Is there anyone on here who sells from Guernsey or Jersey? I need some help please.

[silver-griffin]

I have been selling on Ebay since 2008 and recently had a problem when ebay changed their format (or something) and started to charge vat on my sales and fees.  We had an absolute nightmare trying to explain to Ebay that we do not have a vat registration number in Guernsey as we are exempt and therefore vat reg numbers for local businesses don't exist over here.

We have been paying LVCR  ( prepaid import vat) on goods being sold to the UK as per UK Government laws for the past few years but then ebay starting charging us too so we were paying the vat twice.

Eventually we managed to get an exemption on our account, (but obviously we are still paying the LVCR as we have to, and i don't have a problem with that).

Today I tried to list something and once again Ebay are requiring a vat registration number before I can list anything else!  Is there a vat exemption code for the Channel Islands that I have to use for Ebay?  I contacted HMRC but they just referred me back to Ebay!

[john1297576]

You are selling as a Private Seller, although I would have though you needed to be registered as a Business for ebay.

You might find something of relevence in here as it seems to be about selling to Countries in the EU - https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/listings/default/vat-obligations-eu?id=4650&st=12&pos=1&query=Your%20VAT...

[small-island-treasures]

Thank you for your help and for the link, it is much appreciated, however the link is for EU and Guernsey is Non EU.

Yes I had posted this question from my private account where I sell my personal items that I no longer need, but I  have a separate business account, ( which I have sent this reply under), to purchase goods to sell as which is jointly owned with my Mother.

It's the business account I am having issues with and I have since sought legal clarification from HMRC who state that the Channel Islands are not part of the UK for fiscal tax purposes and as such they can not help as we can not apply to be vat registered as these do not apply to Guernsey residents. We would only need a business vat registration if the goods we were selling were based at a warehouse or store and being distributed within the UK and if our sales were above the £85.000 threshold. ( we are lucky if we make £800 lol)!

I managed to contact eBay who have confirmed that we are well within the criteria of being UK tax exempt, and as per local law we pay a 20% export tax already locally on goods being sold to the UK.

The problem appeared to be due to a glitch on their address system which, when you select Guernsey in the drop down menu as your region/Country it states that we are an invalid country/region, yet it accepts Jersey who also pay their own tax according to law. I assume that for this reason our business address was listed under "UK" which then flagged us as a UK seller, which we are not.

The person I was speaking with was extremely helpful and has said I need to wait 72 hours for the eBay team to apply a code for us as Channel Island sellers, so hopefully this issue will not happen again. It remains to be seen as to whether this will resolve the issue or not and Guernsey sellers are not avoiding tax by not having vat reg numbers on the Island because, as I have explained, we already pay a 20% local export tax at the post office on goods sold to the people living in UK.