Originally Posted by
Disco Volante
I think you are drawing a distinction that HMRC don't in fact make. If you buy goods in the duty free shop they are "exported" when you fly out of the country.
Well, ok, let me put it this way, I have not seen it defined that in any of my reading so far.
Incidentally, I found a Dixons Travel 'airside' till receipt from a few months back now and I quote from it as follows (their capitals, my italics):
PASSENGERS TRAVELLING TO A FINAL DESTINATION OUTSIDE OF THE EU You may have to pay tax on your purchases if you bring them back with you
Originally Posted by
Disco Volante
There is no requirement to consume them abroad, and there is no obligation to declare them and pay VAT and duty when you return to the UK.
I am interested in where you get this from? I'm not saying that you are incorrect, but it's not how I read the guidance from HMRC. Export goods, to them, are goods for 'consumption' outside the EC.
If they are exported then surely bringing them back requires (re)importation (you do not, for instance, export your clothes and other personal property when going on holiday)
Originally Posted by
Disco Volante
In other words, all the retailer needs to know is whether you are travelling inside or outside the EU in order to know whether to charge VAT and pay it to HMRC (hence the need to see the boarding pass to identify that you are travelling on an ex-EU flight). "Immediate export" means no more than taking the goods with you.
My reading of the use of the word 'immediate' in the HMRC guidance in reference to exports from 'airside' duty and tax free shops applies to the timing of export, rather than it specifically combining with the word 'export' to make a phrase that defines a category of export that is considered for VAT in a different way that other exports.