From some “research” it would seem that where
goods over £135 in value are purchased from outside the UK, including the EU, the purchaser will be charged import VAT and duty by the UK government on the item being imported. Usually the supplier does not charge sales tax (or VAT) on items they sell for export. The payment of the import VAT and duty is usually paid to an agent in the UK before the goods are delivered to the customer.
(When the UK was in the EU the supplier charged VAT (at the appropriate rate) at the point of sale and the customer got the goods without any further payment.)
(See
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-and-ove ... nuary-2021)
For goods worth less than £135, the supplier can register for UK VAT and charge the VAT at the time of purchase saving the purchaser from having to deal with import payments.
(You can see this in action if you try buying some items from a company such as thomann.de.)
Sample sets and other software which is delivered on physical medium are regarded as ‘goods’. However, sample sets and software supplied as a
download only are considered as a ‘
digital service’ and importing digital services is
different to importing ‘goods’.
Again from my ‘research’, digital service suppliers would not be expected to charge VAT or sales tax on the downloads and the responsibilities for paying the import VAT and duty rests with the UK based consumer. The supplier can register for UK VAT and charge customers UK VAT on their purchase, absolving the purchaser from any other payment to the UK for importing the software / sample set. The supplier has to pay the VAT to the UK government. (See
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-vat-rul ... ide-the-eu).
My expectation is that EU sample set suppliers offering download only purchase will treat UK purchasers in the same way as they treat other non-EU customers, giving us the responsibility of paying import VAT and duty.
UK companies selling sample sets made outside the UK can of course deal with these ‘complications’ for UK purchasers.
If you live in Northern Ireland part of the UK but within the EU single market still, well.....
Comments, corrections and new information welcome.
Iain