Rip off England: Import duties and fees

[King Herald]

Parrot of Doom said:

I recently imported an item marked as worth $100 by the seller.

FedEx sent me a bill for VAT + admin, about £23. £17 or so of that £23 is VAT.

So thats £17 of VAT on a $100 item.

Now is it me, or is that VAT amount mysteriously double what it should be?

Fedex wrote my wife again a couple of days ago, giving her five days before they take legal action. She called them up and asked WTF?!!!! She told them that they have already informed us the SENDER had signed to pay all charges. She told them that her sister had been in touch and given them credit card details to bill her. "Oh, well look into it again" they told my wife.

I thought they were a respectable company, but no, they're obviously weapans grade cocktards to a man!!

[JMGS4]

King Herald said:

The gift was valued at $200 on the paperwork on the box, labelled as clothing, and the shipping cost a ridiculous $120. Shirley this can't be right: £72 duties on an Xmas pressie that is worth £100 max?

It's not the actual value of the goods, it's the stated value PLUS the freight i.e $320,- then possibly import duty up to 20%, then VAT, then the Fedex costs.... cheap at half the price!?!?!?
Next time get it sent with a ficticious value put on the label...

[King Herald]

JMGS4 said:

King Herald said:

The gift was valued at $200 on the paperwork on the box, labelled as clothing, and the shipping cost a ridiculous $120. Shirley this can't be right: £72 duties on an Xmas pressie that is worth £100 max?

It's not the actual value of the goods, it's the stated value PLUS the freight i.e $320,- then possibly import duty up to 20%, then VAT, then the Fedex costs.... cheap at half the price!?!?!?
Next time get it sent with a ficticious value put on the label...

Yes, I know, it was all discussed ten minutes into the thread.

[Nickyboy]

I work for UPS and we collect payment at the door, if you dont pay you dont get your parcel simple as. Its harder for people to query it when you're stood at the door with the parcel in your hand. People expect you to be able to sort out problems with the invoice there and then despite the fact its nothing to do with you, you just collect the money. If you want to query the charges then have to refuse delivery whewre it is returned to our depot and we contact the shipper and find out what they want doing with the parcel, if its a mistake on the paperwork then fine, part of the charges may be waived or fully waived in some circumstances.

The charges will be the value of goods + shipping + insurance + dutyable amount (value of goods) + VAT + brokerage charge.

So a $200 item ends up with charges of approx £40. Its normally in the region of 30% tax (duty + VAT) plus the handling charge.

Also as i've found out recieving stuff from DHL you pay the VAT on the actual shipping charges not what you were charged. I paid $150 shipping on something but the actual cost was over $200 which is what i paid VAT on.

With regards to sending items for repair, if you fill in the correct paperwork when you send it and the sender does the same when shipping it back to you then you wont have to pay any charges. At the end of the day the courier is just a carrier, any charges etc go down to what paperwork is submitted to Customs.

[rumpelstiltskin]

I've bought dozens of items from the States,mostly motorcycle parts,never once been caught by any kind of tax!Guy from ParcelFarce told me once that customs just look at the crates of parcels and just go eh?That one's getting hit today,let that one go etc etc.He told me not to tell anyone,ooopss!

[tinman0]

This is all a bit odd.

Came through customs on Thursday morning with 4 tyres as checked in luggage. Done it before, and head to the Declare lane as I'm not dumb enough to pretend stupidity by struggling the trolley through the Nothing To Declare.

Had the bill ready, and they said that the limit is £145 before you pay any tax or duty. Showed them my receipt which confirmed that I was below the allowance and went on my merry way.

So why do we pay VAT on imports through a shipping company if there is an allowance at the airport for personal imports?

[jeff m]

tinman0 said:

This is all a bit odd.

Came through customs on Thursday morning with 4 tyres as checked in luggage. Done it before, and head to the Declare lane as I'm not dumb enough to pretend stupidity by struggling the trolley through the Nothing To Declare.

Had the bill ready, and they said that the limit is £145 before you pay any tax or duty. Showed them my receipt which confirmed that I was below the allowance and went on my merry way.

So why do we pay VAT on imports through a shipping company if there is an allowance at the airport for personal imports?

Probably because it would not be cost efficient for them to do lots of small transactions at the airport. They get the carriers to do their work for them when it comes to freight so they really don't care.

[Nickyboy]

jeff m said:

tinman0 said:

This is all a bit odd.

Came through customs on Thursday morning with 4 tyres as checked in luggage. Done it before, and head to the Declare lane as I'm not dumb enough to pretend stupidity by struggling the trolley through the Nothing To Declare.

Had the bill ready, and they said that the limit is £145 before you pay any tax or duty. Showed them my receipt which confirmed that I was below the allowance and went on my merry way.

So why do we pay VAT on imports through a shipping company if there is an allowance at the airport for personal imports?

Probably because it would not be cost efficient for them to do lots of small transactions at the airport. They get the carriers to do their work for them when it comes to freight so they really don't care.

Exactly that, everyone brings things back from their holidays for themselves or as gifts so stopping everyone who spends more than £30 would logistically impossible and for sake of collecting a couple of quid in duty isnt worthwhile