UK VAT When Dropshipping

[KMann18]

Hi All,
I have a few VAT related questions.

I have a non EU company.

1)If I'm dropshipping to UK from China and my revenue is higher than the UK threshold am I obliged to pay VAT?

I know that VAT is normally determined based on the place of good at the moment of transaction but I'm wondering if this changes as soon as you pass the threshold at the destination country.
Does this depend on whether or not the customer is considered the importer?

2)If I have a VAT entity in the UK and pass the threshold, sell some products from within the EU and some other products are dropshipped directly from China-
Do I need to pay VAT for all orders (including those that came directly from China)?

3)I saw blog post stating:
"Goods imported from a third country may involve a chain of supplies. For example

• A may supply the goods to B
• B then supplies them to C, and
• C in turn supplies them to D.

At some stage the goods are imported into the UK and so the place of each supply will depend on who acted as the importer."

Does this mean that if I have bought products from China and sent them to a UK 3pl.
And then a purchase from a UK customer was made in my non UK store I'm not obliged to pay VAT? (assuming I pass the yearly threshold but don't have VAT file)

Thank you all for the help!

P.S
I don't mind paying for advice so if anybody knows a good consulting firm about this matter I'd appreciate any referrals.

 

[CaptK]

If your company is from outside the EU you are not liable to pay.
If your using eBay or Amazon they normally take care of that for you.

 

[KMann18]

Thank you for answering.

Just clarifying:
So if my company is outside of the EU - the sales threshold doesn't matter? I don't need to pay even if my revenue passed it?

 

[CaptK]

Thank you for answering.

Just clarifying:
So if my company is outside of the EU - the sales threshold doesn't matter? I don't need to pay even if my revenue passed it?

That correct, customs in the UK may charge the client VAT on arrival in the UK. The courier will contact the buyer to inform them.

 

[Martin Everson]

I would read an article like the below or sell via a Market place that takes care of this like Captk says.

VAT on dropshipping & Ecommerce in Europe - Marosa

Very often, dropshipping will happen without any storage of your products. So there is a "flash purchase and sale" when the final customer buys the product.

marosavat.com

VAT rules for dropshippers - The Friendly Accountants

This article discusses the VAT rules for dropshippers and is relevant if you run an e-commerce business and are delivering goods inside and outside the EU.

www.thefriendlyaccountants.co.uk

 

[fshore]

If you ship from China them no. If you ship from UK or EU then you need to register for vat right away. Shipments from China will still be no vat.