The future of silver, VAT and import charges into the UK now a Deal has been done!?

[silversky]

10 minutes ago, BackyardBullion said:

This is the thing that I am most annoyed about - at a time when this country is facing the biggest crisis in history and suffering economically we are cutting ourselves off from the world, not just the EU. 

You are 100% right that international sellers will not bother to register and if they get some angry letters from HMRC about it they will just not bother to sell any more. 

All of this is for one thing - promoting buying British. I don't have a problem with this fundamental principal - but the problem is that for a lot of things in this world (lets face it we are not the manufacturing powerhouse we once were) we have very limited options in the UK. So buying British will often mean buying at a much higher price for goods than elsewhere in the world. 

Not to mention that this world is ever shrinking and the "global village" model is one that should inspire entrepreneurs into opening new businesses in new markets. 

The UK is essentially disincentivising international trade and that is not good in my book. 

I'm a fan of buying British, especially instead of buying from a massive global megacorp.  But the target here is small sales from abroad which is simply going to limit choice rather than reduce sales.  Amazon and large monopoly business won't have any trouble acting as tax collectors and bankers for HMRC.  All this will do is accelerate the trend towards a handful of multinational globalist behemoths.  Without getting too conspiratorial, it's a bit "great reset" sounding to me.  That reset nonsense from the world economic forum seems to be all about owning nothing and renting everything from super massive black holes.  A move such as this would accelerate their dream.

Edited December 30, 2020 by silversky

[BackyardBullion]

Here is the first (probably of many) moany ranty rambles about Brexit trade. 

I also do a number of Boris Johnson Impressions, enjoy!
 

 

[Pete]

Another great video @BackyardBullion - keep it going !!
I am not sure you are entirely correct with your main topic relating to VAT.
In Germany for example, the last time I checked, which was several years ago, VAT on silver coins was increased from 7% to 19% and silver bars were maybe 15-17% before rising to 19%. It was always less expensive per ounce buying minted coins and coin-bars compared to a poured brick which seems the wrong way round.
The fact that we have been able to buy cheaper has little to due with VAT rates ( Estonia excepted ) but that the dealers used a workaround of applying differential VAT.
Our UK dealers could have followed suit and kept their tills ringing whilst retaining business but choose not to.
I used to buy from CoinInvest and STG up until some German sellers applied differential VAT.
Then GS.be appeared on the scene and much later both CoinInvest and STG caught on no doubt seeing business crash and then adopted the differential VAT on some coins.
I haven't researched differential VAT, but it cannot be rocket science looking at the various EU dealers all operating this scheme, some of which are relatively small players.
The only solution is to encourage Atkinsons, Chards etc to adopt the differential VAT scheme but I have no knowledge of what's involved but the fact that all our primary EU suppliers have succeeded .... say no more.

I sympathise with everything you say, as a small business, about rising costs of raw materials but I somehow doubt the government will be interested and if you write to the trade secretary I am certain you will receive a nice letter in return with padded out boilerplate BS but worded politely.

[Stacktastic]

4 hours ago, Realwealthuprising said:

Depending on means you can get (read purchase!) second passports for lots of smaller island nations which are options for people who want a get out of dodge card.

Outside of this, realistically, Europe is or should I say ‘was’ the most feasable option. 

Theres not much I like about the EU over Britain per se in terms of their power structure and crazy currency experiment but on the other hand for the little people like us, to escape government tyranny if we need to, theres advantages to not been ‘locked in’ in a country like Britain. Now Brits have lost freedom of movement it creates a real sense that everyone has been trapped into the socialist dystopia they are ushering in.

I only see massive state control and the white/ native population being thrown onto the sacrificial pyre. We all know this has began and is set to intensify in the coming years. Nobody cares about whitey and they want him or her silenced. Psychologically thats no way to live.

So back to Europe, I like the eastern countries. For me I like Poland for many reasons. (I know Poles would seriously frown on me calling their country Eastern Europe so ill say central-eastern 😂)

Economically they stand out. For a start they are not in the Euro so have control of their currency.

They only have a debt to GDP ratio of around 50% which is tiny to the rest of the EU and western economies.

They are still growing and will benefit even more now Britain has left the EU. Importantly despite this years corona madness and the debt explosion Poland has took a much smaller hit relative to other EU countries. So they have lots of capacity for more growth in the coming decade and increasing the standard of living for its citizens.

