Fish4Flies operates and distributes goods from within the UK. As of 1st July 2021, the EU started charging customs fees and some delivery carriers have been placing significant handling charge on top to collect this money before items are delivered.
Will I get charged a Customs or Handling fee?
No, your orders should no longer be charged a customs fee on orders under €150 equivalent (inclusive of tax). Fish4Flies has started charging VAT up front for our EU customers, preventing Customs from placing these charges, and delivery companies from issuing handling fees. It also prevents delays due to packages being held by Customs.
How do you do this?
We use the IOSS scheme to prepay your customs charges, via a
company called Taxamo. In doing so, we send relevant details about your
order (such as address and details about items being delivered) to
Taxamo, as well as the VAT payment due. In return, they supply us a commercial
invoice and the ability to participate in the IOSS scheme, meaning your
packages will not be held up at customs and no additional customs or
handling charges should be billed to you.
What about orders over €150?
We are afraid the IOSS scheme is limited to orders under €150 and to consumers only. If your order is over €150, our system will not charge you VAT, and you will have to pay the Customs fee and relevant handling charges. If you are a business, this scheme is also unavailable to you.
Please note that the €150 limit is inclusive of VAT, meaning that your order value + VAT must be less than €150 to qualify.
What if I order in sterling?
Then your limit is £150 inclusive of VAT. Don't ask us, currently that's the rules!
Why do I have two invoices, and why are the amounts different?
We include both our order confirmation and a Commercial Invoice generated by Taxamo. Our invoice includes the full price of items, with any discounts applied after the subtotal. We also show P&P costs that are not declared on the customs form. The Commercial Invoice shows a summary of each type of product, with qty and avg unit costs, with discount already deducted, and excludes postage elements. In effect, the Commercial Invoice includes only the items which are chargeable at Customs, and their raw unit cost after any deductions.
What do I do if I still get charged a customs fee?
A commercial invoice is attached with every order, which details the customs charges which have already been paid. This is a relatively new system, and Customs have sometimes made mistakes; but this Commercial Invoice should clear up matters when talking to your local delivery company. Please remember, if you have not been charged VAT by us, then your order may not have qualified for the scheme and could be charged a fee at customs. Orders excluded from this scheme are items being delivered to a non-EU country, order value of €150 equivalent and above, and Business to Business orders.
If in any doubt, feel free to contact Fish4Flies for further advice.