Why your online Christmas shopping is costing more, and how to avoid this

When European Commission officials first decided the tax rules on goods coming into the EU needed to be looked at, Brexit was barely a twinkle in Nigel Farage’s eye. No one could have imagined – had they even bothered to try – what impact such tweaks might have on Irish shoppers in the run-up to Christmas future.

The officials in Brussels had their eye almost exclusively on Asia when they decided to scrap VAT exemptions for goods valued at less than €22 and impose tighter restrictions on what was allowed into the EU and what was not.