How to input my EU VAT number?

[john_may2012]

I spent ages trying to find an answer and to contact eBay but nothing.. So public forum it is...

How can I, as a buyer (either individual or company), add my VAT number so that I wont get charged VAT during checkout when I order things from outside of the EU.

Normally there should be a button in my account somewhere (which will do a VIES check) but I cant find one.. eBay, please help!! 

[lakefor94]

Here is the link to the UK boards if that might help.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Discussion/ct-p/13

This is the .com board. 

[monica-sells]

This is the U.S. board...but I can answer how it is done here in the states.

My company is exempt from Sales Tax for the purpose of resale. We had to provide a reason for exclusion.

We had to register with ebay to implement the tax not being charged. We had to provide our business license, tax exempt certificate and State Vendors license.

I would suspect it is something similar in your domicile.

[soh.maryl]

You probably should ask your question on the UK Boards.

[lacemaker3]

@john_may2012,

I'm sorry, but I'm not aware of any way to do that. VAT (value added tax) is different from the sales tax that we have in North America, where only the end consumer/purchaser is required to pay sales tax. VAT is charged at each stage of the manufacturing/distributing/retail process. So when you sell items, then you would collect VAT on the value of the item when it sold, and deduct the VAT that you paid when you purchased or manufactured the item to figure out how much you remit to the government.

I know that's probably a simplistic view of the situation, but I'm not aware of any exemptions for eBay. When eBay is required to collect VAT, they have to collect it on the value of the item when it sells. They are required to do this by EU and/or UK laws.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/selling/vat-obligations-eu?id=4650

If you want to get more information about this, you would need to contact eBay customer service or post a thread on an eBay community on a website based in Europe or the UK. This is eBay USA, and we don't have much experience with VAT here.

[john_may2012]

Well I am buying from the US, and on the checkout page I get this issue. I am in the EU and to me UK or US boards both can work since none is more EU than the other.. Also, I use the international eBay hence why I posted here.

@monica-sells Yes, thats what I am looking for, but it seems that its not yet implemented for EU buyers. 

[john_may2012]

Hi @lacemaker3 

Yes, and further down they say this:

When eBay will collect and remit EU VAT

1. eBay will not collect VAT if:
   • The buyer is VAT-registered and provides their valid VAT registration number. In these cases, eBay will not collect VAT and instead the responsibility to account for VAT will switch to the VAT-registered customer
   • For imports where the buyer is EU VAT-registered and provides their valid EU VAT identification number. In these cases, eBay will not collect EU VAT and instead the respective Customs Authority/carrier will collect upon importation

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/selling/vat-obligations-eu?id=4650#section8

So im just looking how to do this... ;/

[krobins@ebay.com]

https://www.ebay.com.my/sellercentre/manage-your-account/seller-tax/upload-vat

[lacemaker3]

@john_may2012,  here you go ... from an eBay employee:

---

krobins@ebay.com wrote:

https://www.ebay.com.my/sellercentre/manage-your-account/seller-tax/upload-vat

---

[pjcdn2005]

krobins@ebay.com 

That link appears to be for sellers.  The op is a buyer, will that link apply to the

[kubikula1972]

Hi John,

I am just dealing with exactly the same issue. I am also just an occasional buyer, not selling anything.

Did you somehow manage to figure out how to add VAT registration number to avoid the VAT collection by eBay?

Regards

Jakub

[mudshark61369]

@kubikula1972,

You have posted your question on the U.S. based site's community (ebay.com) where we do not have to deal with VAT issues, because we pay a sales tax only.  The person you addressed your question to was based in Cyprus, and registered on the U.K. site (ebay.co.uk) and hasn't returned to these boards since February.

If you are buying items on ebay for resale, you first would have to get a VAT exemption number from your Region's or Federal government's tax authority.  Then you have to send that to ebay.  Since the Czech Republic does not have an ebay site based in that country, how you register the number with the site you signed up to use ebay on, should be asked on their community.

[kubikula1972]

@mudshark61369 

You are probably not avare how it works under the EU legislation and commenting only the principles valid in the USA which does not help the case.

My case is identical as described by john_may2012 that's why I posted the enquiry here. 

VAT exemption number = there is not such a thing in EU, this may apply in the US. Every VAT payer in EU has a VAT registration number that can be verified by VIES database.

I do not want to pay any VAT  deposit to eBay when buying goods for business purposes from a third country. Under EU VAT rules  there is no reason for that. The VAT on imported goods is charged in the Czech republic. I would like to pay the VAT within the customs procedures to the customs office / customs agent. At the same time I can claim a deduction in the VAT tax return.

It gives sense only in case of purchases for the personal use when you avoid the customs agent fee.

I am not going to buy anything in case eBay charges double VAT where the buyer cannot apply a deduction and this is not in line with the EU legislation.

I am trying to find out how to technically proceed the principle described by eBay rules here:

When eBay does not collect VAT

eBay will not collect VAT if:

• The buyer is VAT-registered and provides their valid VAT registration number. In these cases, eBay will not collect VAT and instead the responsibility to account for VAT will switch to the VAT-registered customer.

https://pages.ebay.com/vat-eu/

There is absolutely no option to set up in the eBay customer profile, I have not found it on the UK site as well.

Regards

Jakub

[mudshark61369]

@kubikula1972,

Since U.S. sales tax, and VAT charged in other countries are two different things, I had to do a bit of searching to find the link below.  The first half of the information concerns U.S. sales taxes which are charged at different rates by each different state in the U.S..  The second half of the article does apply to VATs and it appears you have to add your VAT number into a selling account.

If the link below does not help you, I suggest that you post your question on ebay's U.K. site's community the second link below, since they have to deal with VATs in that country.

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/resources/tax-information

https://community.ebay.co.uk/

[pjcdn2005]

It's not clear if adding your VAT number on the following page will apply only to your seller account or if it will also be taken into account when you buy something.    https://www.ebay.com/spr/vat