VAT on crowdfund goods, US shipped, if campaign breaks £85k

[Watchmaker]

SCENARIO: Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign succeeds and breaks through £85k VAT registration threshold. Goods made in and shipped from USA to backers in USA and Europe. Funds received in UK.

Q 1. I cant go back to a UK backer, for example, and ask for another 20% as he has paid agreed price. Would I keep price as is and just give one sixth to the VAT man, effectively swallowing the discount?

Q 2. goods shipped to Germany for example would mean VAT exempt as export (UK invoice)?

Q 3. Should l advise German backer that they might have to pay VAT on goods when they arrive direct from US?





















5

[les35]

Where goods are shipped to somewhere outside the UK, they should qualify as zero-rate exports. But that requires certain conditions to be fulfilled. If this can be achieved, it will mitigate the problem.
More broadly you will need to have someone look at the whole arrangement, to determine the VAT issues.

If you do breach the £85k (now £90k) threshold, that does not affect supplies already made, so you will not need to revert to previous customers to ask for a further 20%.

[Taxstat]

Once your campaign hits £85k, you won’t need to ask previous backers for more money. You’ll just need to manage VAT going forward. Goods shipped to Germany are usually zero-rated as exports, but your German backer may need to pay local VAT upon arrival. If you're looking for insights on international shipping and the broader European market, this article on tourism in France might offer useful context: https://gowithguide.com/blog/tourism-in-france-statistics-2023-all-you-need-to-know-5275.