From 1st January 2021, Brexit and new customs rules means you may have to pay taxes and duties such as customs duty and VAT when you buy from a Great Britain business (except Northern Ireland).
Purchase of goods from outside the EU (including Great Britain but excluding Northern Ireland)
Goods imported into the State by a school, from outside the European Union (including Great Britain but excluding Northern Ireland) are subject to VAT at the point of entry, at the appropriate Irish VAT rate.
It is important that the school does not give the supplier the school VAT number. The school only has a VAT number for the purpose of being registered as a Principal Contractor for RCT. If a supplier requests the VAT number, inform them that the school does not have one.
Since the 1st of January 2021, goods purchased from Great Britain are now considered imported goods. Many of the larger Great Britain retailers will apply customs charges when you purchase your goods online, so no action is required by you before delivery. For example, when buying from Amazon UK after Brexit, Irish shoppers will see an extra item at checkout on Amazon UK called the Import Fees Deposit. This is a combination of Irish VAT and any customs duties that are due.
Amazon charges you the import fees and will arrange for them to be paid on your behalf to Irish Revenue. Therefore – no further charges will be requested in Ireland by An Post or couriers.
If you purchase from a Great Britain retailer who does not include the customs charges as part of the purchase cost, then the following will apply.
➢ For goods being imported by An Post: An Post will notify you if a parcel sent to you has incurred customs charges and you will need to pay the charges to An Post, online or in a Post Office, to receive the parcel.
➢ For goods being imported by courier: The courier will calculate the amount of charges you owe. Most couriers pay the import charges directly to Revenue on your behalf and recoup the import charges from you on delivery of the parcel. You must pay these charges to An Post or the courier before they will release your goods to you.
Purchase of goods from Northern Ireland
There will be no customs charges for goods originating in Northern Ireland.
Economic Operators Registration and Identification number (EORI)
Where a school is not commercially trading in imported goods it should not register for an EORI number. If you have already registered and obtained an EORI number, you should contact Revenue to let them know you do not require one and would like to deregister.
You can do this through MyEnquiries, using the following headings: tax reference type “Customs & Excise”, enquiry relates to “Customs”, and more specifically “Economic Operators Registration (EORI)”.
As mentioned previously, it is important that the school does not give the supplier the school VAT number. The school only has a VAT number for the purpose of being registered as a Principal Contractor for RCT. If a supplier requests the VAT number, inform them that the school does not have one.