Julien Bernard

Well, this is puzzling. I have a bulk contract with La Poste, the official French postal service, and they require a UK EORI number for shipments to the UK. I quote, from their website's user interface: "UK EORI Number: Mandatory field for your shipments to Great Britain. To obtain your UK EORI number, log in to the website https://www.gov.uk/eori". If I don't provide a UK EORI number, their system refuses to generate postal stamps. So they seem convinced europeans are expected to have UK EORI numbers. But they may be mistaken, the system doesn't seem very mature yet. If so, may I have written confirmation from HMRC that it is an EU EORI number that is expected for EU to UK shipments so that I can forward it to them ? Thank you for the replies and the link. I have tried talking to the chatbot and will try calling the helpline tomorrow.

Hello, I'm a sole trader based in France selling physical items. I have historically not allowed orders from the UK because of export complexity, but would like to, so I'm trying to get a EORI number. I will only sell orders with value 135£+, so if I'm not mistaken I don't need to collect UK VAT up-front and it will be charged at delivery to importers. So I believe I don't need to register for VAT. I have followed the procedure from https://www.gov.uk/eori/apply-for-eori, and it lead me to this form: https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/shortforms/form/EORINonVATImport?details=&vat=no I am puzzled by the text at the beginning: "Before completing this form please confirm the following conditions apply to your application: - you aren't VAT Registered in the UK - the goods *you're receiving* are part of a commercial sale [...]" and the fact that I have to choose the "Legal status of the business I'm applying for". This makes it sound like I'm a UK-based person that imports from the EU, not a EU-based exporter to the UK. Am I applying to open a business in the UK by applying for an EORI number ? What are the implications ? Am I on the right form ? And it would seem applying to the sole proprietor business status requires a NIN, which I don't believe I have. Although; I may have one from an internship in the UK many years ago, but I'd be surprised if it was what was expected here. I thought exporting only >135£ GBP goods to the UK didn't make me have to do any e.g tax declaration to HMRC, and only meant I had to identify myself via the EORI number on the customs forms. I fear I have misunderstood something and hope you may shed some light on the matter. Thanks, best regards, J. Bernard