Import duty and buying from abroad

[duncandisorderly]

I've seen something I want to buy from a guy in Japan. He's charging a not unreasonable £80 for shipping. Will I be hit for any taxes were I to buy it? If so, how does it work?

[DCWat]

I’ve bought from abroad and had to pay customs and excise before they would release the item.

The company I recently bought from reimbursed the tax, upon proof of payment to C&E although that’s the first time - usually just have to pay the rate.

[Longsidelenny]

£80 for shipping what have you bought an house

[Local cricketer]

£80 for shipping what have you bought an house

You would get a house for that price in colne

[AlargeClaret]

Bank on about 26% ( your vat plus duty) plus the clearance fee £8-10

[duncandisorderly]

Bank on about 26% ( your vat plus duty) plus the clearance fee £8-10

Editing this before I sound stupid....(!)

Of course, you have to pay VAT on the item. I'd clean forgotten about that.

[aggi]

26% of the value of the item?

There's a whole range of rates depending what the item is, how much it costs, where it's from, etc

The duty and vat will be paid on the item value with the shipping forming part of that.

[duncandisorderly]

So, I don't think I have to pay VAT if buying from another EU country...I'm not sure I fully understand to be honest.

[Funkydrummer]

It might be cheaper, nay more enjoyable, to travel out there and bring it back yourself.

[tarkys_ears]

Watch out who the courier is.

I bought something from USA (no duty) but had to pay VAT to fedex who kindly stuck on a £20 service charge for the privilege of being paid to ship the item.

I had to ring em up and have a go at them but they backed down (not on the VAT obviously).

[karatekid]

Is it a samurai sword?

[deanothedino]

So, I don't think I have to pay VAT if buying from another EU country...I'm not sure I fully understand to be honest.

The EU is a customs union...

[duncandisorderly]

Import duty is, I think fairly small fry. I don't know for sure, but I thought it was VAT that was the biggie?
Like I say, I don't really know the rules. I sold something recently for £1000, is that income? Should I declare it? I dunno!!

[duncandisorderly]

The EU is a customs union...

Smashing. Tell me something I should already know, but don't. Educate me. Please.

[Stayingup]

I've seen something I want to buy from a guy in Japan. He's charging a not unreasonable £80 for shipping. Will I be hit for any taxes were I to buy it? If so, how does it work?

You have to find tge HS Code from HM customs ane excise web site. Easy to find. Then there is VAT on CIF value but this can be claimed back..

There arw also port charges but these are not too much. The total.of VAT is based on the total cost of the goods delivered to you. Import duty is a %age of the value of the goods only..For example for Textiles its usually @4%. This is given on the Invoice.

[Stayingup]

Smashing. Tell me something I should already know, but don't. Educate me. Please.

Ok its a protection racket.

[houseboy]

£80 for shipping what have you bought an house

I thought a small castle.

[houseboy]

Am I missing something here? What exactly is this item? I’ve bought lots of stuff on EBay and some of it has been from China and the like. Shipping has been at best a fiver with no other costs. Sometimes no cost at all. I’m intrigued.

[aggi]

So, I don't think I have to pay VAT if buying from another EU country...I'm not sure I fully understand to be honest.

You do pay VAT but it will most likely be included in the price so your won't be paying anything extra on import (obviously that will probably all change in a few years).

[duncandisorderly]

Am I missing something here? What exactly is this item? I’ve bought lots of stuff on EBay and some of it has been from China and the like. Shipping has been at best a fiver with no other costs. Sometimes no cost at all. I’m intrigued.

That's why I'm asking you daft bugger! It's a chunk of money that I'd rather not pay 20% plus on top and the import duty too! If it was just a tenner I wouldn't be asking!

[dsr]

Smashing. Tell me something I should already know, but don't. Educate me. Please.

One thing you should already know, but don't, is that no-one can tell you how much tax or duty you will have to pay if you don't tell them what the item is or how much it costs.

[houseboy]

That's why I'm asking you daft bugger! It's a chunk of money that I'd rather not pay 20% plus on top and the import duty too! If it was just a tenner I wouldn't be asking!

All I’m saying is, regardless of the shipping cost (which seems exceedingly high but then you haven’t divulged what it is so we cannot judge) I have never, ever, had to pay extra charges for buying goods from abroad, regardless of were it was from, including the other side of the world. Why are you even asking the question? You use a slightly insulting term to me (I’ll forgive ) but you ask for advice but only give half a story to get the answer. If you are paying 80 quid in shipping you must be buying something either very expensive to need heavy insurance or something very heavy, like a small tank.
By the way if it’s from Colombia I wouldn’t worry about import duty, it’ll arrive on a small boat in Morecambe bay, at night, unloaded by cheap labour from China.

[claret2018]

The actual answer is there might be customs duty and there might be VAT due, it depends what the item is.

[nil_desperandum]

All I’m saying is, regardless of the shipping cost (which seems exceedingly high but then you haven’t divulged what it is so we cannot judge) I have never, ever, had to pay extra charges for buying goods from abroad, regardless of were it was from, including the other side of the world.

