And it also says:
You will not have to pay anything to the delivery company to receive goods worth less than £135 unless they’re gifts over £39 or excise goods (for example, alcohol and tobacco).
you are still paying UK VAT for goods bought from overseas sellers even when it's under £135. See the explanation below.
This is the legal position from 1-January:
For most consignments not exceeding £135 in value, instead of VAT being collected at importation or delivery to the customer, VAT will be accounted for at the point of sale.
For VAT purposes the supply will be treated as follows:
- if an OMP is not involved in facilitating the sale, there will be a supply direct from the seller to the consumer, which will be deemed to take place in the UK and so liable to UK VAT
- if an OMP is involved in facilitating the sale, they will be deemed, for VAT purposes, to be making the supply to the UK consumer, which will be deemed to take place in the UK with UK VAT chargeable accordingly
In both instances the value of the goods for VAT purposes will be based on the price at which they are sold to the consumer rather than any valuation calculated at the point of importation.
For goods that are located overseas at the point of sale, the new arrangements will apply irrespective of where the OMP or the business selling the goods is established.
This means that the following types of businesses will have to register for UK VAT (if not already registered) and account for VAT to HMRC:
- any business that operates an OMP that facilitates sales of goods to UK customers
- any business that sells goods directly (without OMP involvement) to UK customers where the goods are (a) outside UK at the point of sale (b) imported to the UK in consignments not exceeding £135 in value
Businesses established outside the UK and selling goods to UK customers where the goods are already in the UK at the point of sale are liable for UK VAT on those sales under existing rules. Such businesses should already be VAT registered.