Also employment oppertunities are high, they had to bring in millions of Ukrainians these past few years because they didnt have enough Polish workers. Its also a great place for entrepreneurs as its well placed in Europe for access to wealthy countries like Germany.

A big one....SAFETY!

They rejected mass immigration from non EU countries and have had zero terrorism events.

They are a very proud nation who care strongly about retaining their sovereignty. Hence why they are one of the only large EU countries to out and out reject the far left takeover. No 10000 pronouns or hate speech laws or critical race theory, they simply reject it.  

So at present is a very safe country and has far less flashpoints for the marxists to exploit. In my experience they are tolerant people but also predominantly ethnically Polish meaning the cultural uprisings we see in the west have much less tinder to ignite it.

Another benefit is cost of living, its still very cheap to live in Poland and even poorer people usually have their own house and maybe some land. They also have some of the cheapest food prices in Europe. A lot is homegrown too meaning food security and less chance of future shortages.

Of course there are risks too, Poland was wiped off the map for hundreds of years, multiple times...geographically it is vulnerable defence wise. The EU spew out lots of propaganda against Poland too so they are creating a potential future situation in which the rest of the EU turn against them again. Violently? Not on the near horizon but perhaps one day if we did see a new world war.

Water shortages is an issue longer term.

Also demographics. But thats a shared issue. Anyways Ive rambled on too long. Just some thoughts. My other pick would be Estonia but thats for another day 😆

Interesting you say Poland as we own a house there with several acres of land
Just a shame my Grandmother(in law) lives there LOL. 96 YO and built to easily live to 110!! 
Plus my mother in laws very nice converted farm (ie completely insular buildings - its like a castle as the gates are solid steel etc. But its super private. 

This is very subjective & only based on my very limited times in Poland.

I agree with a lot of what you have said, I have been going to Poland for over 15 years now and have seen the changes happening. 
I have always seen it as a great place to invest in property, but this is getting harder now. 
The main benefit of Poland is it has a great agri business, which always does well in bad times, especially inflation. 
the people are already primed for communism & naturally can be very secretive & wont stand for it. 
However they dont ask questions and are very easily manipulated. 
There is a lot of false people from what I see. They will say one thing to your face and rat you out. Not ideal. 
However they can also be very kind and friendly when you know them.
They are also resourceful & know how to live/eat healthily on a budget (until Mcdonalds took hold that is). 

The one problem I have with Poland is its land locked (as you have said), but you can escape easily. 
There is very little ability to make decent money as no one wants you to do well. Jobs are very hard, but I guess you can work online?
They still have a very communist mentality, but this is dying out. Some of the things I have seen is mental behaviour!
The government is very corrupt all the way to the local level - this is getting better though. 

The Catholic church still have a huge stronghold, own a lot of the property & a high level of control (trust me I have witnessed this first hand at bishop level). At the moment the church has made abortion illegal (for example). They have had huge riots because of it during the lockdown so thats a good thing I guess? 

The police are thieves and there is a lot of corruption. They are also very hard ass (like the civil guards in Spain can be).
I prefer the over weight out of shape bodies that cant even call someone white or black to describe what they look like  without it making the papers
Its slap bang next to the Russian countries. Putin was lining up the tanks about 100 miles away when i was there.
On the other side is Germany and I strongly believe the Fourth Reich is alive and well, with thanks to Martin Boorman. 

There are tons of countries that are VISA free and many of them are 190 days which is good. 
If I had the choice today I would choose New Zealand for work, safety (all those mountains!), location, but its flipping miles away! 
https://visaguide.world/tips/countries-uk-citizens-can-visit-visa-free/ 

If you are rich it makes life a lot easier. Bermuda would be good LOL. 
 

2 hours ago, BackyardBullion said:

Here is the first (probably of many) moany ranty rambles about Brexit trade. 

You will be on Neil Macoy wards watcher numbers with stuff like that. Americans are all aware of Brexit too so the traffic should be good! 

Edited December 30, 2020 by Stacktastic

[272]

Don't see VAT going anywhere -  although it no longer has to be at least 15% based on EU regs (excluding reduced rates) 

a) it still accounts for a third of the UK government's revenue.

b) We had a version of VAT before accession to the EU - it was called purchase tax and was levied from 1940 on certain luxury goods (rate then was 33.3%).