I don't doubt your word, but I find that strange.
As soon as you buy a product from a non-EU country, then effectively you become an importer and become liable to Customs and Excise Duty as well as Value Added Tax (VAT) payments.
We do quite bit of online "buying" (private purchases not business). Obviously anything from the EU currently comes with no additional cost, but virtually everything we get from the USA (and occasionally other countries) generally has a sticker on it and we have to pay the appropriate charges.
I don't mind the taxes so much but it's the £8 admin charge that upsets me. e.g. I recently bought some one a Christmas present from USA. It was £38.
(I couldn't find the item anywhere else). It ended up costing me £56 - (£10 in tariffs + the £8).
Obviously if it' a v expensive item that's being imported, (which I guess in this case it must be), then the taxes will be high, but the admin charge will be relatively unimportant.

[deanothedino]

Smashing. Tell me something I should already know, but don't. Educate me. Please.

That is why you don't have to pay more VAT, you already will have paid VAT and it's a customs union so you don't pay it again if you move it to another country in the EU.

The fact you didn't understand it in the first place is maybe an indicator of why we shouldn't have had a referendum but that's a different debate.

[Hipper]

When you buy an item from abroad (and when you send one abroad) you have to put a label on it saying the value of the item and what its purpose is - a gift, business etc..

When the item arrives in the UK it goes through a particular entry point - Mount Pleasant in London, Coventry I believe), probably others - where it is checked for security and illegal imports - pornography for example. It is also looked at for import duties. Small value items, like CDs or books, usually get in without any charges. Larger more expensive items, such as Hi-Fi gear, usually incur import duties plus a handling charge. How it works depends on the courier. If it's the Japanese Post Office it will likely arrive through our Post Office. Some couriers (UPS I think was one) will collect any import duties in arrears, so you get the item without delay but later get a bill which you had no warning about.

I would assume that for a costly item you will have to pay import duties and a handling fee. If you get away with it that is a bonus. When you shop abroad outside the EU (and perhaps this will change as we leave the EU) you should bear this in mind.

https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad

[nil_desperandum]

When you shop abroad outside the EU (and perhaps this will change as we leave the EU) you should bear this in mind.

https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad

Can't think of any reason why it would change when we leave the EU, since there will be no change to our relationship and status with non - EU countries, (unless that is we negotiate a Customs Union with a non- EU country -[highly unlikely])
It will - as things stand - be the case that when we leave the customs union the rules / tariffs / VAT that apply to imports from non-EU countries will then also apply to the EU 27 as well, since we'll no longer be in that tariff -free block.
(It will certainly be the case if we have a "no deal" brexit, and that's why negotiations are now so important)

[deanothedino]

When the item arrives in the UK it goes through a particular entry point - Mount Pleasant in London, Coventry I believe), probably others - where it is checked for security and illegal imports - pornography for example. It is also looked at for import duties. Small value items, like CDs or books, usually get in without any charges. Larger more expensive items, such as Hi-Fi gear, usually incur import duties plus a handling charge.

Duty is calculated at the port of entry by Border Force on behalf of HMRC, Mount Pleasant is a mail centre - the duty will have been calculated before it gets to a mail centre. This is the same regardless of the courier.

[aggi]

I can't be the only one who thinks that duncandisorderly has bought a sex robot.

[karatekid]

Ok , iv'e seen a mobile phone on Fleabay and it is in Hong Kong for £190. The seller has 100% positive feedback and is a trusted seller. He has advertised the phone as ' no tax'. Now i'm not sure about this and don't want to be hit with a big bill on delivery. I've emailed him and he has replied that there is no custom tax payable.
The phone costs £120 more from UK sellers.

Thoughts?

[AlargeClaret]

Ok , iv'e seen a mobile phone on Fleabay and it is in Hong Kong for £190. The seller has 100% positive feedback and is a trusted seller. He has advertised the phone as ' no tax'. Now i'm not sure about this and don't want to be hit with a big bill on delivery. I've emailed him and he has replied that there is no custom tax payable.
The phone costs £120 more from UK sellers.

Thoughts?

Presuming the post isn’t fishing ? The phone will be fake 100% there are no /zero/0% phones produced in China/HK by Apple et el that could possibly ever be retailed at less than maybe 10% cheaper and even that is tight . You might get away with it not being checked as he’l ship it low value .if they open it though estimate an extra 26% minimum fit your VAT and import duty ,also if they bill you you’ll also pay another £ 10-15 For the clearance and uk delivery

[claretonthecoast1882]

Ok , iv'e seen a mobile phone on Fleabay and it is in Hong Kong for £190. The seller has 100% positive feedback and is a trusted seller. He has advertised the phone as ' no tax'. Now i'm not sure about this and don't want to be hit with a big bill on delivery. I've emailed him and he has replied that there is no custom tax payable.
The phone costs £120 more from UK sellers.

Thoughts?

Pay the extra £120

[Cardclaret]

You can sometimes buy items DDP. Or duty paid then its the sellers responsibility to pay freight, tax, duty etc.

We are going to have to get used to more of this when we fall out of the customs union. The EU have lots of deals out there which we will also fall out of. Strange animal is the WTO, don't expect one rate per good, there's a reason countries don't trade on wto.

[aggi]

Ok , iv'e seen a mobile phone on Fleabay and it is in Hong Kong for £190. The seller has 100% positive feedback and is a trusted seller. He has advertised the phone as ' no tax'. Now i'm not sure about this and don't want to be hit with a big bill on delivery. I've emailed him and he has replied that there is no custom tax payable.
The phone costs £120 more from UK sellers.

Thoughts?

There's a slim chance they'll be shipping it duty paid but, given the price difference, it seems unlikely.

What is probably happening is they are marking it as a gift which is effectively fraud.

If you want to take the risk it is up to you.