Other Import duties

Discussion in 'General' started by CrapBag, 6 Sep 2014.

  1. CrapBag

    CrapBag Multimodder

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    How does this work.

    My wife ordered 4 crystal balls from china ranging in prices from £11 to £28 plus postal charges ranging from £3 to £13.

    If there was any duty or vat payable would I get a bill at some point for this, would it be noted on the packaging etc.

    Also is the postal costs counted when it comes to calculating the duty and vat?

    I have looked at the relevant sites and it seems to be a bit of a minefield but I don't want to be breaking the law as such.
     
  2. Teelzebub

    Teelzebub Up yours GOD,Whats best served cold

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    The duty will be 20% VAT if UK customs do charge you normally items from China is exempt, you may get away with it, the charges will depend on who is delivering the parcel probably around £12 you should receive a phone call or a letter from the delivery company so you can pay online or by phone, some may invoice you after.

    If it's DHL they contact you for payment first I've just had to pay £27 charges this week with them, that was on a £289 item
     
    Last edited: 6 Sep 2014
  3. Cerberus90

    Cerberus90 Car Spannerer

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    If its Royal Mail, then you would have been asked to pay before the parcel was delivered to you (what happned to me with item from USA).
     
  4. damien c

    damien c Mad FPS Gamer

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    Depends on who is delivering it.

    I bought something a few years ago from America, and it cost me £20 for delivery and then £30 for Import Duties.

    My sister last month ordered 2 T-Shirts from China totaling £10 and she got a letter saying she had to pay £70 Import Duties on them, to the Royal Mail within 14 days or they would be returned to the sender.

    Needless to say she didn't and got a refund from the seller from Ebay.

    Import duties are a joke and it's why I now won't buy anything from any other country because all the companies just sting you with, anything up to 10x the original purchase cost.
     
  5. Anfield

    Anfield Multimodder

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    Just for future reference,

    There are four different costs you can potentially face when buying something from abroad:

    VAT
    Import Duty
    Special Tax on certain items (Excise Duty)
    Charges to be charged any one or more of the above

    VAT is 20% on absolutely everything with a value of £18 or more
    Duty doesn't apply until the value is above £135
    Special Tax on certain items, alcohol / tobacco are the most common ones.
    All three of the above go to our lovely friends at the HMRC.
    The fourth one is in theory to cover admin costs of the shipping company.

    How it works in reality:

    If shipping of the item once it crosses the border is handled by Royal Mail it is completely random if they ever look at the declaration or not, if you are unlucky you pay, if you are lucky you pay nothing.
    Charge for being charged is £8.
    You get one of those sorry you where out cards through the door before delivery, it will tell you how much you have to pay, pay it in cash at the post office where you usually collect packages.
    Expect one two weeks delay if they decide to charge you.

    If shipping of the item once it crosses the border is handled by Parcelforce it is 100% certain they will look at the declaration and charge you.
    The charge for charging you is £13 (yes, they charge more despite being the same company as royal mail).
    You get a letter, pay it online by credit / debit card, arrange delivery date.
    Expect 2 - 3 weeks delay.

    Couriers, due to a 100% negative experience record with stuff shipped within the UK I would never dare to try to use them for anything international, so no clue.
     
    Big Elf likes this.
  6. Fizzban

    Fizzban Man of Many Typos

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    No VAT on 'Gifts' ;)
     
  7. Teelzebub

    Teelzebub Up yours GOD,Whats best served cold

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    That's a myth.

    Mind the OP's item is from China so he'll likely be ok depends on who is the courier as to the charges, I paid £17 on a £540 item via FedEx last year and got a £289 item coming next week £27 charges via dhl
     
  8. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    My experience with Her Majesty's Robbers and Crooks when it Comes to these things is -

    Don't expect any kind of consistency... I've seen them completely ignore and not charge high value items [nearly a grand's worth of silver] and I've seen them go mental and charge nearly £300 on an item only worth a tenner... I also know of occasions where 3 identical items were ordered and were charged 3 different amounts of taxes/fees...

    This site will give you a rought idea of how much the taxes/fees *should* be, though a heads up you're limited on how many checks you can do for free...
     
  9. Anfield

    Anfield Multimodder

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    Nope, but it does double the value above which it is charged.
     
  10. Teelzebub

    Teelzebub Up yours GOD,Whats best served cold

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    Agreed I bought two identical items a week apart £17 each the first one arrived no Vat no charges second one I had to pay £12 vat and charges ffs they make it up as they go.
     
  11. Margo Baggins

    Margo Baggins I'm good at Soldering Super Moderator

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    I had a $40 item the other day, no vat. once I had an item that was £18 out of my bank (aussie dollars though) and I had to pay £18 fee then as well - i agree, it's almost totally all made up, except the 8 quid fee, that's a constant. but the tax element is lucky dip it seems!
     
  12. Lance

    Lance Ender of discussions.

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    It comes down to the product. You have duty and VAT on top of that. VAT is always 20% but the duty varies. The price difference in bikes between here and the USA is understandable once you've seen this in action.


    Ie:

    Bike : £1000 = $1600

    Duty 10%: £1100

    Vat on top @ 20%: £1320

    Total tax £320 so 32%. +£8 fee.

    (I found that if I bought a specialised rockhopper back from the us and didn't get caught I'd save about the 30% I'd pay in tax if I was caught after fx difference.)
     
  13. rma

    rma Minimodder

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    Have just had a friend send me a package from the USA using DHL.

    He declared it as $40 US value but assumes he forgot to tick gift as DHL have made me pay £4.80 UK "VAT and/or Admin" before they will delivery (hopefully, today).

    If it arrives and he did tick "gift" then I guess I have the hassle of trying to claim it back from DHL... can I add on my own 'admin' fee at that point? :)
     
  14. Ending Credits

    Ending Credits Bunned

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    My experience with Royal Mail has been fairly consistent:

    Items under ~£80, no charge. Parcel is delivered as usual.
    Items over ~£80, VATof 20% on price of goods and shipping, plus an £8 handling fee (might be £4, can't remeber). Card posted through door asking for fee, parcel delivered within a couple of days of payment.
     

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