Collection

Selling goods using an online marketplace or direct to customers in the UK

Find out if you need to pay VAT if you sell goods using an online marketplace or direct to customers in the UK.

UK VAT is a tax on most goods:

  • located and sold in the UK
  • located outside the UK, then sold and imported to the UK

If you are an overseas seller and make any taxable sales in the UK, you must:

  • register for VAT in the UK
  • account for UK VAT to HMRC

A taxable sale is any transaction made in the UK which is not exempt from VAT.

How VAT is charged depends on if you are selling direct to customers in the UK or through an online marketplace, the location of the goods at the point of sale, and how much they are sold for.

Selling goods using an online marketplace

Selling goods direct to customers in the UK

Checks online marketplaces need to do

VAT when goods are returned to the seller

Updates to this page

Published 9 December 2022