Value Added Tax (VAT) Shipping Wine to USA from Europe

I am going to be purchasing wine online direct from a winery in Italy for shipment to the US. From what I am readying it sounds like maybe the VAT does not apply when importing from Europe. I was wondering what folks experience was when buying wine from Europe online not while overseas. Have you had success with the VAT not being charged? I am familiar with buying wine while visiting wineries in Europe and having it shipped back to the US but have not purchased directly from wineries while at home in the US before. I know when purchasing at the winery you are charge the VAT and have to go through the reimbursement process at the airport it you want it refunded.

If the winery ships it directly to the US they shouldn’t charge VAT.

If you collect it they have to charge VAT.

There are then certain schemes to enable you to recover the VAT (minus an admin fee). But you have to follow certain rules, queue at the airport etc.

2 Likes

That was my impression too, when I place the wine in my cart on their online store it has the VAT included in the final price. Guess I will contact them about removing it. thanks

But they are unlikely to ship to the US themselves.

I don’t. It’s a hassle.

If they do they will likely use a forwarder like Côte d’Or at your cost.

Online systems often don’t have an export option. Any decent retailer or winery will be able to place the order for export with no VAT.

Some shops do not want to deal with export documents, other shops do not have an EORI number.
It is a little more complicated than being “decent”.

Personally, shops that do not participate in “export” activities are often more interesting to me.

2 Likes

I’m 100% indecent.

1 Like

Thanks for the info. I guess it is more complicated than the winery simply being able say the wine is being exported to the US and therefore not collecting the VAT. Since most if not all wineries in Italy seem to use separate shippers like mail boxes etc. I imagine from an accounting standpoint it is like the transaction occurred in the county anyway. Was just curious if anyone has had success getting wine shipped without the VAT charged and how they went about doing it?

The winery needs to be able to prove to the taxing authorities that the wine has been exported. There needs to be correct paperwork to ship the the wine domestically to an airport where the wine goes into a bonded storage facility before being exported (via air freight ). So there is a chain of custody requirement to satisfy the taxation folks that the shipment is not getting redirected domestically for avoidance of VAT. This bureaucratic burden only makes sense of you are an importer and are buying large quantities from the winery and have a local agent who handles things for you.

There may be a way to do it but it feels to me like it is not easy or straight forward

Wineries typically can export without VAT, but it is a process with documents and a chain of custody.

If you buying a few bottles at the cellar door they will almost always charge VAT.

How is the transaction happening?

Can. But if they have an importer why would they do so for customer to undercut them.

There are labelling and certification issues. The surgeon general needs to have their say!

There’s a reason specialists like Côte D’Or exist.

As a retailer the first and last time I agreed to ship to a French exporter for onward shipping to Asia I spent several hours on the order and that was with them doing the heavy lifting.

It would not be a direct transaction at the winery, I would be doing it as an online transaction. It seems from what folks are saying with the amount of paperwork involved it would only be worth it for a winery to do it for a pretty large sale.

There are now shipping agencies which will collect your wines from a shop or winery and ship them to you, depending on state. They do the paperwork for you and pay any duty. Usually you do not have to pay VAT but it’s not cheap. Works best with really expensive wines since the cost of shipping will be a smaller percentage. And not really worth it for wines available in the States. The wines will be packed and sent to a central shipping center. It can take anywhere from a month to 3 or 4. The shipping center will wait until they fill an entire container before sending it on.

With Côte D’Or Imports, if you buy six bottles or more from a place (winery, store, etc.), they pick up the wine from the place and the customer does not pay VAT for the wine. If you buy less than six bottles from the place, you have to buy the wine (including paying VAT) and bring the wine to thei office near NSG. In either case, you have to pay Côte D’Or for shipping costs, etc. Price for shipping is based on how many bottles you have shipped (and insurance based on cost), with quantity discounts for shipping more bottles, and does not vary based on whether one paid VAT.

I’m surprised wineries with a US importer would enable shipping rather than just advise speaking to the importer.

Depends if their deal is exclusive. I haven’t found an allocated winery that will sell out the back door. But many work with several importers and will sell to anyone with a pulse.

I was at
Terres Blanche winery outside St Remy a couple weeks ago and they had a sign saying they would deliver to the US-among other countries. So I asked for a quote. The Aurelia was 25 euros and the Blanc 17.50 I believe. Here is the quote they sent me-note VAT is taken off-but shipping is around 20 euros/btl-which was also quoted to me by a local wine shop.

I was in Italy this summer, they can and will ship direct to the US with no VAT. They will use an exporter. For instance Antinori does this themselves and for other wineries.

I don’t think that’s accurate at all, for the reasons others have given. It’s a hassle for the wineries and retailers. Maybe a large winery in a tourist region like Antinori that gets a lot of visitors. But not in general.

As I’ve mentioned in other threads, I do this all the time. I use a third party that handles the logistics. The winery or retailer just has to be willing to cooperate, which isn’t hard to find because they typically like sales.

1 Like