We have spotted these really nice bedroom furniture for our kids from a Spanish furniture maker. I’ve reached out to them, asked if they would ship to CH which indeed they do. On the question if they would deduct Spanish VAT since I’ll pay Swiss VAT on import, the saleswoman got upset saying they will not do it, that I have to pay “the same price” as any other customer, we got into a bit of an argument and I’m under the impression she just doesn’t know any better. Now my question would be if I finally pay the Spanish tax to them do I have any way of claiming it back later, with the proof I’ve imported it into CH? Maybe directly to the Spanish taxman? Or maybe there’s an EU-wide process for this?
If they ship the furniture outside the EU, they ought to be able to sort out the VAT, both from the Spanish and Swiss side. This is pretty standard. Is it the first time that they are sending outside the EU? Perhaps you tell him that you will look for a shop willing to do VAT correctly.
If you are going to drive (export) the furniture yourself, you pay the VAT and the shop does some additional export paperwork (costs them nothing) and you have to get them stamped at the EU border, you send them to the shop and they refund your VAT.
As far as I know, there is no option to get a refund directly. Either the shop does not charge it in the first place, or they must refund you. But of course, there is no way to compel a shop to do the export paperwork if they don’t want to, it is not obligatory (some shops eg in France, have a lower limit of their choosing, eg we will do the export paperwork only for sales over 150 €)
Yeah that’s what I thought, I was shocked she took it very personal very quickly, like I was lecturing her on how to do her job. I’ve found a retailer in Lausanne, I’m asking them for a quote now, if the premium is not too high I’d rather order it from the Swiss retailer and let them deal with the company.
I would definitely ask the saleswoman to double check with her accounting people. If it is being shipped outside of the single market they should deduct the Spanish VAT. They might add the Swiss VAT but I suspect they don’t have enough exports to Switzerland to justify them doing so. So you will have to pay it to the shipper.
Anyone in business knows exports between Switzerland and EU don’t include the VAT.
This is a huge red flag about incompetence on international trade. So, first thing gone wrong. It may be fixed through some communication. But, what else is going to go wrong? Transport, customs declaration? If the seller is not aware of “exporting”, the customs declaration may not be correct or missing. You’ll find out when Swiss customs make their own calculations and send the invoice.
It’s not that straight forward because the rules changed some time back. Now there is a system in place that requires merchants to collect Swiss VAT on exports to Switzerland (some may have noticed that for example certain amazon.de parcells not longer attract special treatment on arrival in Switzerland these days).
It’s a complicated process and many merchants in the EEE/EFTA region don’t want to get involved. You either pay the full price with locat VAT or they don’t want to do business.
Final update: got a good offer from the Swiss retailer so will be buying from them since they’ll also deliver and assemble it.
Fun fact: asked quotes to about 6 retailers who are now asking quotes to my friend the saleswoman who’s handing them over the same pdf with my name on it that she sent me
