Cyprus post on Friday announced they will return the VAT paid in the island as well as postal charges to recipients of packages from non-EU countries, who due to a technical problem paid VAT twice.

The announcement came following the implementation of an e-commerce regulation on July 1, 2021 which allows the payment of VAT on purchases from e-commerce platforms in third countries, which are registered on the tax register of a member state of the European Union, under the provisions of Import One Stop Shop (IOSS).

The postal services explained that the items sent must be accompanied by an electronic customs declaration and include in a specific field the IOSS number of the platform.

The correctness and validity of the IOSS number is confirmed through an electronic system when submitting the customs declaration to the Customs Department and after it is confirmed, then the item can be forwarded for delivery with exemption from VAT in Cyprus.

However, for technical reasons it was not possible to confirm the correctness and validity of the IOSS number until recently, the postal services said, adding that the relevant system “has been fully operational and the control will now be done automatically.”

Therefore, between July 1 and today, a number of customers paid VAT when purchasing the item from an e-commerce platform in a third country, and in addition, paid VAT again and the postage at the Customs (€3.50), in Cyprus.

Those recipients are invited to complete the relevant form posted on the website of the Cyprus Post https://cypruspost.post/el/ioss-refund-form, available in Greek and in English.

The Cyprus Post apologised for “any inconvenience caused” and assured that it will make “every effort for the timely examination and processing of any requests”.