Announcement, Brexit, VAT and shipments to the European Union from January 1st 2021

Overview

From 1st January 2021, with the UK no longer part of the European Union, our sales to customers in EU countries will be treated as exports and we will no longer collect VAT (sales taxes) on your behalf. Prices for CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, Instruments and accessories displayed on the site will be proportionately lower to reflect this (Note - Sheet Music and Books are zero rated in the UK already, so prices on these products will not change).

Orders under €22 in value

If your order is under €22 in value, and sent in the post you should receive it VAT free, ie. without having to pay any additional costs, apart form the countries listed below:

SWEDEN - We've been informed by customers in Sweden that the under 22 euro exemption is not being applied. All orders going through PostNord Sverige are subject to import VAT (25% for CDs, Instruments and Accessories; 6% for Sheet Music and Books) plus a declaration fee or SEK 75. (Updated 29th January 2021)

DENMARK - We've been informed by customers in Denmark that the PostNord Danmark are applying a DKK 80 limit. All orders above this amount going through PostNord Danmark are subject to import VAT (25%) plus a declaration fee or DKK 160. (Updated 4th February 2021)

Orders above €22 in value

If your order is above €22 in value, you will be liable for import VAT at the time of delivery via the postal/courier service in your country (probably along with a one off clearance fee). The amount of the VAT payable will depend on how the items are classed for VAT in your country. The clearance fee rate will be set by the postal/courier company.
The exact implementation of this is likely to vary across different postal services, and there may be some grace period for orders from the UK over the initial weeks and months in some countries, especially for items in transit on 1st January 2021.

Part-shipments

Unless items in your order have wildly different despatch estimates, we will generally ship all the items in your order together, and this will make up the value declared on the package. Please do not ask us to part ship orders in order to try and keep under the €22 limit. You are however welcome to place multiple smaller orders if you choose to do so.

Didn't the UK and EU sign a free-trade deal?

Yes, but the UK-EU Free Trade deal agreed on December 24th 2020 means that duties will not be payable on the vast majority of goods moving between the UK and EU. However, duties and VAT are different things, and this does not impact on the VAT measures detailed above.

Orders placed in 2020 but not delivered until 2021

• Sheet Music and Books are zero rated for VAT in the UK. Therefore no VAT has been charged on these orders. In line with the details above you will be liable for import VAT if your order is above €22 in value. However, there is no difference in our price to you whether the order was placed before or after December 31st 2020.
• CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, Instruments and accessories ordered on or before 31st December 2020 will have included VAT (at 20%) in the price. Where these are not delivered until 2021 and the order value is above €22 there is the potential for you to be charged VAT twice. If this occurs please contact us with your order details and we will refund the VAT we had already collected, and remove it from our VAT declaration here in the UK. Please note that VAT rates vary across the EU, and as noted above you will likely have to pay a clearance fee as well, so the amount we are able to refund is likely to be lower than the amount you have to pay at the time of delivery.

If you would rather cancel any items not yet despatched for a full refund please contact us and we will arrange this for you.

From 1st July 2021

From 1st July 2021 the system will change again: the €22 threshold will disappear completely, and prices displayed on the site will rise again as we collect the VAT at the time of sale and remit on your behalf to the tax authority in your country. This will apply to orders up to €150 in value (over 95% of the orders we receive from the EU are under this amount). We will look to clarify what will happen with the orders above €150 nearer the time of implementation. Overall, we look forward to this date as it will create a much simpler taxation system with no additional charges for the vast majority of orders. It is unfortunate that there is a six month gap between the UK leaving the EU and this new process coming in.

VAT on Download orders

Since 2015, under the VAT MOSS scheme we already collect VAT on Download orders at the rate determined by your country (based on your IP address) and this is remitted to your country's tax authority. Therefore, nothing changes with regard to downloads on 1st January 2021.