I looked on Avalara's website  (VAT consultancy) and picked out some additional points from their blog to those  already made above  that may affect UK buyers and EU sellers. 

• For goods  sold at £135 or below, sellers or their postal service will have to declare and pay to HMRC via a new, quarterly filing, VAT charged at the point-of-sale, instead of point of importation..
• EU e-commerce sellers may now need to register immediately for UK VAT if they have been selling to UK consumers under the £70,000 threshold.
• All goods moving between the UK and EU will require customs declarations, but will not be subject to tariffs. The UK Border Operating Model will allow for the deferment of customs declarations and import tariffs until 1 July 2021.

[AndrewSL76]

Did someone say Poland is landlocked? It has a coastline and a well known port (Gdansk). Did you mean landlocked or something else??

[Pete]

Lots of material being added causing even more confusion.
My own experience of purchasing silver coins from Australia and the USA goes as follows -

The seller ships your package with a customs declaration sticker attached or maybe a commercial invoice inside a clear wallet.
This will state e.g. Qty 25 silver coins, weight 800g, value USD$ 900 ( or maybe AUS$ 1300 ), commodity code 71.18.10.00.10
Also declared is cost of shipping say $55

When the package arrives in the UK the Royal Mail will charge a fixed fee of £8 but others like UPS, DHL, FedEx etc are likely to charge more, double to triple this amount.
If the shipper has only paid shipping to the UK port of entry and not a final destination ( i.e. door to door service costing only a fraction more ) there will be additional hefty charges - broker fee, clearance fee, deferment fee, courier from port  / airport to final destination which can be painful shock. Door to door delivery is critical !!

The Royal Mail / courier will electronically clear customs - no duty to pay but 20% VAT on the TOTAL invoice including the shipping cost.
You will receive a notice that your package is ready to be delivered once you have paid the VAT plus fees.

Having left the EU, goods arriving from the EU will most likely be treated exactly the same way as if the coins had been sent from Australia or the USA.
 

[BackyardBullion]

1 hour ago, Pete said:

Another great video @BackyardBullion - keep it going !!
I am not sure you are entirely correct with your main topic relating to VAT.
In Germany for example, the last time I checked, which was several years ago, VAT on silver coins was increased from 7% to 19% and silver bars were maybe 15-17% before rising to 19%. It was always less expensive per ounce buying minted coins and coin-bars compared to a poured brick which seems the wrong way round.
The fact that we have been able to buy cheaper has little to due with VAT rates ( Estonia excepted ) but that the dealers used a workaround of applying differential VAT.
Our UK dealers could have followed suit and kept their tills ringing whilst retaining business but choose not to.
I used to buy from CoinInvest and STG up until some German sellers applied differential VAT.
Then GS.be appeared on the scene and much later both CoinInvest and STG caught on no doubt seeing business crash and then adopted the differential VAT on some coins.
I haven't researched differential VAT, but it cannot be rocket science looking at the various EU dealers all operating this scheme, some of which are relatively small players.
The only solution is to encourage Atkinsons, Chards etc to adopt the differential VAT scheme but I have no knowledge of what's involved but the fact that all our primary EU suppliers have succeeded .... say no more.

I sympathise with everything you say, as a small business, about rising costs of raw materials but I somehow doubt the government will be interested and if you write to the trade secretary I am certain you will receive a nice letter in return with padded out boilerplate BS but worded politely.

Thanks my friend!

[Silverman2U]

20 minutes ago, Pete said:

Lots of material being added causing even more confusion.
My own experience of purchasing silver coins from Australia and the USA goes as follows -

The seller ships your package with a customs declaration sticker attached or maybe a commercial invoice inside a clear wallet.
This will state e.g. Qty 25 silver coins, weight 800g, value USD$ 900 ( or maybe AUS$ 1300 ), commodity code 71.18.10.00.10
Also declared is cost of shipping say $55

When the package arrives in the UK the Royal Mail will charge a fixed fee of £8 but others like UPS, DHL, FedEx etc are likely to charge more, double to triple this amount.
If the shipper has only paid shipping to the UK port of entry and not a final destination ( i.e. door to door service costing only a fraction more ) there will be additional hefty charges - broker fee, clearance fee, deferment fee, courier from port  / airport to final destination which can be painful shock. Door to door delivery is critical !!

The Royal Mail / courier will electronically clear customs - no duty to pay but 20% VAT on the TOTAL invoice including the shipping cost.
You will receive a notice that your package is ready to be delivered once you have paid the VAT plus fees.

