Hi Frank,
OK, it is shame that the new VAT rules have come into effect here in the UK which is now forcing your shipper to require VAT number to send your packs to the UK.
Something to note about this new regime is that it was an EU legislation that was going to come into affect to the whole of the EU but because of COVID the EU chose to delay it for now so to not hamper business even more during this pandemic.
With this in mind, it could be this year the EU as a whole enforce this new policy which could mean your shipper asking for VAT details to ship to ANY EU based country (
EU July 2021 e-Commerce VAT Package).
I have tried sourcing Pharmacom products where possible for the past 5 years and while i know this issue is totally out of your control - I fear it could mean the end to providing your product the UK market (and possibly EU if they too follow the same regime.
I'm not sure what your relationship with you "shipper" is and whether they know the nature of your products you are exporting however... Can you speak with them to establish:
Why it is they require a UK VAT number to ship the products you are supplying - With the new rules, it is the "market place" that should account for VAT (clearly this is not possible due to the nature of your business). But with this in mind why is it the shipper needs this info?
Once the VAT number is provided to your shipper - do they write the UK VAT number on the outside of the parcel? Like on the CN22 declaration? or are the actual parcels unchanged?
What does the shipper do with the VAT number once they are provided? Do they notify UK customs to expect a parcel declared as X valued Y weighing Z with VAT number XXX?
Or is it more of a tick box exercise where by to be "complaint" they simply have to request all UK bound parcels to supply VAT number and keep a record of them - nothing more happens with this information?
I'm sure you can appreciate it will be extremely remote for any UK based customer to be willing to put a VAT number to their parcel however i am willing to try to work with you to get an understanding of how this works and whether in actual fact not much changes.
Given the complexity and the fact it does not apply to most on this forum, it might be best to continue this conversation in PM.
Please let me know.
Thanks!