Do I need to pay VAT for my UK eBay account? What are the regulations?

eBay is a relatively well-developed cross-border e-commerce platform. In addition to this cross-border e-commerce platform, there are many other cross-border e-commerce platforms. Because it is a foreign e-commerce platform, you must have a unique account to use it. So does eBay's UK local account require VAT?

As early as 2016, the UK required cross-border e-commerce companies shipping to Europe to register for VAT. In March of the same year, the UK Ministry of Finance stipulated that the tax department warned high-risk overseas sellers on eBay and Amazon platforms. If the sellers still did not pay VAT within 30 days after the warning, eBay and Amazon would be held responsible for tax evasion. In September of the same year, the UK officially implemented its new bill. In April 2018, in addition to the implementation of the "2018 Finance Act", the UK also legislated on overseas warehouses, and overseas warehouse companies must supervise cross-border sellers in terms of UK VAT.

According to UK regulations, any non-EU cross-border e-commerce that uses a local warehouse for sales needs to register for UK VAT. In this way, even if the goods are sold on the EABY platform, UK VAT needs to be uploaded. If the e-commerce platform fails to supervise the legality of its e-commerce sales in accordance with regulations, it will also bear joint liability.

Therefore, according to UK regulations, EABY platform sales also have the right to periodically check whether the seller's account is legal. As a seller on the EABY platform, do not impersonate other companies' UK VAT accounts, and keep the uploaded UK VAT account consistent with the company information name.

Users not only need to keep the UK VAT information uploaded by EABY consistent, but also need to make tax declarations on schedule every quarter and pay taxes on time. If there is no sales revenue, they also need to make zero declarations on schedule.

EU VAT compliance is both an opportunity and a challenge for cross-border e-commerce:

In 2018, cross-border e-commerce is still booming. In order to cope with the wild growth of e-commerce, EU countries have to pass legislation to strengthen the supervision of e-commerce. In the process of formalization, it is a challenge and an opportunity for cross-border e-commerce. The challenge is that cross-border e-commerce not only has to spend money on operations, logistics, and customer service, but also has to spend a certain amount of money on taxes. Uncompetitive cross-border e-commerce will exit the market, and competitive e-commerce will further expand the market. For cross-border e-commerce, it is necessary to optimize operating costs and integrate resources to go further.

Regarding the questions raised at the beginning, we have answered them in the above content. Now everyone should know what is going on. There are still many consumers on this cross-border e-commerce platform. After all, this platform is more trustworthy.

Recommended reading:

What are the steps to open a store on eBay UK? How to open a store on eBay UK?

What information do I need to open a store on eBay? What should I pay attention to?

How much does it cost to open a store on eBay? What categories should I sell?