Having left the EU, goods arriving from the EU will most likely be treated exactly the same way as if the coins had been sent from Australia or the USA.
 

...which means we may see a lot more US silver on the forum at similar prices or less, and higher prices on British silver? 

Just now, Silverman2U said:

...which means we may see a lot more US silver on the forum at similar prices or less, and higher prices on British silver? 

Only draw back is no CGT free on the US silver. 

[pablitto83]

Well, I am Polish. But after 10yrs in UK, and being back justba few times since, I can tell you that I would not find myself back there.. s**** wages ( tell someone u need £2k for a family of 5 for normal living, without new car, holidays abroad and any fancy stuff), and you will be calle ld a buffon. Free of tax amount not changed for many years- around £600 a year. Minimum wage - around £320 a MONTH. Yeah, cost of living is lver, but not as much. I'd say electronic, clothing is more expensive. Food a bit cheaper. Vat-23% ( with new rules about that, research about split vat). Mentality- if you are smiling- uou have to be either drunk, on drugs or mental health issue. If you ask in UK - how are you- it's always-fine. In Poland- even you just won on lottery-it's always s****. Mum works in a hospital for years. Her wage is around £400a month.. To get an £1000 a month - net- you need to be a hood manager in good business. People always have to find arounds the lw to make living, and each next government is just rising taxes, make more control etc. Aww, look at bureaucracy. I know as a fact that ppl working in government administration (hmrc, and all other bunch of bandits) not going to work to WORK.  When you try to sort out anything, you are the servant, who disturb the peace of drinking coffee and chit chat with froends, so you are treated as a pest.. Been in that position, I have friends wjo works with them - imagine working in administration and for the whole day do a 1  a4 page copy, and not bother about tons of documents.. Corruption never ended after 89', just got worst- politicians have a monopol on bribery, stealing, and all wrong doing you can imagine.And when it comes public, nothing happens.. It is why I am not planning to go back there..

[Stacktastic]

1 hour ago, AndrewSL76 said:

Did someone say Poland is landlocked? It has a coastline and a well known port (Gdansk). Did you mean landlocked or something else??

Ah yes of course. Not ever gone up that far.
My wife says its lovely up there. 

I did say my knowledge is at the very least sketchy & largely limited to rural areas outside of the major cities. 

25 minutes ago, pablitto83 said:

Well, I am Polish. But after 10yrs in UK, and being back justba few times since, I can tell you that I would not find myself back there.. s**** wages ( tell someone u need £2k for a family of 5 for normal living, without new car, holidays abroad and any fancy stuff), and you will be calle ld a buffon. Free of tax amount not changed for many years- around £600 a year. Minimum wage - around £320 a MONTH. Yeah, cost of living is lver, but not as much. I'd say electronic, clothing is more expensive. Food a bit cheaper. Vat-23% ( with new rules about that, research about split vat). Mentality- if you are smiling- uou have to be either drunk, on drugs or mental health issue. If you ask in UK - how are you- it's always-fine. In Poland- even you just won on lottery-it's always s****. Mum works in a hospital for years. Her wage is around £400a month.. To get an £1000 a month - net- you need to be a hood manager in good business. People always have to find arounds the lw to make living, and each next government is just rising taxes, make more control etc. Aww, look at bureaucracy. I know as a fact that ppl working in government administration (hmrc, and all other bunch of bandits) not going to work to WORK.  When you try to sort out anything, you are the servant, who disturb the peace of drinking coffee and chit chat with froends, so you are treated as a pest.. Been in that position, I have friends wjo works with them - imagine working in administration and for the whole day do a 1  a4 page copy, and not bother about tons of documents.. Corruption never ended after 89', just got worst- politicians have a monopol on bribery, stealing, and all wrong doing you can imagine.And when it comes public, nothing happens.. It is why I am not planning to go back there..

Glad I am not imagining it then.  Could not have said it better. these are my thoughts exactly.
Having said that I would gladly live there as it does have a lot of good points and is in transition phase. 
Just a matter of earning money really. 

A countries people are summed up in the way they drive LOL. Look at India! UK are either scared of making any decisions or drive up your bum & flash lights despite you going the limit. 

With regards to Poland, I know there are a lot of single roads and a lot of lorries, but people dont seem to think of consequences. 
I have seen so many accidents where people over take on blind bends. Even my mother in law drives like it. Crazy.
 

