Import Tax Question

jcb33

jcb33

jcb33

Soldato
Joined
11 Apr 2003
Posts
4,330
Location
Notts
Hey all,

Never purcahsed anything from abroad bar Games and the like, however just found some T-shirts I like from the USA, including shipping I am looking at $136 worth of them...

But I have no idea how import tax works and was just wondering what I am likely to pay on top of that.

Thanks,
Jcb33.
 
i was getting rather irked with the ridiculous labeling of links and lack of a very simple direct table of common import duties available from link on their main page, their site is a complete joke aswell. the customs and duty site btw

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channels...ntent&id=HMCE_CL_000014&propertyType=document

When it opens, you'll think its broken and not loaded right, then you'll cry when you reload and its the same.

Though I forgot what the import duty is on clothes, i think its 10-12% import duty, then normal uk tax most likely(98% chance you'll get charged for it). I just ordered some stuff from a US supplements site as almost everything is just stupidly cheaper from over there. I couldn't find a confirmed number for supplements but seems its 12.8% according to other sites and with tax its not hugely cheaper anymore, though even with £40 shipping its still about £40 cheaper all told assuming I get charged import duty and tax.


I haven't ordered anything from the US in quite a few years, but last time i got nothing charged at the door but a couple weeks later I got a letter from Fed ex with the charges, essentially they pay the charges at customs and get the money back off you later on.
 
There is also customs chargers and extra shipping charges to worry about. When i ordered a some stuff from Hong Kong, not only did i have to pay tax on it, but i got hit with a customs charge to cover the cost of them sorting though my package, and then i got an extra shipping charge by my courier company who charge for them having to pick it up from customs.
 
If you want to find out the duty and vat rates for things you want to import then go here ... once there click on the link in the main text that starts find commodity codes ....

The lower search box on the page that takes you to will allow you to search for just about anything and find out its duty and vat rates (but the results can take some thinking about to work out which is the right thing).

Notes:
- if the value including shipping is < £18 then vat will not be charged
- if the item is marked as a gift that figure rises to £36 (people sometimes claim that doing this means that you don't pay it at all ... this is wrong)
- if the figure for duty comes to < £7 then you probably won't be charged it
- there will likely be an admin fee from what ever company is doing the shipping.

Note if the item is shipped by a courier company, e.g. Fedex, always check the breakdown before paying anything. I've just spent several days sorting out an invoice where an extra £61 charge for shipping had been included during the customs calculation in error, (the shipping had been included in the original total figure) ... I wasn't charged this but it mucked up the vat and duty calculations. I challenged this and have had it removed and the extra vat and duty charges (along with the admin fee) credited back against the invoice :)

You may be lucky and have the package go through with no charges but you should be prepared to have to pay.
 
Yep, always be prepared to pay basically and work out if its worth shipping based on the full amount you'll get charged. I do that and everything i bother buying is cheaper anyway, i think only one package from something years ago, years and years ago got buy and I saved about an extra £80. But mostly you'll get charged.
 
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