Import tax & VAT on Pokémon cards: the EU + UK guide

The headline: 0% duty

Trading cards classify under HS 9504.40 ('playing cards'), which carries a 0% import duty rate into both the EU and the UK. The 'import tax' businesses worry about is, for cards, only VAT — and business VAT works very differently from consumer VAT.

Import VAT is (usually) not a cost

VAT-registered businesses reclaim import VAT as input tax — it's cash-flow, not cost. And several member states remove even the cash-flow hit: the Netherlands (Article 23 license), Belgium (ET 14000), and France (mandatory PVA) let you postpone import VAT to the return instead of paying at the border.

The UK's Postponed VAT Accounting works the same way: account for import VAT on the return, reclaim it on the same return, net cash movement zero for fully-taxable businesses.

DAP vs DDP, in one paragraph

DAP: seller ships, you handle import VAT (see above — usually a non-event for registered businesses). DDP: seller pays import charges for you — convenient for consumers, usually pointless for VAT-registered businesses since you'd rather reclaim it yourself. RSC ships DAP with full commercial invoices; with 0% duty and reclaimable VAT, your landed cost equals the invoice.

Per-country quick table

Germany: 19% import VAT, reclaimable. France: 20%, postponed automatically. Netherlands: 21%, postponable via Art. 23. Belgium: 21%, postponable via ET 14000. Spain: 21%, reclaimable (deferment available for monthly filers). Italy: 22%, reclaimable. UK: 20%, PVA available to all VAT-registered importers. Always with 0% duty on the cards themselves.

Frequently asked

Keep reading

• Pokémon wholesale for Europe →
• Pokémon wholesale for the UK →