Edited December 30, 2020 by Stacktastic

[Realwealthuprising]

1 hour ago, Stacktastic said:

Interesting you say Poland as we own a house there with several acres of land
Just a shame my Grandmother(in law) lives there LOL. 96 YO and built to easily live to 110!! 
Plus my mother in laws very nice converted farm (ie completely insular buildings - its like a castle as the gates are solid steel etc. But its super private. 

This is very subjective & only based on my very limited times in Poland.

I agree with a lot of what you have said, I have been going to Poland for over 15 years now and have seen the changes happening. 
I have always seen it as a great place to invest in property, but this is getting harder now. 
The main benefit of Poland is it has a great agri business, which always does well in bad times, especially inflation. 
the people are already primed for communism & naturally can be very secretive & wont stand for it. 
However they dont ask questions and are very easily manipulated. 
There is a lot of false people from what I see. They will say one thing to your face and rat you out. Not ideal. 
However they can also be very kind and friendly when you know them.
They are also resourceful & know how to live/eat healthily on a budget (until Mcdonalds took hold that is). 

The one problem I have with Poland is its land locked (as you have said), but you can escape easily. 
There is very little ability to make decent money as no one wants you to do well. Jobs are very hard, but I guess you can work online?
They still have a very communist mentality, but this is dying out. Some of the things I have seen is mental behaviour!
The government is very corrupt all the way to the local level - this is getting better though. 

The Catholic church still have a huge stronghold, own a lot of the property & a high level of control (trust me I have witnessed this first hand at bishop level). At the moment the church has made abortion illegal (for example). They have had huge riots because of it during the lockdown so thats a good thing I guess? 

The police are thieves and there is a lot of corruption. They are also very hard ass (like the civil guards in Spain can be).
I prefer the over weight out of shape bodies that cant even call someone white or black to describe what they look like  without it making the papers
Its slap bang next to the Russian countries. Putin was lining up the tanks about 100 miles away when i was there.
On the other side is Germany and I strongly believe the Fourth Reich is alive and well, with thanks to Martin Boorman. 

There are tons of countries that are VISA free and many of them are 190 days which is good. 
If I had the choice today I would choose New Zealand for work, safety (all those mountains!), location, but its flipping miles away! 
https://visaguide.world/tips/countries-uk-citizens-can-visit-visa-free/ 

If you are rich it makes life a lot easier. Bermuda would be good LOL. 
 

You will be on Neil Macoy wards watcher numbers with stuff like that. Americans are all aware of Brexit too so the traffic should be good! 

I think the ability to move between the UK and Poland is a great failsafe and a farm is my own plan also. I agree with what you said about Polands downsides too, well, my wife tells me some of these things and others I learn from being here (we are here atm). My parents in law have many traits of those who lived through great scarcity/ communism....its similar to how my grandparents who were children in ww2 were only even more pronounced.

My wife has a dual nationality and I am a resident of Poland. For you to have your EU citizenship I think thats a definite safeguard in these worrying decades ahead. Its an option at least and you already have a place to go.

Like you id prefer the wilderness of New Zealand, maybe Finland or Alaska, but alas family is important also. At least an EU passport still gets you access to many countries for safety although the deconstruction of freedom of movement is ahead of us imo, they will want capital controls as this thing unwinds and I think they'll do it the old fashioned way probably under the guise of ‚health’.

 

[Realwealthuprising]

37 minutes ago, pablitto83 said:

Well, I am Polish. But after 10yrs in UK, and being back justba few times since, I can tell you that I would not find myself back there.. s**** wages ( tell someone u need £2k for a family of 5 for normal living, without new car, holidays abroad and any fancy stuff), and you will be calle ld a buffon. Free of tax amount not changed for many years- around £600 a year. Minimum wage - around £320 a MONTH. Yeah, cost of living is lver, but not as much. I'd say electronic, clothing is more expensive. Food a bit cheaper. Vat-23% ( with new rules about that, research about split vat). Mentality- if you are smiling- uou have to be either drunk, on drugs or mental health issue. If you ask in UK - how are you- it's always-fine. In Poland- even you just won on lottery-it's always s****. Mum works in a hospital for years. Her wage is around £400a month.. To get an £1000 a month - net- you need to be a hood manager in good business. People always have to find arounds the lw to make living, and each next government is just rising taxes, make more control etc. Aww, look at bureaucracy. I know as a fact that ppl working in government administration (hmrc, and all other bunch of bandits) not going to work to WORK.  When you try to sort out anything, you are the servant, who disturb the peace of drinking coffee and chit chat with froends, so you are treated as a pest.. Been in that position, I have friends wjo works with them - imagine working in administration and for the whole day do a 1  a4 page copy, and not bother about tons of documents.. Corruption never ended after 89', just got worst- politicians have a monopol on bribery, stealing, and all wrong doing you can imagine.And when it comes public, nothing happens.. It is why I am not planning to go back there..

