EU Tax Rules from July 1st 2021

EU Customers - Import Charges

As the UK is no longer part of the European Union, we do not collect VAT (taxes) on our sales of physical goods to customers in EU countries. From 1st July 2021 all orders of physical goods will be liable for import VAT along with a clearance fee. This will be collected at the time of delivery by the postal/courier service in your country.

How much will I be charged?

The amount of the VAT payable will depend on how the items are classified for VAT in your country. The clearance fee is set by the postal/courier company. Our collaborative research with other retailers and feedback from customers has helped to produce the table below. This table should be used as a guide only to estimate costs using standard postal services. Please note these charges are not levied by us and we cannot guarantee their accuracy.

Example 1: A customer in Germany purchasing €30 of CDs we would expect the charges to be €11.70 (€5.70 VAT (19% of €30) + €6 clearance fee)

Example 2: A customer in Ireland purchasing €100 of Sheet Music and a €15 CD we would expect the charges to be €26.95 (€13.50 VAT (13.5% of €100) on the Sheet Music + €3.45 VAT (23% of €15) on the CD + €10 clearance fee)

These examples are based on all the items being shipped together as the clearance fee is per parcel.

Looking ahead

In the future we expect to be able to collect the VAT at the time of order again which would remove the clearance fees completely and make the total costs clear up-front. However, we are waiting on the EU and the UK to conclude the necessary arrangements to make this possible, and neither has given an expected date. We are following this closely and will act quickly to improve the service for our EU customers as soon as possible.