Hi Martin, we don't have an exact equivalent to VAT here in the USA.

But it's not the USA that is demanding the tax, it's the EU - it's part of EU law that imports are taxed and the law is set up so that it's the purchaser's location (not the seller's location) that determines the VAT tax due.

I don't know many really specific details of it myself though - I use an order service called BlueSnap that handles all the details for me. The are a company that specializes in online purchases and have been doing it for a long time so I'm confident they are collecting it properly.


> Here in the UK the person selling the goods has to have an annual turnover greater
> than the VAT threshold or if they look as if they are going to breach that limit calculated
> on a quarterly basis.

I'm certain that BlueSnap as an entire company is well over that threshold - when you purchase MoI you are actually purchasing it from BlueSnap, my company itself does not charge your card directly, BlueSnap does and then they take a small percentage of that.

The reason why I use a service like that is I don't want to spend all my time figuring out details such as how to collect VAT tax and where to send it, currency exchange, etc... etc... , BlueSnap handles all that for me.


> I only ask as i do buy some bits from the states and often don't get charged VAT.

Yes, some companies don't collect it even though it's required, probably in cases like that the burden is supposed to be on you to pay it yourself directly to your government I suppose. Something like that anyway. It's not too likely to be enforced I guess.

If you have any specific questions about it, you'd probably need to ask BlueSnap since they are the ones dealing with it, they have a contact e-mail at support@bluesnap.com and they have a brief FAQ about it here: http://home.bluesnap.com/ecommerce/support/shopper/shopper-faqs#11


> So my question is does the UK VAT inspector take your annual turnover or that of the
> reseller, or maybe even both, do you know ?

I'd think that they'd look at the annual turnover of BlueSnap since they are the ones that actually takes the money. It's doubtful that the origin of the goods being sold beyond the point of sale has anything to do with the VAT threshold...

- Michael