VAT loophole closed in new year :D

[ChameleonSystems]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15646470

This makes me very happy. Now I can sell on a level playing field with the likes of big rivery type site. As long as they don't find another way to wheadle out of it, the gits.

*sticks middle pinky up at a**zon and laughs. Then pokes tongue out, expels air through tongue and does a little dance*

[ChameleonSystems]

Actually I don't think it will be level, but at least it will be fairer.

I know it will affect some people who will now have to pay VAT on items of £15 or less, but then under UK law they should be anyway.

This affects a lot of UK businesses and will encourage more competition to that site. Giving the buyer more choice. When that site decide to sell an item, no one else gets a look in. So the item is available only while they sell it then it disappears. I have experienced this first hand many times. When deciding whether to sell a certain title I have to bow out because I can't compete with someone else selling on a big scale with no VAT. They have 20% advantage. Leaving some buyers without choice. They dominate sales both on and off their site, some pretty underhanded things appear to be done to maintain that dominance. This is one thing less for them to grind the small to medium business seller with.

They are not the only ones dodging UK VAT laws. So the other big sites will have to compete on an even keel too.

[bykimbo]

I imagine the biggest impact will be the loss of jobs in the Channel Islands, frankly. Which isn't to say it didn't need doing, but these things are never cut and dried.

[TonyBridger]

Quote from the BBC site

LVCR was originally established as a VAT exemption for goods coming from outside the EU. The idea was to prevent EU members having to collect small amounts of VAT, when collecting it would cost more than it was worth.

So this will in fact cost the taxpayer money.

[bykimbo]

Quote from the BBC site



So this will in fact cost the taxpayer money.

Doesn't everything.

[TonyBridger]

Doesn't everything.

Yep.

I think its being done just so the government can say they are being tough with big businesses and tax loops.

[BAGHAG999]

Well Im happy you feel good, I hope all your buyers who read this are also happy that they MIGHT be paying more.

Was the vat thing fair, NO, but business is not fair, thats life. There will always be somebody who finds workarounds to undercut the smaller seller.

But if you think that this now gives you a "level playing field" with the amazons/tescos etc.....

Well Im happy you feel good, I hope all your buyers who read this are also happy that they MIGHT be paying more.


How will their buyers be paying more, maybe those who sellers that use the loophole will

[BAGHAG999]

I would think that just about anybody who buys online has at somepoint bought from companys that used this "loophole" as you call it. I said they MIGHT be paying more, as I doubt the big boys will increase the price's by 20%.

As for "loophole" that suggests to me its something that they should not be doing ie not quite legal. But for now it is legal, and the law is now being changed to stop it.

Note I have not said it "right" or "fair" its just how it is for business

Yes after thinking some more i wont call it a loophole think scam is the right word.

[bykimbo]

Yes after thinking some more i wont call it a loophole think scam is the right word.

I'm not sure how it can be a scam, exactly, if it brings the customer *lower* prices! They have been making clever use of a piece of, probably, sloppily worded statute. This loophole (which is exactly the right word in my view) is now to be tightened up. You can call it a lot of things, but you'd need to stretch the definition of "scam" rather a lot to apply it!

[booksntings]

To be honest, I think the only thing this will do is drive up the price of CDs & DVDs in general, most of the major on-line retailers have been using Jersey to ship from or Hong Kong. Once they can no longer do this without charging the VAT they will have to increase their prices. In turn the likes of the supermarkets and high street stores who have been more or less matching the prices anyway will take the oppotunity to raise their own prices to increase profit.

The sad thing is that this law along with the downloading shambles saw the demise of around 90% of independant music & video retailers. So now we have a pretty poor music industry in this country, with very few artists actually selling large quantities of a release in comparrison to the eighties.

Sorry for the rant, but I used to be one of those retailers. If you want to read a great book on the demise of the UK record industry & the struggle of independant stores there is a great Book called "Last shop standing" by GRaham Jones