Its interesting to hear this view because as a Brit I much prefer Poland. I know some Poles in the UK feel the same and then also many who desperately wish to go back but have UK partners or jobs making it difficult.

 

Edited December 30, 2020 by Realwealthuprising

[Cornishfarmer]

Can’t see the vat problem being as draconian as talked about.   At the moment we don’t pay vat on items under £15 odd from rest of world so why would it start from the eu now.... if it does will also be levied on the rest of the world.     Also if anyone goes on holiday they in theory would have to pay vat on everything they buy while on holiday that they bring home.   Just can’t see that happening. 
Plenty of other things to worry about before this

[Stacktastic]

1 hour ago, Realwealthuprising said:

My wife has a dual nationality and I am a resident of Poland.

How did you go about getting that? I was under the impression I would have to speak Polish and be a resident of some sort? 
That would be fabulous as my whole family have Polish Passports. 

[pablitto83]

1 hour ago, Stacktastic said:

With regards to Poland, I know there are a lot of single roads and a lot of lorries, but people dont seem to think of consequences. 
I have seen so many accidents where people over take on blind bends. Even my mother in law drives like it. Crazy.
 

That's the other thing..I Lived in Midlands for a coulpe of years, and narrow roads are really bad there. Check Cornwall.. Single tracks all the way.. I would say in poland roads are wide enough. Quality is another thing.. Companies making them cut the cost (eg layer on motorway should be 1m, and is 0,1m..), not paying subcontractors (one of biggest scams when thousands of subcontractors bankrupted when building a motorways, as Big companies got contracts, subcontracted to other companies, they subcontracted them again and again, with the bottom people who physically made it, not been paid.. And best part - They had to pay taxes from the invoices they issued, and never got money! So the business owners not only been owed money to their staff and suppliers, but to Revenue as well!

Another biggest scam of a decade - Ambergold. Company which supposed invest money in phisical gold, been a pyramid. hundred of thousand of ppl lost everything.. And guess who been in their Board - son of Prime Minister - Donad Tusk, who has been after 2 times a President of UE . That is just not even a peak of the corruption..

In UK noone is really bother about politics, in Poland people discuss that all the time. Most argues are on politic ground.

But it is still a beautiful country, and I can't wait when borders will reopen and I could see my family.

At the moment my business is focused on tourism, so I do really feel the hit, no need to VAT hassle for me, they are killing my small business other way..

[BackyardBullion]

46 minutes ago, Cornishfarmer said:

Can’t see the vat problem being as draconian as talked about.   At the moment we don’t pay vat on items under £15 odd from rest of world so why would it start from the eu now.... if it does will also be levied on the rest of the world.     Also if anyone goes on holiday they in theory would have to pay vat on everything they buy while on holiday that they bring home.   Just can’t see that happening. 
Plenty of other things to worry about before this

This now applies to the whole world.

There is now a £39 limit on "gifts" where (as I understand it at the moment) no tax is due. But this only applies to private individuals sending gifts, not buying a gift from a company for someone. It's going to be impossible for any company to send using this as it will be immediately apparent it is a sale not a gift.

[272]

1 hour ago, Cornishfarmer said:

Can’t see the vat problem being as draconian as talked about.   At the moment we don’t pay vat on items under £15 odd from rest of world so why would it start from the eu now.... if it does will also be levied on the rest of the world.     Also if anyone goes on holiday they in theory would have to pay vat on everything they buy while on holiday that they bring home.   Just can’t see that happening. 
Plenty of other things to worry about before this

 

1 hour ago, Cornishfarmer said:

 

New point of sales rules for VAT for all goods imported worth under £135 from 1st January (EU or Non-EU). This includes abolishing the £15 exemption.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-vat-treatment-of-overseas-goods-sold-to-customers-from-1-january-2021/changes-to-vat-treatment-of-overseas-goods-sold-to-customers-from-1-january-2021

