Thread by @uk_domain_names

On a bicycle parts ecommerce merchant's website in the Netherlands...
dutchbikebits.com/shipping

This is 100% real, not a wind-up.

Here are the new post-Brexit VAT rules. Basically, overseas firms are forced to register with HMRC, collect VAT then remit it to HMRC if they want to sell to UK customers.
gov.uk/government/pub…

BTW, Captain Kirk had raised this very issue back in October... 🖖

(He's not the first person to mention it - not by a long way - but he's undoubtedly the most prominent.)

https://twitter.com/WilliamShatner/status/1316887009198141441?s=20

What's grimly fascinating is that the EU are bringing in a similar change in July 2021, applicable for sales into the EU market.

It's accompanied with a VAT *simplification* for EU businesses, who will be able to report their VAT in a more unified way.
ec.europa.eu/taxation_custo…

This seems like a simple explanation of the EU's upcoming changes, though the underlying topic is complex.
simplyvat.com/2021-vat-refor…

One thing remains unclear: how the UK will be affected by the EU's change in July 2021.

(The answer must be out there, but a quick Google failed to turn it up. Please shout if you know - thanks!)

BTW this little nugget may not have been clear from the above: they're also abolishing the £15 minimum threshold, so the VAT faff will be required on items of any value.
gov.uk/government/pub…

It seems all of the above is as a result of copying the EU's homework without understanding it. Both changes (VAT collection, and abolition of LVCR) are coming to the EU later this year, but their effect will be very different on a market of 27 countries rather than one.

Cheeky little plug: I have a book on Brexit out.

It combines a bucket of facts (700 references) with the kind of gallows humour you've seen in my tweets, and debunks two dozen Brexit myths.

Paperback looks pretty on a coffee table (Kindle available too).
amazon.co.uk/Slaying-Brexit…