Just took a closer look at my email invoice for the watch strap I bought earlier today. It indicates I was charged VAT? Why would I be charged VAT when I live in the US? This is the first I’ve ever seen this.

An email has been sent.

VAT definitely does not apply to buyers in the US. There was a whole tea bag protest and more in Boston a few years back. We will, however, get saddled with state sales tax soon for purchases from CW.

thomcat00 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 13, 2022 2:47 am There was a whole tea bag protest and more in Boston a few years back.

Thanks for your contribution to our substantial national debt

Lucky you didn't get the whole watch Andrew.

I think for a strap it won't be an issue, but if it did happen with an expensive purchase where the US charged sales tax and so on, you do wonder whether it would be so straightforward.

Thegreyman wrote: ↑Wed Apr 13, 2022 11:13 am Thanks for your contribution to our substantial national debt

Yeah it's that "Special Relationship" kicking in again. You know the one....Lease Lend to a grateful Nation in 1944 turns into "abusive relationship"

Bahnstormer_vRS wrote: ↑Wed Apr 13, 2022 7:59 am ^^^^ Did you buy in Sterling or USD?

Guy

USD

Thegreyman wrote: ↑Wed Apr 13, 2022 11:13 am Thanks for your contribution to our substantial national debt

Substantial debt? You guys are amateurs in that regard!

Is CW now collecting the appropriate sales taxes in the US? Isn’t the VAT something like 20%? That’s not what I was charged. But what I was charged was exactly 6%, which just happens to be my local sales tax.

I’m guessing that while labeled VAT, what I was charged was my local sales tax. I guess this is new? I imagine this will be confirmed when I hear back from CW.

This started last week, all info is on their website:

Across our US$ currency site, product prices displayed are exclusive of customs duties and sales taxes.

Local Taxes: Local sales taxes will be added as you progress through checkout, depending on whether we have reached the tax threshold whereby we are legally required to collect local sales tax .

The states where we are required to collect sales tax are currently:
Arizona
California
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
Virginia
Washington

If your state is not mentioned above, it either means sales tax does not apply or we have not currently reached the threshold where we are legally required to collect sales taxes. Your purchase may be subject to state use tax in these other states.

Duties: Duties will apply where the total of an order is over US$800. We currently ship orders DAP (Duty at Port) and as a result you will be required to pay all duties and local customs charges before the product is released into your ownership.

Here is the info on sales tax from the CW website. They do charge sales tax for Virginia now.

mvlow wrote: ↑Wed Apr 13, 2022 2:12 pm Here is the info on sales tax from the CW website. They do charge sales tax for Virginia now.



Screen Shot 2022-04-13 at 6.11.15 AM.png

Customer Service sent the exact same thing! Last time I ordered something from CW they weren’t collecting tax. That fact, plus the tax being labeled VAT is what threw me off.

jkbarnes wrote: ↑Wed Apr 13, 2022 12:55 pm Isn’t the VAT something like 20%? That’s not what I was charged.

For reference, yes our UK VAT is indeed 20%

CW will refund the sales tax when you return a watch but you'll be out of any import duties paid. I think CW had plans to charge import duty when ordering but haven't heard mor about this. Would be nice, much more transparent for the customer than getting an unexpected email/call from DHL.

With the recent price increases and now this sales tax + possible import duties, these are not the great watch prices we were used to in the past. But it is fair to other watch sellers in the USA who have to charge sales tax as well. But US watch sellers are becoming more attractive now.