Edited December 30, 2020 by 272

[BackyardBullion]

7 minutes ago, 272 said:

 

New point of sales rules for VAT for all goods imported worth under £135 from 1st January (EU or Non-EU). This includes abolishing the £15 exemption.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-vat-treatment-of-overseas-goods-sold-to-customers-from-1-january-2021/changes-to-vat-treatment-of-overseas-goods-sold-to-customers-from-1-january-2021

Yep, I covered this earlier in the thread, it basically means any seller of any amount has to register with HMRC and pay quarterly returns. No way small companies will do this and it means they just won't bother to sell to the UK market.

[silversky]

24 minutes ago, BackyardBullion said:

Yep, I covered this earlier in the thread, it basically means any seller of any amount has to register with HMRC and pay quarterly returns. No way small companies will do this and it means they just won't bother to sell to the UK market.

The Tories are going to have to fix this stupidity and fast.  It's a bit of a blunder messing with imports from the rest of the world like this unless there's a surprise announcement coming very soon in the next budget.  Perhaps something else is planned to provide a load of relief and simplicity that hasn't been announced yet.  I can understand that there might be certain things they wouldn't want to share with us all yet until we've actually left because the EU has been so very keen to punish the UK for leaving.  Perhaps the full plans are being kept close to the chest for now until the UK is back in clear waters.  I give that about a 30% chance and 70% that they just haven't thought it through properly!

It certainly looks likely that VAT is going to be used as a short term windfall for now with not much thought being given to the long term choke that this restriction is going to cause.  The silly thing is that they could have kept it exactly as it was and still had a big windfall on the VAT.  There's no need to alienate small exporters from across the world with these new requirements.  The next budget really will be key.  There'll certainly be a number of things that are being changed and I guess we'll just have to wait until then to see if this government has any vision left.

[greektony]

Imagine how much better brexit might have been if only we had a bunch of clowns in government instead of these numpties..... 

[GoldStandardPartyUK]

What about this declaring my silver I already have as second hand? Are there any advantages for me to do that? 

Anyone have any suggestions where I can learn more about it? 

[BackyardBullion]

25 minutes ago, GoldStandardPartyUK said:

What about this declaring my silver I already have as second hand? Are there any advantages for me to do that? 

Anyone have any suggestions where I can learn more about it? 

Why would you need to?

The silver you have is yours already and paid for presumably.

When you come to sell it yourself you won't have to charge VAT on it, so it makes no difference.

[AppleZippoandMetronome]

12 hours ago, BackyardBullion said:

This now applies to the whole world.

There is now a £39 limit on "gifts" where (as I understand it at the moment) no tax is due. But this only applies to private individuals sending gifts, not buying a gift from a company for someone. It's going to be impossible for any company to send using this as it will be immediately apparent it is a sale not a gift.

This figure here sounds lower than I remember it being. I'm pretty sure in the past it was around double this though its been a couple years since I checked. Its sad really. I've experienced the joys in the past of receiving genuine gifts from friends or family in Canada accompanied by a nice large tax bill. Lowering this threshold will just lead to more of that.

[sixgun]

It will be interesting to see how prices develop on the selling side of the forum. Most buyers and sellers are UK based. The 'cheaper' silver route will be closed to these members. What will happen to the selling prices? The competition from the likes of goldsilver.be and the European Mint will fade. Will sellers take advantage and add 10 or 15% onto their silver selling prices?

The higher prices seem a blow and certainly a blow if you had decided at the end of the day you were going to sell your stack to a dealer who offers you the spot price for silver. 
If prices on the forum did rise by 10% but silver stackers bought and sold inside the forum it is not such a blow. You pay 10% more but you sell for 10% more. It is only when you pay VAT but then can't recoup that extra cost on selling. For those of us who held the line and kept the faith - filling our boots when silver was unloved and as cheap as chips, well this is an added bonus. 

i was listening to Andrew Maguire this morning. He was going over various silver charts - he said he was convinced silver would get back to the high of 2011 during 2021 and price would quite possibly go higher. What that means in terms of GBP is another matter. Maguire does get quite excited sometimes but here i am also in agreement with him. i see strong prices for silver - but i have always played that tune and sung that song even in the dark days of a few years ago. 

Edited December 31, 2020 by sixgun