EU VAT directive (Council Directive 2013/1146a/EC of 28 November 20013)
Beginning 1 May 2014 each member of the European Union will begin to charge Value Added Tax at the receiving rate in the member country in which all goods ordered in another member country are delivered. This will apply to all goods ordered from traders who are regular retailers, on line suppliers who have previously had goods delivered from non-member countries, thus exempt from Value Added Tax. This will particularly apply to consumer goods including electrical and electronic appliances, music compact discs (CDs), digital video discs (DVDs), books, magazines, subscription news media (newspapers and other media), gardening tools and machinery, seeds, bulbs and plants, all foodstuff and beverages, motor vehicles including motor cycles, bicycles, sports equipment and clothing, protective clothing, fashion clothing, cosmetics and all medical supplies including homeopathic medication.
In countries of source where Value Added Tax is applied, payment will be exempted to be paid in the receiving country; where no Value Added Tax is deducted in receiving countries it will be collected in countries where goods are ordered. All goods imported into the European Union from non-member countries must be declared to the customs and revenue service on arrival at the country of entry into the European Union where receipt of purchase must be shown. A receipt of acknowledgement of the importation will be issued which will also be copied to the country of destiny. The difference between the Value Added Tax in that country and the country of origin will be demanded although no reimbursement of goods made at a higher rate can be made. Attempts to evade payment of Value Added Tax will be subject to local fiscal regulatory penalties.
In fact the sad truth is that there really are some very complex VAT rules regarding exporting goods and services from one EU country to another. Thank heavens I am retired now. It's becoming more and moreKafka like. Poisson excellent!
Someone must have a crystal ball if they are passing directives in the year 20013. Is this was we have in store, thank goodness, I won't be around then.
James, I tried to find the directive with the reference you posted but cannot. I even browsed all decisions from November 2013. Could you post a link, please?
Steve, I understand that you will pay the UK VAT when you order from UK, delivery to France. Anyway, the rates are the same 20% in this case. So I don't see the advantage of having goods first delivered to a UK address and then shipped to France.
As for getting stuff from USA (non-EU), they have always been subject to VAT here, plus customs duty if applicable for the product category. There is a value threshold under which the customs don't bother.
My response to this, if it is true, would be that quite frankly all that will occur is people will order goods to be delivered in the UK (and in the case of M&S this will be quite a good idea due to costs and lack of choice in the French online shop) through their friends. They will simply tell their friends what they want - send money into their bank accounts and then get their friends to send the goods as a gift. What will happen to people who buy online from countries outside of France (and let's face it, it is by far the best way to go in every way) will no longer be able to do so unless they apply the method stated above. I for one would not allow any government tax to force me to shop in a country where they will not even give you money back in the shop for shoddy goods. The other day a friend of mine bought some shellfish and within 15 minutes of their purchase opened the bag to find they were off - the shop would only offer him a bon du commande which he refused until they gave him his money back - this took 15 minutes. If you buy it here and it does not work - tough.