Italian seller wants to ship to the UK with duties/VAT included, show VAT in prices, and pay courier invoices using only an Italian VAT number. They ask if this is compliant.
Key guidance:
For non‑excise goods under £135 per shipment, use the UK Low Value Consignment simplification (seller collects UK VAT at checkout). This requires UK VAT registration first; obtaining a VAT number may take ~8 weeks. HMRC (UK tax authority) has strict penalties for non‑compliance.
If shipments don’t qualify (over £135 or excise goods), use Delivered Duty Paid (DDP): ensure the store collects taxes/duties; the courier pays UK customs at entry and invoices the seller. DDP has no value threshold.
Definitions:
VAT: value-added tax charged on sales.
HMRC: UK tax authority.
DDP: Delivered Duty Paid, importer pays all taxes/duties before delivery.
Low Value Consignment simplification: UK rule for consignments ≤£135 where the seller must register and collect UK VAT at point of sale.
Status: No final decision by the poster. Action items suggested: register for UK VAT for ≤£135 consignments or set up DDP with a courier otherwise. A Shopify app link and help resources were shared.
Summarized with AI on December 17.
AI used: gpt-5.
I’m assessing the possibility to ship to UK from Italy including duties and VAT for the clients. Specifically I’m going to:
manually set the prices for UK including the duties and the VAT through a formula
I have already set “Include sales tax in product price and shipping rate”
additionally flag “collect taxes” under the UK market because i would like for the client to see the amount of VAT that is included
The doubt comes up here in order to be compliant with UK VAT: i have an Italian VAT number (no UK) and i’m planning to pay the duties and VAT when i receive the notification from the courier, is it enough or there are other things to keep in mind?
If your products are not excise taxed and shipments are below £135, you can take advantage of the UK Low Value Consignment simplification. You just have to register for UK VAT first. You do not need a 3rd party to do the registration, but we highly recommend having a partner like EAS to handle reporting. HMRC penalties for non-compliance are disproportionate. You can find instructions for the registration in EAS Project help centre. And now for the bad news: it will take 8 weeks to get the number. You can use the following method for selling while you wait
If your products do not qualify for the simplification, then get a Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) contract with a courier. Make sure your store collects the taxes and duties correctly. Courier will pay taxes and duties to UK customs on entry and invoice you for them along with the shipping. As mentioned, no value thresholds exist for DDP.