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The big Brexit thread - news, updates and discussion

Just got an email from Cotic, a British bike company with another example of the mess we're in:

EU Exports

Despite the trade deal having been signed between the UK and the EU, there is still some lack of clarity on the charging of import duty for certain Cotic product lines. However, some things we know:

At the moment we are clear that UK made frames (so that is currently RocketMAX and Rocket) attract Zero duty when shipped to the EU.

All purchases made by EU customers are now charged without 20% UK VAT, and they will attract VAT in the country of delivery which will be payable by the customer to the courier when it arrives. This will apply even if you ordered before 31st December 2020 and paid a deposit. Don't worry, deposits don't attract VAT, so you won't end up over paying any taxes if you have a deposit with us. If you paid in full, this also leaves you unaffected because completed transactions made prior to 31st December 2020 are to remain under the previous rules.

This situation will persist for 6 months whilst the new EU/UK VAT collection system is put in place.

The unclear situation is with Taiwan produced frames, and possibly complete bikes using Taiwan made frames. The Zero duty situation is for goods that are "UK Origin" or have a significant proportion of UK 'value add'. For the UK made frames they easily meet these requirements because they are more than 70% UK made or processed by value.

What we are currently trying to ascertain is whether our EU customers who have bought Taiwan produced frames or bikes assembled using the majority of Taiwan sourced parts might need to pay some import duty. This is because the rules regarding items being of "UK origin" are a bit unclear, and the 'value add' by Cotic possibly doesn't add up to a significant enough percentage of the value of the end product supplied to qualify for zero rating. I am currently going through the full trade agreement to try and figure it out, and we are in touch with our industry body to get to the bottom of this.

The upshot of all this is that for this week at least and maybe longer, and until we know exactly what the duty situation is, we are not shipping anything to customers in the EU. We want to give ourselves time to understand and apply the new rules correctly, and then be able to explain them to customers. There will be increases in shipping prices as well due to the couriers having to clear products through customs now, so once we have all the costs understood, we will be in touch to agree any cost increases with you.

If you have an order placed already, but don't wish to pay the extra fees, then we will cancel and refund. No problem at all. At the very least, we will do everything we can to look after you whether you want to complete the order or not.

What I really want to stress is that as soon as we have a firm operating procedure and pricing for our friends in the EU, we will start shipping again, but in the meantime you are more than welcome to place provisional orders with us so you can make sure you have a place in the queue for our upcoming deliveries.
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I've just been doing my tax return. I'm self employed, and don't have anything terribly complicated tax-wise, but just trudging through that is enough to give me a headache, and I only have to do it once a year, and even if the rules and advice are not always very clear, at least there's generally a "known correct answer" out there somewhere.

I'm very grateful that none of my work involves anything to do with exporting or importing stuff abroad. It must be a complete nightmare at the moment, especially for small businesses and sole traders, who don't have easy access to legal or specialist advice on all of this. And on top of everything caused by Covid. If you're one of those people and are reading this, you have my sympathy. What a mess.
 
teuchter said:
I'm very grateful that none of my work involves anything to do with exporting or importing stuff abroad. It must be a complete nightmare at the moment, especially for small businesses and sole traders, who don't have easy access to legal or specialist advice on all of this. And on top of everything caused by Covid. If you're one of those people and are reading this, you have my sympathy. What a mess.
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Couldn't agree more, and it sounds as if some businesses just aren't coping with it, not helped by the government consistently playing down the fact that a trade deal and single market membership aren't synonyms:

Jon Swallow, co-founder of Jordon Freight, which moves goods between the U.K. and EU, said he has delayed most of his truck movements for two weeks to avoid any potential Brexit snarl-ups and opted to avoid Dover where possible.

Swallow said that he wasn’t expecting any problems this week, but -- in a sign of potential trouble ahead -- he said he has received multiple calls from businesses on Monday that believed that they wouldn’t need to file any new paperwork to cross the channel because the U.K. and EU reached a free-trade accord. This is incorrect: Firms will still need to file customs declarations and comply with other new formalities due to Brexit.

“We’re so shocked,” Swallow said. “These are not small companies.”
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The British passengers being refused entry to their country of residence (Spain, Italy, others) is a cause for concern, impossible to say how this would have gone through if Brexit had been finalized in non-pandemic times
 
Flavour said:
The British passengers being refused entry to their country of residence (Spain, Italy, others) is a cause for concern, impossible to say how this would have gone through if Brexit had been finalized in non-pandemic times
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And not in the Xmas New Year period where most countries civil services are on holiday
 
Winot said:
No queues because goods aren’t being sent EU-UK:

Subscribe to read

www.ft.com www.ft.com

Also some issues expected in RoI/NI:
www.rte.ie

Dublin Port delays expected due to post-Brexit checks

There are very low levels of trade at Dublin Port according to Revenue, however officials expect delays over the next week due to increased post-Brexit checks.
www.rte.ie www.rte.ie
Click to expand...

Also the fact that traffic is at quite a low level atm because of Christmas, the pandemic and stockpiling ahead of a potential no-deal by businesses and some consumers. When traffic starts to return to something like its normal level is when we'll see how well the border arrangements work.
 
weltweit said:
If I understand you correctly, about the potential future application of market controls like future tariffs in response to changes, I don't have a problem with it.
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The tariffs affect the consumers, producers, manufacturers, and supply chain. The government benefits from the tariffs.
 
Dan Hannan is a ridiculous individual and I doubt anyone is paying much attention to him. What we should be more worried about is the number of political advisers from shady libertarian think-thanks on Tufton Street, and the fact that over the years a lot of Brexit supporters have openly argued that outside the EU Britain can deregulate the economy and marketise society more easily than it can within. That's clearly the direction of travel, though the divergence provisions in the Brexit deal might constrain it for a while. The pandemic has probably chucked quite a spanner in the works, though, and that may reduce the amount of damage they can do before the next election.
 
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