[Football] Import Duty on Season Tickets

[Official Old Man]

Here's a first. Friend of mine pays a little over 200€ for two season tickets for a Dutch club. He lives in Sussex. There is duty to be paid on the tickets even though they don't, in a way, exist. Can someone explain this.
Anyone living outside of the UK get a BHA ST?

 

[Machiavelli]

Without wanting to cause rancour, I suspect it's because of Brexit.
As to your question, you're operating on the assumption that the import duty would be reciprocated for an EU citizen buying a season ticket in the UK. That doesn't necessarily follow.
I'm not aware of the technicalities of the Withdrawal Arrangement. Someone else on here might be.

 

[Jim in the West]

If the tickets are defined as a "good", then import duty will be applied if their value is over £135. That's one of the consequences of the UK leaving the EU. So if your friend bought a couple of tables at €200 each, he'd definitely be charged import duty on top. Unfortunately the Withdrawl Agreement didn't cover services, so (as far as I'm aware) if the tickets are defined as a "service", the situation is much less clear.

I know that doesn't help!

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

If the tickets are electronic and exist in cyberspace would they actually be "imported"

 

[Official Old Man]

If the tickets are electronic and exist in cyberspace would they actually be "imported"

This was the point. Same as us, it's a phone ticket. So in a way it doesn't exist. It has no financial use here in the UK and is only used in Holland. I'm not sure how it was paid for though.

 

[WATFORD zero]

Here's a first. Friend of mine pays a little over 200€ for two season tickets for a Dutch club. He lives in Sussex. There is duty to be paid on the tickets even though they don't, in a way, exist. Can someone explain this.
Anyone living outside of the UK get a BHA ST?

Anyone living outside the UK with a BHA season ticket won't have any problems as we have yet to implement any reciprocal import regulations, tax or duty on the UK borders.

So we are currently running without any controls and this will probably remain the situation until we build the infrastructure, systems, recruit and train the staff and ensure that putting import controls in place won't effect availability of imported goods/produce on the shelves in the UK.

All meaning BHA season ticket holders who reside abroad will be able to take advantage of the lack of UK border controls fine for a good while yet

If the tickets are electronic and exist in cyberspace would they actually be "imported"

I believe so, if they exist in EU regulated cyberspace and are being bought from UK regulated cyberspace

 

[1066familyman]

This was the point. Same as us, it's a phone ticket. So in a way it doesn't exist. It has no financial use here in the UK and is only used in Holland. I'm not sure how it was paid for though.

Crypto currency, shirley?

 

[FatSuperman]

This is wrong then. He shouldn't be charged import duty. You don't pay import duty when you go to Eurodisney. You don't pay import duty when you stay in a Spanish hotel or go to a restaurant in Greece. Duty must be paid on goods and services that are imported, not on those that are used/consumed in other countries.

He has bought a ticket to watch football in Holland - even if the tickets had been paper and sent in the post, he shouldn't be charged duty.

I suppose this might have happened if the club has for some reason sent him the invoice and declared the value of it.

 

[GT49er]

Here's a first. Friend of mine pays a little over 200€ for two season tickets for a Dutch club. He lives in Sussex. There is duty to be paid on the tickets even though they don't, in a way, exist. Can someone explain this.
Anyone living outside of the UK get a BHA ST?

Could he not get one of those URLs that isn't traceable to a particular location? - I don't know the proper name for them, but I believe they exist and people use them to view programmes that aren't supposed to be available in their country - like watching US TV coverage of live PL football. Presumably, he'll only have to show the ticket when he gets to the game in Holland, so there'll be no evidence it ever went anywhere.

Out of interest, who's billing him for the import duty - is it the vendor, the Dutch government, or who?

 

[WATFORD zero]

This is wrong then. He shouldn't be charged import duty. You don't pay import duty when you go to Eurodisney. You don't pay import duty when you stay in a Spanish hotel or go to a restaurant in Greece. Duty must be paid on goods and services that are imported, not on those that are used/consumed in other countries.

He has bought a ticket to watch football in Holland - even if the tickets had been paper and sent in the post, he shouldn't be charged duty.

I suppose this might have happened if the club has for some reason sent him the invoice and declared the value of it.

I would think that is the key. If you 'pay on the gate' when you get there, it is probably a different situation to purchasing the ticket whilst in the UK ?

*edit* or maybe [MENTION=12935]GT49er[/MENTION]'s suggestion above ? (I'm not sure but believe credit/debit cards have a 'home' country so you may need to get round that too)

 

[Lethargic]

Surely import/export is irrelevant here as the actual goods they have purchased remains in the Netherlands, the person will travel to the Netherlands to use the goods so no import or export the only consequence of living in a different country is that the receipt of the goods has been sent to a different country?

 

[Official Old Man]

Couple of good points I'd not thought of when chatting with him.
Euro Disney is the same thing. You buy a ticket to enter a place in Europe. Hotels would be the same.
And it is being charged by the club. I'll try and find out which club it is.

 

[studio150]

Here's a first. Friend of mine pays a little over 200€ for two season tickets for a Dutch club. He lives in Sussex. There is duty to be paid on the tickets even though they don't, in a way, exist. Can someone explain this.
Anyone living outside of the UK get a BHA ST?

Is it VAT rather than Import Duty, my understanding is that for goods at €200 the VAT would not be applied in the UK rather than the EU country.

I don't believe that the 'tickets don't exist' is a valid excuse for looking to avoid the charges, otherwise everyone in the UK when they buy tickets for attractions, gigs etc would take the digital option and avoid VAT by saying the tickets don't exist.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Couple of good points I'd not thought of when chatting with him.
Euro Disney is the same thing. You buy a ticket to enter a place in Europe. Hotels would be the same.
And it is being charged by the club. I'll try and find out which club it is.

Very interesting point, especially in the wider scheme of things, like the examples you quote above. Strongly suspect whichever club it is will back down. Tho IMHO your friends should be WAY more concerned about the cost of PCR tests and all the rest of the circus, if they actually intend using their tickets

 

[FatSuperman]

Is it VAT rather than Import Duty, my understanding is that for goods at €200 the VAT would not be applied in the UK rather than the EU country.

I don't believe that the 'tickets don't exist' is a valid excuse for looking to avoid the charges, otherwise everyone in the UK when they buy tickets for attractions, gigs etc would take the digital option and avoid VAT by saying the tickets don't exist.

If it's VAT, then it would be domestic VAT in Holland, not UK VAT. [MENTION=21200]I remember the good times[/MENTION] did say duty, and the only people that charge import duty are HMRC. And the only way this can happen is if the sending person/company completes an export declaration and says the value is €xxx. Anything above the threshold will then automatically incur duty at the relevant rate for that commodity / service. There is no exemption for things like Eurodisney, hotels, gigs etc, because there is no concept of having to 'import' a service that you will enjoy in another country. This whole thing is really weird. DOUBLY weird when you think that nothing physical was even posted.

Probably a bloody scam.

Who is asking for this money? Surely not the club?