I live in the UK, EU, or Norway and I've been charged for sales tax twice. What can I do?Updated 6 months ago

Update 8/31/2023: added additional clarifying information on what types of import fees are covered or not covered. Our existing policies are unchanged but now explained in further detail.

Update 7/10/2023: We now believe that double-taxation on EU parcels below 150 Euros is resolved. EU parcels valued above 150 Euros may still be double-taxed at this time.

Update 12/8/2022: The previous update from 11/17 wound up having unintended negative consequences with our tax assessment, and had to be reversed. The rest of the information on this page is still accurate.

Update 11/17/2022: For orders placed on or after this date, the 150 EUR/135 GBP issue appears to be resolved, and VAT should not be doublecharged on these orders. Our support team is always happy to help in abnormal circumstances where these issues persist.

Some of our customers in the EU, UK and Norway have reported being charged for value-added tax (VAT) twice - both at the point of sale and the time of import or delivery. If you live in one of these regions, the following may apply to you. Please refer to the information below for your country/region of residence, and then scroll down to the bottom of this page to learn how to obtain a refund of the extra VAT.

We would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused to those who are affected by these issues. We are making every effort to have this resolved in all regions as soon as possible. However, much of these conditions are beyond our store's direct control.

Please note that VAT is distinct from other types of customs and duty fees. You can read our customs and duty policy here.

Customers in the European Union (EU)

As of July 1st, 2021, the EU implemented the Import One-Stop-Shop program, through which we collect VAT on all consignments valued below 150 EUR. While this program is technically optional for most stores, VAT collection is required for stores with sales volumes above certain thresholds which our store has passed in most EU countries.

In some cases, double-VAT may be charged. This may be for one of two reasons:

1. Your consignment value is above 150 EUR. We are currently experiencing an issue with the software we use to assess taxes which is preventing us from making an exception to VAT charges for orders that are above this threshold. You may be erroneously charged for VAT again at the time of delivery. However, all other customs/duty/postal handling fees are correctly applied.
2. Our store’s IOSS-identifier has not been correctly received by your country’s customs bureau. Our investigation into why this occurs is ongoing. Under the IOSS system, this identifier is electronically transmitted to the courier that is customs-clearing your parcel. We have verified that we are submitting our customs declarations correctly, but our current understanding is that local post services in some EU countries have not properly implemented IOSS procedures when dealing with standard-service parcels. Update 7/10/2023: we now believe this is resolved in most if not all cases.

As IOSS does not apply to consignments above 150 Euros, we will not provide our store's IOSS identifier upon request as it cannot be used to bypass double-taxation in most cases.

Customers in the United Kingdom (UK)

As of January 1st, 2021, eCommerce stores based outside of the UK must collect VAT at the point of sale on all consignments delivered to the UK which are valued at 135 GBP or lower. We are currently experiencing an issue with the software we use to assess taxes which is preventing us from making an exception to this for orders that are above this threshold. You may be erroneously charged for VAT again at the time of delivery. However, all other customs/duty fees are correctly applied.

Customers in Norway

Our sales volumes in Norway require us to collect VAT in this region. However, the software we use to assess taxes is currently experiencing an issue that prevents the Norwegian VAT we collect from being reported properly in some cases, resulting in double-taxation.

Please note that lttstore.com is currently not a participant in Norway's VOEC (VAT on E-Commerce) program. This means that additional customs and postal handling fees may still apply, even when double-taxation does not occur, and thus we cannot provide compensation for any such fees.

Solution

In all cases where VAT has been paid at checkout and you are being charged again at delivery, please complete the following steps: 

1. Comply with the request and pay the fees so you can receive your package. 
2. Once fees are paid and your package has been received, contact us and attach a copy of your customs bill, customs decision, or receipt. This is usually provided at the time you make payment or physically attached to your package, but if required you can also request a copy of this document by contacting customs or the courier which handled final-mile delivery for your parcel. 
3. Our support team will issue a refund for the taxes we collected upon receiving this document and verifying its authenticity. NOTE: In most cases, no compensation will be provided for fees other than VAT, i.e. duty or postal handling fees, as these are correctly applied. If you have evidence that these fees were charged erroneously, please inform the agent that assists you.

Please note that, while we will still assist you to the best of our ability, we may not be able to compensate you for additional issues that may arise from failure to follow the above steps, such as non-payment of customs fees.

Some final notes on submitting your proof of tax payment:

• When submitting proof of your tax payment, please provide it in JPG, PNG or PDF format. Our support team cannot open documents in other formats due to security concerns.
• If you reside in a country where English and French are not the official languages, you are NOT required to obtain a translation for this documentation. 
• This documentation will be retained by our accounting team, as it is necessary to prove our compliance with EU/UK/Norwegian tax guidelines.
• No refunds will be granted without this documentation. No exceptions. To do otherwise may put our store at legal risk.
• We cannot accept some types of "proof", such as screenshots from your final-courier's website. It is impossible to verify the authenticity of such images. We can only accept official documentation.