Understanding VAT Tax  - Europe & United Kingdom

Note: when returning items to the US for repair or upgrade make sure the words to describe your equipment are "Good are of US origin, being returned for service". Customs in your country will always try to collect the VAT again so always be prepared to prove that the tax was paid previously or that you are exempt.

Incidents reported to us:

Greece: DHL assigned a 3rd party carrier to deliver one of our systems to an outlying area - they attempted to collect a "Custom Duty" from one of our customers...DHL investigated then discontinued their relationship for unscrupulous behavior. The customer refused to pay the false charges and received their equipment with only a sight delay...

Italy: An EU-based competitor, after losing an order to Laurell complained that their system was free from all tax including VAT...the purchaser was informed by Laurell before hand that this might happen and dismissed this notion immediately. 

France: FedEx attempting to deliver a Laurell system which was consigned to a local carrier for final delivery - there was an attempt to collect a "Custom Duty" from our customer...but when it was refused delivered the equipment and apologized for the misunderstanding which they had confused with the VAT which had been pre-paid. No further action was required and it was judged a misunderstanding by FedEx.

Disclaimer: While these stories are known by the writer to be generally factual (our customer did NOT pay customs duties) some speculation was used to fill in missing detail (specifically DHL and FedEx agents indicated "off the record" that action was taken against offenders but because nothing was ever documented we still have doubts. It is still a case of buyer beware!

Turkey: December 2006 - We were told by a local agent that there were associated customs duties when buying from the US vs. an EU country. FedEx and DHL online Duty estimates both showed only an $18 stamp tax accessed for BOTH US & EU goods...