On April 14, 2016, not only were restrictions introduced for Belarusians, but a limit on parcels from foreign online stores also came into force. The standard for duty-free orders by mail to Belarus from abroad has become: price up to 22 euros, weight up to 10 kg.
Taking into account the new rules for parcels, website I decided to take a closer look at intermediary companies for the possibility of duty-free purchase of goods from Polish online stores and auctions. Such companies not only allow you to buy goods online with delivery to your Polish address, but also, subject to certain conditions ( more about this below), even when the Polish seller of goods does not work under the VAT return system for tourists, the intermediary company will be able to issue you a Tax Free check.
So that the novice Internet buyer does not get scared and understands that there is no crime in this kind of business: an intermediary company in Poland, at your request, buys the goods for itself, and then sells it to you on its own behalf, while drawing up the “Tax Free for tourists” document.
Product price for the buyer when working through an intermediary, it will consist of the cost of the goods, the price of delivery to the office of the intermediary company and the actual remuneration to the company.
But, undoubtedly, what will be pleasant about your spending, in case of purchase on Tax Free, will be the return of VAT to you in the amount of almost 1/5 of the amount of the money spent. Moreover, the VAT amount will be calculated not only from the cost of the goods, but from the entire amount that you pay to the intermediary company, including delivery and remuneration. Moreover, intermediary companies allow you to order from different online stores and, if necessary, combine purchases into one receipt. But such a need may arise after all...
If you want to get your VAT back on the purchased item, necessary:
- the cost of the order with delivery and reward must be more than 200 zlotys; (UPD! since June 2016, VAT refunds in Poland are charged for purchases of at least 300 zlotys)
- the seller from whom you want to make a purchase must issue a full invoice for the goods (faktura VAT 23%), but in no case VAT 0% or VAT marza. 99% of Polish sellers of new goods work on a 23% invoice basis.
Purchase path through an intermediary not complicated:
- you find a product in a Polish online store or auction like Allegro
- Make sure that the seller sets VAT 23% ( if you intend to apply for Tax Free)
- Register on the website of the intermediary company.
- When ordering on the company’s website, leave a link to the desired product from the Polish Internet
- Make payment (payment by card, transfer to a Polish account, cash, depending on what the company accepts).
- After the goods arrive at the company’s warehouse, you receive a notification by e-mail - you come, pick it up, if necessary, you will be issued Tax Free, which, of course, must be noted when exporting goods from Poland at the local customs office
- After returning to the office of the company with Tax Free marked at the border, you receive money for VAT.
A number of cross-border companies in Poland offer a number of cross-border companies in Poland to buy goods online with the possibility of a VAT return; a list of companies found on the Internet:
| Website address | Company address | Firm commission size |
| rovita-market.com | Terespol, Biala Podlaska | 6% (at least PLN 15) |
| allegrovat.pl | Terespol | 5% (at least PLN 15) |
| dostavka.pl | Terespol | 5-7% (at least PLN 10) |
| zakazat.pl | Terespol | 5%(at least PLN 15) |
| targowy.pl | Terespol, Forge | 5-7% (at least PLN 20) |
| privoz.pl | Forge | 5-7% (at least PLN 20) |
| kupitzvpolshe.pl | Bialystok | 7-8% (at least PLN 21) |
| taxfree23.pl | Bialystok | 6% (at least PLN 15) |
| trademax.com.pl | Bialystok | 8-15% (at least PLN 20) |
... but, like all near-Belarusian businesses, compared to the Polish ones that took off during the post-Soviet era, it is in the embryonic stage - the company is located in a garage at the end of the building.
Deductible is the amount of money by which the total tax intended for payment to the tax authorities is reduced. Typically, this amount is the VAT indicated by suppliers on invoices for goods purchased by the company. The fact of payment for goods with suppliers does not affect the deduction of VAT.
Let's look at an example of calculating VAT for deduction. The company purchased goods from the supplier for a total amount of 1,180 rubles - the cost of the goods was 1,000 rubles + VAT 180 rubles. A week later, the company sold the goods for 1,534 rubles (including the cost of the goods - 1,300 rubles and VAT - 234 rubles).
The amount of VAT that the company is obliged to pay to the budget is 234 rubles, but the company can deduct the VAT indicated by the supplier in the invoice (180 rubles). Thus, the company will pay 54 rubles (234 - 180) to the budget.
