for
parcels weighing over 1kg
- Use a bulk mailing agency that is a member of the IOSS scheme– we can do this
for the bulk mailing of Cave & Karst Science
- Sell goods via Ebay or Amazon – which will collect your VAT and transfer it to
your Tax Authority.
Unfortunately, we cannot post letters and pay the VAT at source, because Universal
Postal Union regulations prevent letter-posting authorities from collecting the tax – in
other words, Royal Mail is not allowed to join the IOSS or similar schemes – these go by
names such as Delivery Duties Paid, EU Shipping Taxes Paid, or Tax Paid at
Source. This means that we still have a problem if we want to mail items such as
- Individual copies of C&KS that miss the bulk mailing run
- All copies of the CREG journal – because the numbers are too low to use a bulk
mailing agency
- All copies of our publications that weigh less than 1kg – because those are sent
by letter post
We are still investigating ways around this problem but it seems that the only practical
solution is to sell selected items via an Ebay shop. Ebay, Amazon and other large online sellers
are, of course, members of the IOSS scheme. It works like this ...
- A customer places their order with Ebay
- If the customer lives outside the UK, Ebay will add VAT at the buyer's local rate. (In
the UK, books and magazines are zero-rated for VAT)
- Ebay will transfer the VAT to the buyer's Tax Authority
- Ebay will transfer the remaining payment to the seller's account after deducting the
selling fees
- Ebay will generate a customs code to be added to the postage label to indicate that
the tax has been paid
At the moment, we are experimenting with the CREG journal and a selection of our books.
Go to your local Ebay website and search for creg
journal, bcra review or gower peninsula bcra. Other items may become available
later.
