Аdding UK VAT (HMRC) number to eBay account

[prisonerofstylee]

Hello everyone! Today I received a message from eBay, which says that HMRC asks eBay that I, as a seller, add a UK taxpayer code to my account. I found this strange because 1. the account is registered to a citizen of Ukraine. 2. all the goods that I sell are located and sent from Ukraine. 3. for all 6 years of using the account, the turnover on the account per year did not exceed £ 15,000. I have several questions, and I would be glad if you could help me and tell me what to do next. Can a person who has never been to the UK in his life, has citizenship of another country (not the EU) get a UK taxpayer card remotely without being present in Britain?

Best regards from Ukraine 

[sml192]

You are being asked to register for UK VAT for some reason, however, overseas sellers only need to register for UK VAT if they are holding stock in the UK which doesn't seem to apply in your case.

The VAT threshold doesn't apply to overseas sellers. 

There was another thread earlier on this subject:

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Seller-Central/VAT-registration/m-p/7680952#M679964

One of the posters had a listing erroneously showing as located in the UK which probably triggered the request in their case.  I can't see any issues with your listings though. 

You aren't currently registered as a business seller so, you probably need to upgrade your account anyway. 

[magpiecorner1]

Perhaps its because, at least on the Armani shirt listing I have just checked,  you are stating that the price includes VAT.  (You can find it by clicking the postage section, you might need to leave your account to check it).

I'm a UK seller and my listings don't need to state that because I don't add any VAT.

Might just be worth checking either your business policies, likely if you use these, or check with eBay.  

I do know that bulk listing will show a VAT column - whilst generally mine show blanks, occasionally there is 0.00% showing in the VAT column.  

If you find it, worth speaking to eBay anyway.

[dch2112011]

When selling online via a platform as an overseas seller with stock held abroad but shipped direct to the uk consuner you are required to register for VAT in case you sell to another VAT registered entity.

Online tax laws cover all eventualities

[4_bathrooms]

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@magpiecorner1 wrote:

Perhaps its because, at least on the Armani shirt listing I have just checked,  you are stating that the price includes VAT. 

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That would be correct. As the OP and their stock are located outside the UK eBay is responsible for charging and remitting VAT meaning item and postage prices will be shown including the VAT element.

[4_bathrooms]

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@prisonerofstylee wrote:

Hello everyone! Today I received a message from eBay, which says that HMRC asks eBay that I, as a seller, add a UK taxpayer code to my account. 

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That doesn't sound like eBay are asking for a VAT number; it sounds more like they are asking for a Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) or a National Insurance Number (NINO). I'm guessing you've hit the OECD reporting threshold but as eBay doesn't have a dedicated Ukrainian site and Ukraine isn't an OECD member they're requesting UK taxpayer details for some reason.

Does the message specifically mention "VAT" or just "taxpayer code"?  

[4_bathrooms]

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@4_bathrooms wrote:

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@magpiecorner1 wrote:

Perhaps its because, at least on the Armani shirt listing I have just checked,  you are stating that the price includes VAT. 

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That would be correct. As the OP and their stock are located outside the UK eBay is responsible for charging and remitting VAT meaning item and postage prices will be shown including the VAT element.

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I should add where the item price is £135 or less eBay charges (supply) VAT. If the price is over that amount the buyer pays (import) VAT along with the UK carrier's handling fee on import.

[4_bathrooms]

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@dch2112011 wrote:

When selling online via a platform as an overseas seller with stock held abroad but shipped direct to the uk consuner you are required to register for VAT in case you sell to another VAT registered entity.

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They are not when their items are located outside the UK.

[sml192]

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@4_bathrooms wrote:

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@prisonerofstylee wrote:

Hello everyone! Today I received a message from eBay, which says that HMRC asks eBay that I, as a seller, add a UK taxpayer code to my account. 

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That doesn't sound like eBay are asking for a VAT number; it sounds more like they are asking for a Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) or a National Insurance Number (NINO). I'm guessing you've hit the OECD reporting threshold but as eBay doesn't have a dedicated Ukrainian site and Ukraine isn't an OECD member they're requesting UK taxpayer details for some reason.

Does the message specifically mention "VAT" or just "taxpayer code"?  

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If you look at the attachment in the OP's original post you will see that it is actually VAT registration that they are requesting. 

[4_bathrooms]

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@sml192 wrote:

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If you look at the attachment in the OP's original post you will see that it is actually VAT registration that they are requesting. 

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Thanks, I missed that.

Unless the OP has suffered the same "UK" glitch as the other seller and already corrected the listing I can't see any reason for eBay to be requesting a VAT number.

[prisonerofstylee]

a few days ago I created a duplicate of an old listing, and when I finished I really noticed that I can't create a lot because the location country changed from Ukraine to United Kingdom, although I didn't change anything before, I changed the country to Ukraine and after that I was able to list a new item! The only thing I can't understand now is what could be the solution to this problem? How can I avoid an account ban if I don't violate any rules?

