taxes?

seph

hello..... i am thinking of buying a 32inch lcd tv on line, probably uk/europe, as it is much cheaper than in-store price here, however a friend has warned me not, to as i could get stung for taxes as well as parcel delivery fees which could bring the total price up to or indeed beyond the store price here.

What have you guys experienced in relation to these charges.....?
How do i calculate these charges before I buy ?

thanks for advice......:)

billyblanks

If you buy from within Europe you will not have to pay any extra tax. Postage will be expensive, 32inch LCD TV's weigh about 25kg. I looked into buying online, as far as I remember postage was about €110.

MOH

I googled this a bit when I was buying mine, and found somewhere on an (Irish) government website, that if you're buying within the EU, you can be charged VAT at either the rate in the buyer's or seller's country, and that they'll usually charge you the cheaper one to make the sale more attractive.

Most websites seemed to just charge the rate in their own country, except (I think) dabs.co.uk (or might have been digiuk) who presented me witrh a final page showing basic price, delivery, VAT - and a total greater than the sum of those 3. Took me ages to work out the difference was between the VAT rate in the UK and here - the VAT rate displayed was at the UK rate, but the total was calculated using the Irish rate.

But once you're buying within the EU, and paying the VAT somewhere, I don't think you're liable for any further taxes. The total, including VAT and delivery, should be displayed when you're making the purchase, so you shouldn't get hit with any extra hidden charges.

The only difference is that is makes comparisons between websites a bit more awkward, as often you won't get the full cost until you go through to the checkout and enter your details.

Goy my 32" Samsung from www.savastore.co.uk, came in 4/5 days, good value.

Alun

The situation is that when an online vendor has below a certain threshold of sales (€100k) to a particular country, then they merely charge VAT at the rate that applies to their country. Once their annual sales go above that threshold, they must register for VAT in the country they're exporting to and charge the rate for that country.

See http://europa.eu.int/comm/taxation_customs/taxation/vat/consumers/mail_order_distance/index_en.htm