Thinking of returning to the EU

#1

Hi all

I pulled out of the panEU offering following Brexit. To be honest, it didn´t work out all that well for me. I have a relatively small firm and limited product lines - the accounting costs were outrageous.

However, now I am thinking of selling in the EU - but just Germany, not the pan-EU.

I have a question - I remember, that FBA fees without the opt for PanEU were expensive (I think this was called “EFN?”). I am not looking for selling across the EU. Does it mean, that I will not have to use EFN? Would FBA costs of selling in the Germany only be reasonable/comparable to my UK FBA costs on a % basis?

Any advice will be appreciated.

#2

These are two separate things.
EFN, is for selling from the UK into Europe, without storing your stock in Europe.
It can be used in other countries as well, but it is very expensive, when compared to FBA.

If your just planning on selling in Germany, then you won’t be using PanEU. You will effectively be using FBA for Germany only, unless you opt in to EFN from there as well.
Fees are comparable to standard FBA in the UK.

Accountancy fees are also not exorbitant, if you use the Amazon offer.

I would however suggest that you look at France as well, then use PANEU for the two countries.
That way, you can ship to the nearer country, where it is easier to get your goods landed.

#3

Hi

thanks for your reply.

PanEU for just two countries? I thought you had to do PanEU for the lot or otherwise use the EFN.

Ill be shipping straight from Asia however France was my second biggest market before i quit the EU. Does the tax authority in France still fine if you dont pay from one of those special types of accounts? Forget the name of it, but i couldnt get one in the UK and was fined each month. It was preposterous.

#4

sorry and whats it like getting your import VAT back through Amazon’s vat services? easy?

#5

Not sure what you mean by those special type of accounts?
But you might want to look at using Amazon services for it.
I don’t import from Asia, so don’t really know to be honest.

And yes, for PanEU, you can have 2 or more to use it.

#6

In theory unless you sell items over 150 euros there will be nothing to pay as Amazon will be collecting the VAT. As for the French - I sent them an email stating why we couldnt use the SEPPA account and they were fine with it.

#7

Thats the one! SEPA account. I quit the EU in 2020 - back then it was mandatory but perhaps they have eased up given the risks businesses face at the present time with inflation, rising rates etc.

I didnt realise Amazon collect the VAT - thats fab. Ill have to read up on that.

#8

You need to look up marketplace facilitator tax.
Basically, you still need to register for VAT and submit returns, but Amazon collects the vat and pays it.

#9

You want to sell pan-eu or purely Germany? These are not the same thing and a lot of this depends on where and how you are registered for VAT. In order to sell and store stock from Germany you need to be registered at the very minimum in Germany for VAT.

As for costs being reasonable then the answer depends on quantity, margins etc but it is not cheap. Certainly a lot more expensive than the UK but the gap is narrowing as new UK charges are being brought in to narrow the gap.

#10

It is mandatory but you have to explain to them why you cant use it. ( I think UK banks only give it to businesses that turn over a million ) If you don’t tell them they fine you.

#11

How about reclaiming stock duty for UK imports that are later exported to the EU?

#12

Dont forget that you are required to subscribe for lucid in germany and to all Other european countries If you are bringing waste Like packaging into the them. Also, If you are selling from Germany more than 10000 Euros to Other EU countries you need to Register for OSS and the taxes will be paid instead of in Germany to the Other countries via OSS. Additional laws for WEEE does also apply.

#13

You can only do this if you bring the goods into the UK on an IPR basis. You then have a set time to export the goods to the EU, at which point you can reclaim the import duty paid.

We used to do this when trans shipping in bulk to the US from here.

#14

What is IPR and do you know where the rules are please?

Seems crazy to have double pay the duty

#15

IPR is an acronym for Inward Processing Relief. You can read more on it here.

If you’re shipping larger volumes then it really is worth doing, but it is a bit of a faff and HMRC are not the most efficient when it comes to duty repayment.

#16

surely its easier for me to send straight from China. Cant i just claim import VAT via Amazons VAT service?