Experiences with IOSS shipments to Romania and double VAT charges?

[BWC_SH]

Has anyone encountered a similar situation of sending a product under IOSS to Romania (or any other EU countries) with the VAT already collected when the order was made but the customer was asked to pay for VAT again? Apparently since the customer failed to produce the IOSS number the Romanian custom didn't recognize the previous VAT payment. This shouldn't be the case right? Has anyone has a similar experience?

Thanks

Victor

[ShipAntdotcom]

That's the EU new VAT policy caused to this issue. There are 3 ways to solve the problem. If you dropship to EU countries regularly it is highly suggest you register one IOSS code then use it for you business ship to EU countries. If you do not have regular orders and you are dropship from China, you can apply some shipping agent to provide IOSS code for your business with some fees. 

If you totally do not want to get involved the IOSS issue, you can ship via post service which is DDU, but its delivery isnt that stable and often rejected by clients when noticed to pay tax.

[BWC_SH]

Thank you for your response

I am already subscribed to the IOSS scheme and I have an IOSS number.

I sent a product to a Romanian customer with an IOSS number attached, but the Romanian custom said that since the customer does not have an IOSS number (and why would he?) they cannot validate the VAT collected on our Shopify platform and so the customer was double charged. Do you know of a similar situation and how to rectify it?

[Morning]

Along with Czechia, Romania is a country to which Royal Mail says IOSS consignments aren't available, for different reasons it seems.

I know that Czechia hadn't put the new VAT rules into law when I last checked - the 22 euro LVCR was still valid after 1st July.

For Romania, it looks like IOSS consignments are going through a rather strange process, at least for the time being: they're asking the recipient to declare the package, as happened to your customer. The recipient would need your IOSS number, but given you'd want to keep that secret, it's a pretty daft system.

https://www.posta-romana.ro/a1470/stiri/toate-trimiterile-extracomunitare-cu-valoare-sub-150-de-euro...

[TeemuEAS]

Hi Victor, 

EU customs were and are still not ready for handling IOSS shipments. It is not only the Romanias but everyone. Incredible discussions, just absolutely zero knowledge or effort from their side. 

I do want to point out that the misuse of IOSS numbers is rampant. Do NOT disclose it to anyone else but your trusted logistics partner. You can easily end up paying someone else's VATs. We are currently helping a customer clear their 1000 fold liability placed on them by an EU VAT office. 

Since we handled in their case ALL of the EU VAT compliance, they got the required audit material with a push of a button. 

https://apps.shopify.com/eas-eu-compliance

[Rostislav]

The whole problem is how to deliver IOSS number to the customs and ensure that it is in place when the parcel arrives to the country. Apparantly you used postal delivery via Royal mail . They technically deliver IOSS numebr via postal system (ITMATT message) but the Romanian post can not retrive that data from the this  postal EDI message. So it is not realy your problem and it can not easily be remedied by using someone's else IOSS number (which is illegal, by the way). The only way to ensure the proper delivery  to the  lesser IT developed countries is to choose another logistics partner (non postal) who could securely receive your IOSS number and do the customs clearence in accordacne with centralised customs clearence procedure (techniclly not in Romania but in , let us say , in the Netherlands)  and then transport it to the destination country as EU goods.

Rostislav 

EAS project Oy,