Kitronik is located in the UK and from January 2021 the UK is no longer part of the EU. Therefore, for European customers there will be a few changes around the way you receive orders from us. Whilst you won’t need to worry about the paperwork as we have that in hand you should be aware that any orders shipped from January 2021 will be shipped without any UK VAT added at the checkout. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you will get the order cheaper as it is likely that VAT will be due locally and any import duty that may or may not be applicable depending on the country of origin of the goods being shipped.
Duty
Whilst a trade deal is in place, it only applies to items where the country of origin of the goods is the UK or an EU country. For products that originate from outside of the EU or the UK world trade organisation (WTO) rules apply and duty may or might not be applicable based on the tariff code for the item when they are shipped into Europe. Kitronik kits and modules where we did the last significant work in the UK would be covered by the trade deal and hence are unlikely to incur Duty charges
For some products such as materials produced outside of the UK Duty may apply. For materials this could be in the range of 3% to 7% of their sale value.
VAT
All orders exported to Europe will have VAT zero rated, but this may be charged on import depending on a number of factors detailed in the sections below.
Online customers in Europe
Please note, due to a range of issues currently, we are unable to ship to (non-distributor) customers in Europe.
Orders will be shipped at a zero VAT rate. VAT will though be applicable on arrival in the destination country. On low value orders VAT may not be applicable, but this threshold can vary by country. Since this threshold includes the cost of shipping, we expect no orders to fall into this category and therefore all orders are likely to be subject to VAT.
When VAT is paid UPS will charge for both the VAT (at the local rate, which is anything from 17% to 27%) and an administration charge for taking the VAT, which is the higher rate of either a minimum charge or a % of the order value. These charges normally need paying before the goods will be released so this is likely to cause shipping delays.
UPS administration charges:
These charges vary by country and are either a minimum charge or a percentage of the order value (including shipping), whichever of these two is higher.
The minimum threshold charge is typically around 15 Euro’s but can be in the range of around 12 to 20 Euro’s.
The maximum charge (if higher than the minimum above) will typically be about 2.5% of the cost of the goods plus shipping, but it can be in the range of 2% to 4% depending on the country being shipped to.
Example (please note thresholds can vary by country and you would need to confirm with your local Government/Tax Laws)
A customer from Ireland buys £150 of our electronic kits and pays £20 shipping. These items are UK origin so they do not pay import tax but they do pay VAT at the local rate of 21% so they are charged £35.70 in tax converted to euros plus the UPS brokerage charge of 15 Euros.
Business customers in Europe
Our European distributors will need to have both an EU EORI and an EU VAT number, but in most cases will have these in place if they are importing other items from outside Europe.
For customers with disbursement accounts UPS will not charge for taking the VAT but it will still be applicable. If a disbursement account is not in place then UPS will take and charge for VAT as described in the Online Customer section described above.
Schools in Europe and the Republic of Ireland
We are expecting some delays for delivery for orders post Brexit due to the VAT process listed below.
Republic of Ireland Schools will currently need to pay Kitronik for the goods and UPS for the VAT and VAT admin costs. Currently this is VAT at 21% and the charge for taking the VAT, which is the higher rate of either 15 Euro or 2.5% of the order value.
As a result, we are looking into getting an Irish VAT number and Irish deferment account, at which point these schools shouldn't notice any different to how it was before Brexit.
We are not currently planning on setting up a deferment account in any other EU countries.
Schools in Northern Ireland
Orders to Northern Ireland schools shouldn’t see any impact from Brexit. Orders are shipping as normal. VAT (UK) will continue to be dealt with in the same way and we currently do not expect to see any changes due to Duty charges.
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