Hi guys,
This is just a quick heads up to anyone thinking of buying anything from the EU.
Not trying to put anyone off but I have a Cube Controls GT Zero arriving on Friday and have just had an email from DHL that I need to pay an extra £161.45 on top of the £750 I already paid for them to hand over the wheel because of customs duty!
Just wanted to make people aware of this before they make their choices.
Happy racing!
Thanks for the heads up and sorry to hear you got stung. Hopefully the wheel will be so nice that it’ll soften the blow 
Thanks Paul,
It does look gorgeous though so I think I’ll get over it in time lol. 
In short, all low-value orders from EU to UK: Seller has to register to UK tax systems, get VAT from purchaser and then pay that to the UK tax office.
High-value sales from EU need to be sold at 0% VAT and the purchaser imports the products to UK and pays VAT at UK customs.
The cutoff of low/high value sales (last I heard) is £135.
Yeah just found out about the £135.
Should I have paid VAT at both ends though?
Anyway its too late now oh well
The answer is no - you shouldn’t have been charged VAT by the seller
Didn’t think so but it’s been difficult to find anything definitive.
I’m gonna contact cube and sort this out!
Just found a paragraph on the website of the Eurpean Union stating that EU sellers should not charge VAT when exporting outside the EU so I’m hopeful I’ll get a refund.
I’ve just been looking at this as I have a small Mige en-route. I’m you’re importing into the UK, You’ll have to pay VAT on the total cost of the unit plus the shipping charge. There may be a customs duty as well which is not much and according to HMRC will be zero on my motor (webchat this week). Also the likes of Fed Ex might pay the tax etc for you then bill you for which they add on another £12 for admin.
You shouldn’t pay any sort of VAT at the sellers end.
Also when talking to the HMRC person the other day, she asked for a Commodity Code to see if I would pay Customs. This can be found here, https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/sections
Yes I don’t think people are aware of the changes since brexit ( i certainly wasn’t).
Anyway Cube have agreed to refund the vat I paid at their end so all is well.
I must say the customer service I’ve had from Cube has been second to none and I can’t rate them and their wheels highly enough!
Once you start getting into the Sim big money, 20% is a proper ouch 