Investocks explains "VAT deductible"
The list of VAT amounts that, by law, a legal entity can deduct is described in the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, Article 171. They include:
1. VAT amounts that suppliers presented to the company for goods (work, services) purchased from it;
2. The amount of VAT that the company paid at customs upon import;
3.VAT amounts paid to the budget by tax agents;
4.VAT amounts paid on business travel and entertainment expenses;
5. VAT amounts on property received as a contribution to the authorized capital, restored by the shareholder (participant) who contributed this property;
6. Amounts of VAT that the selling company paid to the budget on goods (work, services) sold, if the buyer subsequently returned these goods or refused the work performed (services provided);
7. VAT amounts paid to the budget from advances received after the goods were shipped (work performed, services provided) or if the contract was terminated and the advance payment was returned;
8. VAT amounts on the transferred advance payment, subject to the availability of relevant documents.
Nevertheless, there are a number of conditions for deducting VAT; they are formulated in Article 172 of the Tax Code.
Conditions for accepting VAT deduction include:
1. Purchased goods (works, services) must be acquired for production activities or other operations subject to VAT, or for resale.
2. Purchased goods must be “accepted for accounting,” that is, capitalized on the company’s balance sheet.
3. The company has documents confirming the right to deduct. In most cases, this is an invoice received from the supplier. In addition, VAT must be highlighted as a separate line in other settlement and primary documents (invoices, acts of work performed and services rendered, payment orders, etc.).
When applying Russian Accounting Standards (RAS), VAT is deductible in the following accounts: Credit 19, Debit 68, subaccount “VAT Calculations”.
Hello.Do you have experience with VAT refunds from European stores? In particular, they are interested in the British Amazon and eBay (purchasing discs with films and games).
eBay technical support advises contacting each seller. What documents should they need to get a VAT refund?
The Amazon.co.uk support couldn’t say anything more intelligible than “register with the tax office, send us your VAT number.” As I understand it, they also need to send some documents after the fact. Can you tell me which ones exactly? And will it be enough for “Fullfilled by Amazon” products to send these scans only to Amazon’s email, and not to each of the sellers?
Thank you!
Hello,
I have not had the opportunity to deal with VAT refunds from European online stores. But when I bought it from, I had to use it many times. As for the eBay auction, private sellers on it sell goods without VAT.
I can’t tell you how to return VAT when making purchases in European stores that deliver only to EU countries and the UK. I just found that the British postal intermediary Alfa Parcel offers a VAT refund service called “Happy VAT”. This service from Alpha Parcel is not free at all.
Depending on the number of goods and their cost, you need to calculate whether this service will be profitable or not.
How does the VAT refund service work at Alfa Parcel?
- You place an order from a UK store, which charges VAT (VAT). Please note that adult clothing and footwear prices include VAT, while children's clothing and footwear prices do not include VAT. When ordering in your Alfa Parcel personal account, you must select the "Happy VAT" service. To calculate the VAT amount in an order, you can use a calculator.
- Alfa Parcel will purchase your order, receive it at the warehouse, and check the article number, size and color of the goods for free.
- After receiving your order at the Alfa Parcel warehouse, you can immediately order its shipment. In this case, the company will issue an invoice for delivery to Russia.
- If your order contains a fairly large VAT (VAT), then you do not need to pay the delivery invoice; Alfa Parcel will send the parcel immediately using your VAT funds. If there is little VAT in the order and it is not enough to pay for delivery, then you will need to pay for delivery.
- Due to the peculiarities of the British tax office, VAT refunds take from 32 to 60 days. As soon as Alfa Parcel receives your VAT refund from the tax office, the entire amount of VAT that remains after paying for the delivery and services of this intermediary will be transferred to you. You can receive this money by transfer through Unistream, PayPal, Webmoney or Moneybookers.
Friends, do you know how you can independently return VAT from online purchases in the UK and the EU?
I received a letter in the mail with the following content.
Hello! My name is Nastya and I ask you to help me sort out my first order in a foreign, namely German - filati.cc online store. I really hope for your help, unfortunately, after searching for the information I needed on your website, I did not find an answer. The fact is that in this online store I learned that they can perfectly deliver goods to any city in Russia, but from the message they sent me, the issue with the price, which is indicated including VAT, remained unclear to me. Here is their answer: wir liefern Weltweit. In Russland haben wir bereits viele Kunden. Die Versandkosten sind? 12.90. (ab ? 399,- ohne Versandkosten) Die Rechnung erfolgt ohne 20% Mehrwertsteuer. My question is: did I understand correctly that they will deduct 20% VAT from the price they list in the online store? Will I pay 18% VAT when receiving my parcel in Russia? Thank you in advance!