[sml192]

It does appear then that you may have suffered the same glitch as the seller on the other thread. 

You will need to contact eBay and try and make them understand that you don't need to be registered. 

[4_bathrooms]

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@prisonerofstylee wrote:

a few days ago I created a duplicate of an old listing, and when I finished I really noticed that I can't create a lot because the location country changed from Ukraine to United Kingdom, although I didn't change anything before, I changed the country to Ukraine and after that I was able to list a new item! 

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Ah, OK. You do have the same problem as the other seller.

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@prisonerofstylee wrote:

The only thing I can't understand now is what could be the solution to this problem? How can I avoid an account ban if I don't violate any rules?

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I have no idea. Now that eBay's "VAT number trigger" has been triggered you're going to have to try and convince eBay's customer service reps that you don't need to provide a VAT number. Hopefully one of the community Mentors can tag an eBay employee to have a look at your account.

[sml192]

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@dch2112011 wrote:

When selling online via a platform as an overseas seller with stock held abroad but shipped direct to the uk consuner you are required to register for VAT in case you sell to another VAT registered entity.

Online tax laws cover all eventualities

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That only applies if the overseas seller is selling direct to a UK consumer, i.e. not via a marketplace, and the value of the item is under £135, so not relevant to this thread.

Overseas sellers do not have to register for UK VAT if they only sell goods that are outside the UK at the point of sale to UK VAT registered businesses as it is the responsibility of the business customer to account for the VAT by means of a reverse charge procedure.

[magpiecorner1]

Ah, got it!

I think the reply about the UTR code was probably down the right road anyway.

[prisonerofstylee]

I would really appreciate it if someone or you could tag an eBay employee, because as I understand it I can't do it. in addition, today I learned that two of my friends who sell on ebay from Ukraine faced the same problem, they received the same letter from HMRC on the same day as me. ebay support in one voice says about a "tax exemption letter" from HMRC which I most likely will not receive, as I am neither an EU citizen nor an UK citizen.

[papso22]

marco@ebay 

dave@ebay 

Can either of you help the OP here?

[prisonerofstylee]

the letter is about the British VAT code, or the VAT code of the country where I am, but my country is not on the list when I try to add a tax payer number.

[cernak.m]

OK, so exactly the same happened to me. I am a seller from Slovakia, and I am trying to find a solution to this issue as well.

So far, these are my findings on why this is a glitch and needs to be issued:

I would be glad if anyone can help or raise this issue to the people involved.

I received the same email, asking me to upload UK VAT, despite being an overseas seller from Slovakia, having all the goods in Slovakia, and shipping only from here.

My understanding from the UK GOV website on who needs UK VAT registration when selling on any marketplace is that you are only required to have UK VAT if your stock is in the UK at the point of sale (which mine and others affected are not).

From the eBay help site:
In practice, the following situations will normally trigger mandatory VAT registration in the UK or the EU:
2. Sales of goods from a local warehouse, by a non-resident seller (forward deployed inventory).

The Location Glitch:
All my listings are always set for location in Poprad, Slovakia – I never changed that.

Now, I noticed that some of my listings, when I try to revise them, show an error message saying:

"Your item Location indicates that your item is in the United Kingdom, but you've chosen a postage service that posts from outside the UK."

In these cases, my postage settings are correct, just as I’ve always had them, but the item location has been changed by eBay – the glitch – to the United Kingdom!

This location glitch is most likely what’s triggering the UK VAT requirement email.

For example, I missed one of these errors, and 1 of my 4,300 listings was set as "Item location: Poprad, United Kingdom" instead of Slovakia, as @4_bathrooms  helpfully noticed – this most likely triggered the email for me.

Now, the concerning part is that when I was about to bulk update some of my listings, 43 out of 2,000 received the same error, even though the revision I was doing  didn’t affect the shipping or item location parameters. 

See the attached images with the error in the bulk edit tool and other showing the current listing with the correct (current) location.
@prisonerofstylee  you try t do bulk edit your listing with some mandatory change like decrease price by 0.01 or something like that to see if you receive this error message as well and post it here.

When you filter my listings, you will see that none of them have the location set to the UK, yet eBay, somewhere in their database, seems to think some of them are located in the UK, which is invisible to me until the point of listing revision.

Now, I’m guessing here, but this database issue is most likely connected to the UK VAT registration trigger, which sends the automatic email asking for UK VAT.

Clearly, this is a glitch that can create a lot of issues for honest overseas sellers, as it can result in account suspension.

Is there anyone who can help spread this issue so it gets resolved?

I can imagine this has happened to many others as well.
Martin

[pt_baix]

Hello. How did you solve the uk vat problem?