Shop selling loads of products flashed with uk price

grind gremlin

Is it legal for a shop to be selling a huge amount of stock that was most likely bought in the north of Ireland? Despite everything having a very low uk price flashed on it, all items are being sold at the same price as they are in other southern shops. Even cans of alcohol are coming from the uk/ north as they all bear the picture of the pregnant lady with a line through her like all uk alcoholic drinks.
I am just wondering as surely this shop owner is making a killing as they are paying much lower VAT on these goods. Is this legal and if not, who would I make a complaint to. I think it's important we look after our own local economy by purchasing from southern suppliers. Maybe I am wrong and this shop is not braking any laws but surely they must be or everyone woud be at it.

wmpdd3

Not illegal at all, the shop keeper can source goods wherever he/she can get them.

VAT is paid in the country that the product is sold so no saving there.

As long as the euro price is also shown there is no problem. Its not the best customer service, but thats all.

There's a big difference in the amount of shop keepers using southern suppliers since May 2008, when the big supermarkets started sourcing their stock outside the republic.

jor el

The issue of VAT is irrelevant, as business doesn't pay VAT. As long as they make their VAT returns correctly, based on the retail price they charge, then nothing is being done wrongly or illegally.

A business is entitled to buy their stock from where ever they can or want to. If it were illegal, then every car showroom in the country would be under investigation, as I'm pretty sure no one sources cars locally.

How do you know he's making a killing too? Do you know what his costs are? The stock won't magically appear on his shelves, he has to go and buy it first. Every business will source their stock as cheaply, or as easily, as possible. In some cases, this will mean buying locally, in others, it could mean a trip up North.

91011

one of the main wholesalers in dublin specialises in sourcing uk products directly, tesco source most of the uk products from uk, musgraves do it too - in fact nearly every retailer does it for some products.

we are in a free country - there is zero restriction on buying / selling ordinary every day goods by anyone - they can be bought in timbucktoo if the retailer wants.

Agent_99

I take the point for "Goods" to be sold for whatever the market price will hold with no say on where the products were bought originally. But if you resell Alcohol and cigarettes surely import duty would have to be paid to the revenue.

If they source stock from another jurisdiction (would break my heart to say another country) like the north the same rules would apply if they bought it of the manufacturer in France, it would have to be declared to customs and VAT and Duty would apply. Paying the VAT in the source country would have no bearing in the EU as there is no VAT exchanged between companies. The VAT and Duty in the country would only apply to Goods for personal use, Not for resale.

91011

Agent_99 wrote: »

I take the point for "Goods" to be sold for whatever the market price will hold with no say on where the products were bought originally. But if you resell Alcohol and cigarettes surely import duty would have to be paid to the revenue.

.

There are wholesale drink companies in the North that sell down here to the trade. All alcohol is held in a bonded warehouse and duties then aopplied depending on whterher its a NI destination or a ROI destination.

Same goes for drink companies down here who sell into the North (yes, amazing Irish companies sell into NI)

Its of absolutely zero benefit for a trader to pay UK duty + UK vat and then sell it down here - profit would be zero and it would be cheaper to buy in his local tesco where he could reclaim the vat.

ejmaztec

91011 wrote: »

There are wholesale drink companies in the North that sell down here to the trade. All alcohol is held in a bonded warehouse and duties then aopplied depending on whterher its a NI destination or a ROI destination.

Same goes for drink companies down here who sell into the North (yes, amazing Irish companies sell into NI)

Its of absolutely zero benefit for a trader to pay UK duty + UK vat and then sell it down here - profit would be zero and it would be cheaper to buy in his local tesco where he could reclaim the vat.

A vat registered business wouldn't have to pay any vat on any IntraEU transactions, because the vat-registered EU exporter wouldn't charge it.

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/taxation/vat/how_vat_works/index_en.htm

VAT on goods moving between Member States

No frontier controls exist between Member States and therefore VAT on goods traded between EU Member States is not collected at the internal frontier between tax jurisdictions.
Goods supplied between taxable persons (or VAT registered traders) are exempted with a right to deduct the input VAT (zero-rated) on despatch if they are sent to another Member States to a person who can give his VAT number in another Member State. This is known as an "intra-Community supply". The VAT number can be checked using the VAT Information Exchange System (VIES).
The VAT due on the transaction is payable on acquisition of the goods by the taxable customer in the Member State where the goods arrive. This is known as "intra-Community acquisition". The customer accounts for any VAT due in his normal VAT return at the rate in force in the country of destination.

Some non vat registered chancers try and get away with not paying vat on imports, by providing a bogus vat number. The exporter can check the validity of the number by checking it on this link:

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/vieshome.do?selectedLanguage=en

91011

DOOHHH - I think I understand the basic of this!!!

My point is in regard to a poster saying that a shop would circumvent Irish duty - the only way to do this is to buy at a retail store In NI as distributors would be inable to do this due the the exceptional strick rules regarding bonded products.

By going into a store in the north the retailer from the south cannot provide a vat numebr and get vat free sales. Therefore, he would have to pay UK duty & Vat if he was doing it this way. And as this would be above the vat free price (can claim it back) in his local tesco, this option would not make sense.


Overall, the OP is tryng to claim some sort of tax fraud by a retailer when it makes no sense whatsoever. - Even tesco here have the UK produced beers in stock with UK alcohol warnings.

ejmaztec

91011 wrote: »

DOOHHH - I think I understand the basic of this!!!

My point is in regard to a poster saying that a shop would circumvent Irish duty - the only way to do this is to buy at a retail store In NI as distributors would be inable to do this due the the exceptional strick rules regarding bonded products.

By going into a store in the north the retailer from the south cannot provide a vat numebr and get vat free sales. Therefore, he would have to pay UK duty & Vat if he was doing it this way. And as this would be above the vat free price (can claim it back) in his local tesco, this option would not make sense.

Overall, the OP is tryng to claim some sort of tax fraud by a retailer when it makes no sense whatsoever. - Even tesco here have the UK produced beers in stock with UK alcohol warnings.

The retailer may not be able to sort this at a check-out, but he can certainly make arrangements in the accounts department, and walk away with an invoice to cover.

rubadub

grind gremlin wrote: »

Despite everything having a very low uk price flashed on it

For as far back as I can remember (the early 80's) magazines and most books have had low sterling prices on them. I dunno why people seem to forget/ignore this, I presume most have seen it -do they really thing all these newsagents and the likes of easons have been breaking the law all these years without the gardai copping on?

foggy_lad

As long as the stock is clearly priced in euros including the vat they are doing nothing wrong.