Bangle 2 - Claiming the additional VAT in Germany

[espruino-discuss2]

Posted at 2021-11-20 by msdeibel

If you had to pay the additional VAT in Germany you can reclaim it from customs.

What you need is a "Abgabenbescheid" which you can get at
https://www.dhl.de/de/privatkunden/hilfe-kundenservice/formulare/abgabenbescheid-anfordern.html

Requested on 19-Nov-2021

Received on 23-Nov-2021

Then, since we are in Germany, you have to obey ... erm ... I mean follow the process:
https://www.zoll.de/DE/Fachthemen/Zoelle/Abgabenerhebung/Erlass-Erstattung/Verfahren/verfahren_node.html#doc298948bodyText2

Objection sent 23-Nov-2021

Still being handled by the customs office - haven't heard back 04-Dec-2021

With luck you can also get your 6EUR fee from DHL back using this link (once you have the "Abgabenbescheid").
https://www.dhl.de/nachentgelt

Important
The label on my package says that there is a one month deadline for this.
So be quick or be screwed (well not totally, since Gordon is so nice to reimburse you, but anyway).

I can't yet say if this works, since I've only gotten around step 1 before writing up this post.

Source: https://www.paketda.de/zoll/zoll-reklamieren.html

Objection denied on 17-Jan-2022 (see post below)

Updates
Action dates added

[espruino-discuss2]

Posted at 2021-11-22 by @gfwilliams

If anyone does succeed in doing this, please let me know!

My plan is to claim back the VAT on this first batch of devices sent to the EU apart from the ones I knew got through (eg to Finland and Estonia), so I don't want to end up trying to claim back VAT that has already been claimed :)

---

Posted at 2022-01-17 by msdeibel

Objection denied

My objection was denied by Geman customs on the grounds that the IOSS number was not included in the customs announcement(?) ( I guess that's where Royal Mail fucked it up). It's not enough to just have the number on the receipt and/or packaging slip.

They made it clear that the only way to handle this is to go through the seller/sender.

Pretty sad.

---

Posted at 2022-01-18 by @gfwilliams

Thanks for the update...

the IOSS number was not included in the customs announcement(?) ( I guess that's where Royal Mail fucked it up)

Yes, it seems like it. If anyone else is interested, it seems what happened is this:

• I provided all the info that the 'Click & Drop' website requested, and it produced labels with the 'IOSS' logo on them and said everything was fine.
• At some point after the 'Click & Drop' website, Royal Mail lost the customs info
• After a long time on the phone, someone mentioned 'you should try filling in your company UK VAT number here' (in a config menu that never existed when I signed up to the site a few years ago).
• After that, IOSS details on packages go through fine

So... Obviously the UK VAT number shouldn't be required for sending to Europe, but it seems that somewhere deep in Royal Mail's internal systems, if that number doesn't exist they silently throw away all the IOSS info.

Royal Mail isn't accepting responsibility, and I can't seem to easily claim anything back from them. At the end of the day I have very little free time, and it's better that I spend it moving forward than trying to extract money from Royal Mail - the generosity of those from that first batch that were willing to pay all their fees had meant that given I can claim the VAT back (just not the duty) on average I haven't lost a great deal of money.

---

Posted at 2023-03-23 by gfric

I got my watch in like 3 days. Awesome.
How much do you pay for a Bangle.JS 2 in the UK? I think the watch was about 90 EUR, abut I paid the double price with tax and vat and postage. Still worth it, but phew... For this month there's just potatoes and water ;)

---

Posted at 2023-03-24 by @gfwilliams

In the UK it's £76.80 (basically the same as your 90 EUR as it's got the UK's 20% VAT applied), plus the postage which is

but I paid the double price with tax and vat and postage

Really? You're in the EU? I just checked what the shop says to send to Germany and:

DHL Europe (duty paid) (Weight: 0.11kg) - 66.60€
International Tracked & Signed (Weight: 0.11kg) - 17.78€
International Tracked (Weight: 0.11kg) - 17.78€

So maybe you chose the DHL express option? Did you have to pay DHL any customs duties as well? Those should have already been paid - if you did maybe email contact@espruino.com and we'll try and reimburse you.

---

Posted at 2023-03-24 by gfric

I pucked the DHL option, yes. No need for a reimbuse. I like to support this project. It's so so great. Promise to never give up!

---

Posted at 2023-03-24 by @gfwilliams

Thanks, that's very kind of you - but I am sorry you had the extra payment though.

I've just found your order and we'll look into it. It looks like DHL messed something up there as we should have provided them with all the docs needed to have it clear customs without extra charges.

I pay quite a lot of money every year just for the privilege of paying European VAT for customers, not to mention the accounting burden of 20 different VAT rates - and what's the point when the receiving company charges VAT a second time, and not only that but VAT on the VAT, just to add insult to injury.