Indeed, the topic of VAT was not discussed on the pages of the site. I think that it will be useful to many who are just starting to master shopping abroad. Indeed, in Europe and England (and not only) when selling goods, the price includes sales tax, the so-called VAT. Usually, in European stores it is called VAT. Therefore, if you go to some online store in Europe or England, then most often the price of the product there is indicated including tax (VAT include). It rarely happens that the price is indicated excluding tax, that is, VAT exclude.
If you want to buy something in such an online store and your delivery address is located outside of Europe, then most likely the store will deduct this tax from the price of the product. VAT refunds in stores can occur in different ways. A fairly common method is when you go to a store, add an item to your cart, and after you indicate your country and delivery address (for example, in Russia), the store automatically deducts VAT from the price of the item and you already pay for the order with VAT excluded. Another way to return VAT (if the store does not do it automatically) is to write a letter to support and ask to deduct (return) VAT.
If the store doesn’t mind and is ready to return the tax (VAT), then they can either manually adjust the amount of your order, or you will pay for the product in full with tax, and when it arrives in Russia and you receive it, then write a letter to the store asking for a return VAT and within a few days the money will be returned to your bank card.
Unfortunately, not all European and English stores refund VAT; there are also some that flatly refuse to do so. In this case, nothing can be done and all that remains is to decide whether to buy from such a store or try to look for a more accommodating store.
Now let's look at a specific example of how VAT tax is deducted. For clarity, let’s take the store indicated by Nastya.
We go to www.filati.cc, put the product in the cart and see this information.
As you can see, the price of the product here includes VAT. Next, click on the link “to data acquisition” and on the next page indicates our data and delivery address.
Next, click the “check order data” button and on the next page we see our order, but the price of the product is already indicated without VAT. So, as soon as the store saw that the delivery address was outside Europe, VAT was deducted automatically.
And lastly, when receiving the parcel, you do not need to pay anything extra at the post office, provided that the duty-free limit in force in your state has not been exceeded.
Prices indicated on the product page of European online stores are of two types: including tax (VAT included) and (rarely) excluding tax (VAT excluded). Let's figure out what it is.
Stores in Europe and England include VAT - sales tax (in our opinion - VAT) in the price of each product on the website.
Each country has a different VAT percentage:
Austria - 20%
Belgium - 21%
UK - 20%
Germany - 19%
Holland - 19%
Spain - 18%
Italy - 20%
France - 19.6%
Sweden - 25%
VAT tax is relevant only for online stores in Europe and England, and is also not paid by residents of other countries when a store sells goods outside of Europe. In other words, if your shipping address is outside Europe, the store will deduct the specified tax amount from the price of the product you selected.
How and when is VAT deducted?
Automatically.
When the selected product is moved to the cart, you indicate the country and shipping address (Russia), the site automatically deducts VAT from the amount of your order and offers the net amount without tax (VAT excluded) for payment.
By request.
If the store does not automatically deduct VAT, you should write a letter to support (usually through the Contact us form) and ask to deduct (return) VAT from your purchase. This should be done before paying for the order, when the items are already in the cart and the shipping and billing addresses have been entered. If the store supports tax refunds, the manager will either edit the amount of your order manually, or you will pay the full amount, and the money will be returned to your card when the ordered product arrives in Russia. In this case, you will have to write to the store support again.
Please note that the only possible way to receive VAT after a repeated request is to return the money to the card by the store itself. If the store asks you to send export documents, or itself sends you receipts with an offer to go to the appropriate authority in your country and demand a VAT refund from them, then the store does not issue a tax refund to the card, so there are no other ways to return it. Tax free, which, by the way, must be properly issued and marked at customs, does not work in this case.
Doesn't return.
Not all European and English stores return VAT to buyers from abroad, often citing already low prices, and sometimes due to store policy. In this case, nothing can be done except try to find another, more accommodating store.
Details about the VAT refund procedure are in the FAQ section of the online store. This information is also often displayed in the shopping cart.
Formula for calculating VAT.
To more clearly understand how the price of the product you have chosen is formed, here is the formula for calculating VAT for returns:
order cost with Vat * %Vat / (100 + %Vat)
For example:
Your order amounted to 120€ (in the online store in Germany),
then VAT to return = 120*19/(100+19) = 19.16€.
You can receive your VAT refund in Poland in person or through an intermediary.
Example of a VAT refund letter.
I’ve placed an order number ______ (order number) on _____ (order date).
My order was shipped out of EU to ______ (country).
The VAT was not automatically deducted from the final amount of my purchase. I would like to know whether you can refund the VAT as I am not a resident of the EU and do not have to pay this tax.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
(Name)
