Wish to bring electric toy cars to market

[ocset]

Hi,
A Chinese friend ( he was a coursemate on my electronics degree course) has approached me.... He wants to import vast amounts  of electric toy cars into UK for sale.
However, being Chinese he cannot do this.
He says he needs me (i am a British National) to set up a "company" in the UK, and then he can import the toy cars into the UK via  this 'company'. I  will simply act as middle man, and will cream off a huge profit, he tells me £200,000 per year.
How do i go about setting up a company?, and how do i avoid the customs officials?, because i hear that British Ports are not regulated by EU customs officials, so therefore we will not need to pay the EU import tariff.
Has anybody already done this?...and can offer advice on how to go about it?
Apparently it will help if we can build up our own product range of British goods, even if these sell at a loss....this shouldn't be difficult for me, because  as an electronics engineer i have designed a vast array of useless items which wouldnt sell at a profit...my last invention was a "self constipation reliever", which was simply a jug of  warm water with a solenoid valve into a tube which one opens via an electric switch when one has the tube inserted into your ****** (i wont mention it here)...this is done while one is lying down prone, and then the warm water flows down into  one's ***** and softens up the stool......relieveing the constipation

So we can  make loads of stuff like this to make it look like we are a real British company....apparently, one can even receive EU grants to do this kind of stuff.......does anybody know how we can apply for these?

[chris_leyson]

Thefre is nothing stopping your Chinese friend setting up a UK company, https://www.rapidformations.co.uk/blog/can-a-non-uk-resident-form-a-uk-limited-company/ I wouldn't touch this with a barge pole and for gods sake don't use your address as the registered office.

[nctnico]

First of all: agency approvals! Getting these will cost a large sum of money. Without agency approvals you will run into liability and thus financial problems. Don't import anything if you have not had it tested yourself. You'll also need to check each batch whether it is made according to quality standards. All in all you are likely to make more money while working in a grocery store.

[wraper]

and how do i avoid the customs officials?, because i hear that British Ports are not regulated by EU customs officials, so therefore we will not need to pay the EU import tariff.

Ending up in jail likely will stop you asking such stupid questions.

[ocset]

There is nothing stopping your Chinese friend setting up a UK company

Thanks yes, but  if they set a company up then they will find it difficult to avoid the trade  tariff on non-EU countries...whereas we  would be a British company, and  so we can pretend that we made the electric toy cars ourselves.

First of all: agency approvals! Getting these will cost a large sum of money.

Thankyou my Friend, but i am an electronics engineer, so i will be able to take the toy cars to pieces and see if they are going to be safe or not.

We wont  bother getting approvals, because nobody who buys the cars is going to bother checking whether  they are approved or not. All they care about is getting them cheap and that they are not going to burst into flames.
Seriously, do we think that the EU has approvals checkers running about taking consumer products and checking to see if they meet approvals?

In any case, the Chinese makers have already sold tens of thousands of these toy cars into the uk market, and there have been no problems, so we know they are safe......they also got them approved, so they are well safe.....but just now they are going to sell them through us, so that  the trade tariff can be side-stepped.

[ocset]

Ending up in jail likely will stop you asking such stupid questions.

Loads of other british companies already do this.

[ocset]

Thanks.

You'll also need to check each batch whether it is made according to quality standards.

Thanks but I dont think so......loads of other british companies already work like this and they dont check each batch...they dont even see the product...they  come straight from china to the customer without the british company seeing the product...all the british company does is simply count the money for acting as middle man.

How else do you think that chinese products get into the uk?

All in all you are likely to make more money while working in a grocery store.

Thanks, but if that was true, then there woudnt be any chinese products in UK...and in fact, most british products are from china.

[chris_leyson]

...whereas we  would be a British company, and so we can pretend that we made the electric to cars ourselves

A UK limited company IS a British company. I worked for a limited company that bought stuff from another limited company that was Chinese owned with a registered office in the UK, that way we could tell customers that "no there aren't any Chinese parts in this", they still had to pay import duty. Tell your Chinese friend to set up a limited company and then you can buy the cars from him.

Ending up in jail likely will stop you asking such stupid questions

Treez, AKA the fall guy.

[bson]

all the british company does is simply count the money for acting as middle man.

It's customs fraud, and guess who will be taking all the risk?  It won't last forever, eventually you'll get caught and not only will you forfeit every last penny you made from it as it'll be seized, but you will also go to prison.  They save a 1M, you make 200k.  The government will want 1M.  Guess who they will turn to, who will be left holding the bag?

[ocset]

The government will want 1M.  Guess who they will turn to, who will be left holding the bag?

Thanks, but no, the UK government has no interest in checking  tariffs placed on  goods imported from china, because the EU is in charge of this, and the EU customs officials arent at the UK ports, so they will never know.

Tell your Chinese friend to set up a limited company and then you can buy the cars from him.

