Online Marketplaces Regulations
VAT and overseas goods sold to customers in the UK using online marketplaces. How online marketplaces will deal with VAT for goods from overseas that are sold to customers in the UK. HMRC Guidance on making Online Marketplaces collect VAT.
Finance Bill
Finance Bill 2018 to 2019
Finance Bill 2017 to 2018
Finance Bill 2016 to 2017
Finance Act 2018 > PART 2 > VAT Section 38 > Online Marketplaces
HMRC
Online marketplace seller checks
HMRC and online marketplaces agreement to promote VAT compliance
Businesses selling goods in the UK using online marketplaces
VAT representatives for overseas businesses and joint and several liability for online marketplaces
Extending joint and several liability for online marketplaces and displaying VAT numbers online
Apply for the Fulfilment House Due Diligence Scheme (Notice FH1)
Split Payment – Tackling fraud on goods sold online
VAT Registration: Non-established taxable persons (NETPs)
HMRC Current list of deliberate tax defaulters including Chinese sellers that owe VAT
Public Accounts Committee – HMRC Hearings
Tackling online VAT fraud and error inquiry – 18 October 2017 – Overview
HMRC performance: Progress in tackling online VAT fraud – 29 June 2018
National Audit Office
Investigation into overseas sellers failing to charge VAT on online sales – 19 April 2017
Trading Standards
Seller Lists
Over the years we have complied list of sellers on Amazon and eBay, who were not displaying VAT number, running dubious multiple accounts. The information gathered is publicly available information.
What is a Chinese seller doing with 36 eBay Accounts & 25 VAT Numbers?
The latest Chinese eBay scam; a Chinese Seller operating 36 eBay accounts, has 25 VAT numbers and prices that are too good to be true.
Sellers who have been removed from eBay in last 18 months
We thought we’d share 356 eBay accounts that have been removed from eBay.co.uk in the last 18 months. Most have only had their UK selling privileges removed & no longer sell stock that is located in the UK.
Stop Duplicate Accounts & Listings on eBay
Here is a list of eBay sellers who operate multiply accounts, even though Joe Billante, eBay Vice President, told the Public Accounts Committee that sellers can’t operate multiple accounts!!
Amazon Sellers & VAT Numbers
A list of thousands of overseas Amazon sellers who where trading with no VAT, or recently registered for VAT or simply shut up shop and opened up under a new identity.
First List of eBayer Sellers published 2015
This was one of the first lists of eBay we compiled for HMRC. They choice to ignore the information for years.
VAT References
1) OECD – Global tax community welcomes new measures to enlist online marketplaces in the collection of VAT/GST in e-commerce
2) The Inquirer.com – Pennsylvania’s making millions more than expected by Making Online Marketplaces collect Sales Tax on behalf of 3rd Party Sellers. Raised $151.4m in 9 months. It had estimated $50.5m a year. Officials now expect to earn $200m a year. Nearly 4 times more tax revenue than initially expected
3) TaxNote (Pay Wall) – Australia collects £43m in 3 months from new low value import tax collect by Online Marketplaces
4) Accountancy Age: Millions of new businesses; billions in missing taxes. EU and US tax authorities co-op marketplaces as VAT/Sale Tax collectors
5) Forbes – California Lawsuit Says Amazon Should Pay Billions In Back (sales) Taxes
6) EU – E-commerce: many of the challenges of collecting VAT and customs duties remain to be resolved
https://www.eca.europa.eu/en/Pages/DocItem.aspx?did=50415
7) EU Tax: In 2017 the VAT Gap amounted to €137.5 billion in the EU. This equates to a total revenue loss across the EU of 11.2%.
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_19_5511
8) US Anti-Trust officials probe Amazon
9) South Carolina Court Rules Amazon marketplace is not a marketplace
Counterfeit, Dangerous Goods & Abuse
1) Which? investigation prompts 100s of unsafe CO alarms to be removed from sale: do you have one?
2) The Guardian: Online retail fuelling rapid rise in sales of fake goods, says OECD
Counterfeits worth $590bn a year made up 3.3% of global trade in 2016, report finds
3) FT – Trade in counterfeit and pirated goods, mostly originated in China, has risen steadily, posing a major challenge in an innovation-driven global economy, according to new research released on Monday.
https://www.ft.com/content/b3b59512-497e-11e9-8b7f-d49067e0f50d
3) Which? – Killer chargers, travel adaptors and power banks rife on online marketplaces Dozens of dangerous products were listed on AliExpress, Amazon, eBay and Wish
4) The Times – Amazon ‘turning a blind eye’ to fake products
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/amazon-turning-a-blind-eye-to-fake-products-5w6gmfnq2
5) The Wall Street Journal – Amazon Has Ceded Control of Its Site. The Result: Thousands of Banned, Unsafe or Mislabeled Products
6) The Times – Chinese fraudsters are selling counterfeit products on eBay and evading VAT, costing the taxpayer millions of pounds a year in lost revenue.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/fraudsters-from-china-use-ebay-to-cheat-taxman-98653cflh
7) RTL Z (Dutch) – AliExpress does not adhere to the European consumer rules, says the Consumer Association. He wants the Consumer & Market Authority (ACM) to take action. There is also criticism in other European countries.
8) BBC – Amazon ‘flooded by fake five-star reviews’ – Which? report
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47941181
9) Amazon tech with fake reviews rated ‘Don’t Buy’ in Which? labs We put Amazon ratings to the test to see how badly fake reviews can affect customer scores
https://www.which.co.uk/news/2019/10/amazon-tech-with-fake-reviews-rated-dont-buy-in-which-labs/
10) Beware this new Amazon ‘brushing’ scam
https://conversation.which.co.uk/money/amazon-prime-brushing-scam-explained
Death of the High St & Hello to China
1) Chinese Government – China’s cross-border e-commerce turnover to top $1.3t in 2018
http://english.www.gov.cn/news/top_news/2018/09/09/content_281476295639820.htm
2) Chinese investor to invest £1bn in UK warehousing
https://www.shdlogistics.com/news/chinese-investor-to-invest-1bn-in-uk-warehousing
https://www.cargoforwarder.eu/2016/07/11/zhengzhou-on-way-to-becoming-china-s-centre-of-logistics/
3) Forbes – Alibaba Takes Controlling Stake In Cainiao And will Invest $15 Billion In Global Logistics
4) Sky News (Youtube Channel): Death of the High St & takeover of Amazon Fulfilment Warehouses run by robots in UK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2nu8M7DQkk&feature=youtu.be
Subsidised Post
1) Nordic European countries are rallying behind Donald Trump against century-old UPU postal rules that give Chinese e-commerce giants like Alibaba an edge over rivals in the West.
https://www.politico.eu/article/nordics-rally-to-trump-over-postal-rules-and-chinese-e-commerce/
2) USA to leave UPU
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/us-to-leave-global-postal-union-next-month
3) UPU Reform’s it subsided Post. The U.S. Postal Service was effectively spending $300 million to $500 million to subsidise the cost of delivering imports, including goods mailed to the United States from China.