We reported this seller to HMRC VAT Fraud team in 2014 . They finally stopped trading in the UK in 2017

HMRC has gifted this seller at least £5,000,000 in unpaid VAT. That’s 22% of the total £22.5m budget HMRC have allocated to tackle this fraud over the next 5 years.

Case Study

They started trading on eBay.co.uk 12 years ago on 12 March, 2003.

In 2014 they made sales in the region of £10,000,000 a year in the UK. This equates to £1,650,000 of VAT a year.

3 years later they have stopped selling products located in the UK and have renamed themselves electronic-king-usa. They now only sell products located in America.

When we first noticed this seller they were listing themselves an American company with UK stock

eking

However they are now listings themselves as a UK company:

eking

The VAT number 662807325 & address they now use is registered  Chuanglee Ltd who are a Online Oriental, Thai and Malaysian Grocery.

They still list their company name as Electronic King Inc and all money is funnelled into Electronic King Inc Paypal account ebayprincess07@yahoo.com

Previously on their listing you could find this statement;

“Dispatched from our new UK warehouse in Egham via Royal Mail (1-3 days Delivery). Final Price and Postage is all you have to pay and NO additional VAT”

Secret Shopper

When asked if they could a provide VAT receipt for a new £2,099.99 MacBook Pro located in the UK, they responded:

“VAT would not be charged if we purchased the item.”

electronic-king-inc specialise in selling Macbooks, iPad, iPhones, Camera and accessories.

We reported this seller to eBay & HMRC VAT Fraud in July 2014. Since then electronic-king-inc has been allowed to keep on trading and is evading paying VAT on sales of their UK stock.

Questions for HMRC to Answer:

  1. Why hasn’t HRMC VAT Fraud team taken any action against this VAT evading eBay seller?
  2. How is HMRC going to recover 12 years of unpaid VAT currently running in at £1,650,000 per year now?