Thanks , but there's no point in them setting up a company in uk...because all they need to do is send the products to the customer, and then pretend that we sent them, and also we will pretend that we made the products.

[Mr. Scram]

Make sure your toy EV can survive 292V AC input, make sure it won't run at 170 degree C, and make sure it uses more than 630V rated MLCCs.

Why 630 volt?

[Mr. Scram]

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/ceramic-capacitor-is-of-too-low-voltage-som-etimes-blows-up-at-switch-on/

I don't really see an answer, other than that treez had an intermittent fault that doesn't necessarily seem related to the voltage rating. Or are you joking?

[Eka]

In any case, the Chinese makers have already sold tens of thousands of these toy cars into the uk market, and there have been no problems, so we know they are safe......they also got them approved, so they are well safe.....but just now they are going to sell them through us, so that  the trade tariff can be side-stepped.

This says it all. Their last middle man got found out and is in trouble with the authorities. They need a new one, you.

[IanB]

I think "treez" provides the highest level of comedy and entertainment on this forum by far. I think everyone must wait with eager anticipation to find out what kind of crazy thing he is going to ask about next.

[wraper]

The government will want 1M.  Guess who they will turn to, who will be left holding the bag?

Thanks, but no, the UK government has no interest in checking  tariffs placed on  goods imported from china, because the EU is in charge of this, and the EU customs officials arent at the UK ports, so they will never know.

UK is part of EU (as for now). Goods cannot just slip into UK non taxed and customs not having interest about those. In any case, if you get caught at any point of the chain, you'll go to jail. Anything that get's in EU untaxed, also is easily sold in UK untaxed.

[olkipukki]

How do i go about setting up a company?, and how do i avoid the customs officials?, because i hear that British Ports are not regulated by EU customs officials, so therefore we will not need to pay the EU import tariff.
Has anybody already done this?...and can offer advice on how to go about it?

No worries, just call these guys on Monday morning and they will go through whole process 

[nctnico]

The government will want 1M.  Guess who they will turn to, who will be left holding the bag?

Thanks, but no, the UK government has no interest in checking  tariffs placed on  goods imported from china, because the EU is in charge of this, and the EU customs officials arent at the UK ports, so they will never know.

UK is part of EU (as for now). Goods cannot just slip into UK non taxed and customs not having interest about those. In any case, if you get caught at any point of the chain, you'll go into jail. Anything that get's in EU untaxed, also is easily sold in UK untaxed.

Agreed. Don't mess with taxes and import tariffs! If the death penalty gets re-instated in a European country it will be for tax evasion. Don't do it because you'll end up in a world of pain!

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

Ask Apple, they've been paying ~ no taxes for decades. And Starbucks. And Google. And... Ahh, no, you're not big enough to be friends with Mr. Junkers, are you?

[wraper]

Ask Apple, they've been paying ~ no taxes for decades. And Starbucks. And Google. And... Ahh, no, you're not big enough to be friends with Mr. Junkers, are you?

They dodge taxes on their profit, not customs duty.

[CopperCone]

I think that treez is from the future. His designs require components that do not yet exist.

[Mr. Scram]

Ask Apple, they've been paying ~ no taxes for decades. And Starbucks. And Google. And... Ahh, no, you're not big enough to be friends with Mr. Junkers, are you?

Yes, but you have to make sure you legally don't pay taxes. If you evade them like a common schmuck you'll smacked around like a common thug.

Strictly speaking they do have to pay taxes, they just store money overseas before getting to the point of paying. Actually bringing it to the US would be costly, until Apple made a deal of course. I guess it makes sense that the richest company in the world gets a 50 billion dollar discount.

https://gizmodo.com/apple-successfully-avoids-50-billion-in-american-taxes-1822189738

[CopperCone]

I think that there are alot of people in goverments that are looking to shake down companies doing this kind of thing. They might figure out some way to say you are violating a law rather then just close the loop hole.

Hard to plead being negligent when you make threads like this. I doubt you will sound particularly earnest if you are questioned about this in the future.

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

I guess it makes sense that the richest company in the world gets a 50 billion dollar discount.

For sure, of course. But poor me I bought a little property 3 years ago for 60k€ and had to pay 20k€ in taxes. So, yeah.

[MT]

I think "treez" provides the highest level of comedy and entertainment on this forum by far. I think everyone must wait with eager anticipation to find out what kind of crazy thing he is going to ask about next.

Ahh, yes i just realized it is the guy who thanks everybody for everything all the time guy!

treez are actually right loads of UK companies are crocks tax avoids and other scams!

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

They dodge taxes on their profit, not customs duty.

In the end it's the same: Look Tim, dear, you'll just pay this/here and we'll discount that/there, see my friend? Ohh, cool, thanks Jean-Claude. And Mario Puzo wrote "Michael, I had other plans for you"