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The Independent Retail Confederation (IRC) is seeking urgent input from its members impacted by recent rule changes for businesses selling products to consumers in EU countries.
The IRC, a group of industry associations representing over 100,000 indie retail UK businesses, is looking for valuable information it can present to Government.
On 1st July, rules changed for businesses selling products to consumers in EU countries. The EU has introduced an EU E-Commerce VAT Package, allowing businesses to charge the relevant country’s VAT at point of sale and for reporting/remit to be actioned via an IOSS (Import One Stop Shop) intermediary to all 27 EU countries in one simplified return.
The VAT exemption for the sale of goods below €22, where the goods have been stored outside of the EU, was removed from 1st July 2021.
Whilst IOSS is designed to make remittance simple, the changes have impacted retail businesses in a number of ways, resulting in many simply ceasing the sale of goods into EU countries, said the IRC.
“As total UK exports to the EU in May 2021 were buoyant we fear that Government has lost sight of the impact upon the independent retail sector and we need to address the seriousness of this issue in a quantifiable manner,” said a statement.
“If you sell products, plan to sell or have recently stopped selling into the EU due to the recent change in processes, please take a few minutes to complete this important survey.
“Entries must be submitted before close of play on 09/08/21 in order to ensure we can get your views included in our presentation to Government. If you know of any other independent retail businesses that export to the EU, please feel free to share this survey request with them, the more contributions we have the stronger our representation will be.”
The survey can be found here.
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