-IMPORTANT-

Dear EU Customers

As of 1 July, the EU is making significant changes to the way VAT is collected and charged. Their goal is to enforce the collection of VAT on retailers around the world.

There will no longer be a VAT exemption for low value parcels. For this reason, ALL Ikkyu Japan Avenue packages will be stored in your country's mail systems and you will receive notices that you are required to pay VAT on your package. In addition, a processing fee will be charged, which will be between EUR 5 and EUR 10 approx. keep this in mind when placing orders on our site: small orders of $ 20-30 may end up costing 1.5 times - double the value of the products.

The EU has developed a system called "IOSS" for retailers like us (retailers outside EU) to simplify the VAT collection process. we  have to register for the "IOSS" system. Our intention will be to make IOSS operational on our new website by early August.

Once we are operational and registered with IOSS, VAT of each EU countries will be paid on our website during checkout.  We will be registered and send these funds directly to the EU, so that you do not have to do this on your part and you will also not be subject to the additional fee of 5-10 EUR. This should mean that any parcel that has had VAT processed by us and registered in the IOSS system, there will likely be even faster delivery services than usual, since they are basically customs cleared and taxes paid in advance. We will see if this is actually the case once we are all registered and start shipping.

Please be patient with us as we put that system into operation, and I am very sorry that the EU has chosen to do so. We appreciate our EU customers.

So starting July 1st, all orders are subject to VAT, regardless of value (no longer exemption <22 EUR)

If you order from Ikkyu Japan Avenue between July 1st and early August, expect additional shipping delays, processing fees and VAT charges to recover your packages from your country's postal service/ courier service. PLEASE MAKE SURE phone numbers are accurate on all orders so that you can be contacted and we recommend larger orders to reduce the impact of processing fees.

We hope to be registered with the IOSS system by August 1st, if things go well with our new site and we have time to understand everything - but you will continue to pay VAT on our website.

Ultimately, for all of our EU customers, importing from Japan or anywhere else outside the EU has become  more expensive. We are very sorry for these changes and wish they hadn't happened.

Regarding the customs duty at the time of import, the preferential tariff rate will be applied thanks to the EPA agreement between Japan and the EU.

This tax rate will fluctuate after a certain period of time, but the current situation is as follows.

If you have further questions, please feel free to contact us via message. Thank you!