VAT on Sales to Channel Islands
We have received the following email from a customer in Jersey:
“I have just placed this order and the VAT (for which you are registered) did not come off as it usually does through Amazon and most of their sellers. Please will you refund the VAT as I live in Jersey which is not part of the UK so does not pay UK VAT - we hare our own local taxes.”
I pushed back that Amazon are responsible for the payment system and customer would need to contact them directly. The customer then came back as follows:
“Hello and thank you. However, I’ve been through this on a few occasions and Amazon (and it turns out rightly) say it is your resposibility. Amazon is automatically set up to remove VAT on my orders which indicates the truth in this as well. Please will you refund my VAT. If you think this is wrong then you will need to contact Amazon directly for their IT to sort it out. VAT is coming off all my other order.”
When I’ve looked at the order, the product is priced at £27.16 including VAT. Looking at the Amazon generated VAT invoices for previous mainland UK orders for this product it shows the order as 20% VAT rated and shows the ex VAT and VAT ££ amount on the invoice. For this Jersey order it shows that the customer has still paid the full £27.16 but the generated VAT invoice is showing it as 0% VAT rated and showing the ex VAT and inc. VAT figures both as £27.16
So, the customer has paid the full amount but was expecting the VAT to be knocked off at checkout. However, the invoice is showing that they haven’t paid any VAT to refund.
Any advice please?
6 replies
Seller_esvgLzKXw2YAl
Ok, firstly, is this FBA or FBM?
If FBA, then no question about it, refer to Amazon support.
If FBM, then it’s a bit more tricky. The customer is right, that VAT should be removed from the sale.
However, it’s likely to be an Amazon issue, as they do indeed look after this sort of thing.
So firstly, is the item setup correctly, with the right VAT code on the listing?
Though I think I would be referring the customer to Amazon in any case to be honest.
Seller_DTufFoxJuMU0M
Check their address.
I notice a lot of Jersey/Guernsey customers have United Kingdom in the address section.
I have learnt the hard way to do a search for JE and GY in the postcode column every day now as CN22’s are also not generated.
For istance a recent order:
Name
Address Line 1
Address Line 2
St. Helier
Jersey Channel island
JEX XXX
United Kingdom
As far as all automated systems are concerned the customer is in United Kingdom, but of course they aren’t…
Seller_68Z4Z2pEilwLE
Whenever i sold to C.I . Vat was automatically taken off by Amazon
Seller_NoMNQDGnEW5Bx
There’s a button on the refund page to refund the vat only
