We had to stop sending orders to EU last July, when Brexit really kicked in for us and many other small retailers. From July 2021, all EU orders, even low value items, were subject to local taxes and duties with payment being required of the customer before delivery. We felt this would cause significant delays and annoyance to our EU customers. We reluctantly had to withdraw the option to send our cards to the EU, which was so disappointing after all the lovely customers we had built up over the years, particularly in Ireland and France.
The IOSS scheme was designed to remove this issue, by allowing retailers to collect EU taxes (at their checkouts) on their customer's behalf so that parcels would not be held at customs in the EU. The retailer pays all EU taxes due, by registering to do so in an EU country. We had tried to join this scheme last year but it was not possible to do so without using a tax intermediary. Frustratingly the cost of a tax intermediary made this totally unviable. Catch 22!
However, as we hoped it might, more companies have since appeared offering tax intermediary services at a more affordable price. We are delighted to confirm that the paperwork is now complete and we can open our doors to the EU again!
By being part of the IOSS scheme, orders to EU should pass through customs without any delays or extra fees being applied. (I should say this only applies to orders with a value less than 150 Euros.)
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