I've got a package coming over from the US, the total value is around £500. Has anyone got any idea how much duty + customs charges i'm looking to pay???
I've got the bad feeling its going to be loads :( :mad: :(

Cross your fingers as some slip through.

Should be 17.5% VAT and some customs handling charges depending who it's shipped with. I think the rule is anything over £18 is subject to VAT.

Belive me, fingers are crossed!

I thought i read somewhere that imports are subject to some kind of special V.A.T charged at 20%, seriously hope thats wrong.

The package is being shipped by U.P.S

Also anyone got any ideas how long stuff takes to get from the state??

Cheers.

Last time I got anything through I ended up with a whopping set of charges...

Since then I've developed a rule of thumb..

Take dollar figure.. convert it to pounds on a 1 : 1 basis.. then work out 15% of that value..

So, $500 = £500 then do 15%

.. ie: around £75... You can expect about that in charges once the post office and the rest have taken their cut...

Get your item sent as a gift, it will be exempt from charges.

The customs have a nice trick of adding duty to the value and then charging VAT on the total, just like the government do with petrol.

Originally posted by alchresearch
Get your item sent as a gift, it will be exempt from charges.

The customs have a nice trick of adding duty to the value and then charging VAT on the total, just like the government do with petrol.

Yeah i've been told they do that, sly B*******. Why i have to pay VAT on something that was purchased in the states is beyond me.

Cant really do the gift thing as its already on its way here. I've been told you can get round it by having stuff marked up as customer samples or warrenty replacements also.

The amount of duty added depends on entirely what sort of item it is that you've bought.

Originally posted by mr craig
Yeah i've been told they do that, sly B*******. Why i have to pay VAT on something that was purchased in the states is beyond me.

Cant really do the gift thing as its already on its way here. I've been told you can get round it by having stuff marked up as customer samples or warrenty replacements also.

Warranty replacements won't work. I've just been sued by Fedex for not paying a bill for customs fees on a warranty item coming from Canada.

Originally posted by Cyclone
The amount of duty added depends on entirely what sort of item it is that you've bought.


Really, so how much duty do you think i'd be paying on a box full of porn and guns????? :D

Only joking, what i've really got coming over is some new pool cues. I've had a look at HM Customs (http://www.hmce.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageImport_ShowContent&propertyType=document&id=HMCE_CL_001454) website and downloaded this (http://www.hmce.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/downloadFile?contentID=HMCE_PROD_009989) and the closest thing i can find on there to cues is golf culbs. Its says standard duty rate is 2.7% and VAT is 17.5%. So i take it that i'd pay 2.7% of say £500 and then pays 17.5% of the total?? Its pretty confusing. :confused: :(

I recieved a package today valued at $60 the customs charge was £9.71.

If you state that it is being sent for repair or similar then there should be no charge. As long as inside it states the same in some way.

If I'm not mistaken the duty also depends on where the item is manufactured. The UK has trade treaties with various countries so for instance if the cues are manufactured in the US you might not have to pay duty where if they are manufactured in Taiwan you will.

To be clear, duty is the variable charge applied depending on the type of item and country of manufacture. And then on top of that you pay VAT of 17.5%. So even if you have an item with no applicable duty you still pay VAT (if over £18 ).

If its sent via UPS it won't slip through like it sometimes does with Royal Mail. You can always ring the HMCE hotline number (probably on their website) - they are very helpful at telling you what % it should be charged at (also useful to get the 'official' rate, in case UPS decide to charge you more)

Originally posted by ncrossland
If its sent via UPS it won't slip through like it sometimes does with Royal Mail. You can always ring the HMCE hotline number (probably on their website) - they are very helpful at telling you what % it should be charged at (also useful to get the 'official' rate, in case UPS decide to charge you more)

Thanks, i think i'll do that. I don't want to pay anymore than i have to. I guess i'll just have to wait for them to get here and see how much i get stung for. :(

gifts are NOT exempt from customs charges. the limits are

£18 for a purchase and £36 for a gift

its a standard charge from whereever in the world.

it does alter for types of purchase. In the same way products in this country have different VAT charges.

you will also get hit by a handling charge by the carrier

I bought a guitar from the US several years ago for around $700. If I remember correctly UPS charged me around £120 when they delivered it.

Steep but still a lot cheaper than buying the same guitar over here!

Well i've been charged a total of £106. Bit more than i was expecting to pay but seen as you can't buy them over here i guess i didnt have much choice really.

Originally posted by robbie
gifts are NOT exempt from customs charges. the limits are

£18 for a purchase and £36 for a gift

its a standard charge from whereever in the world.

it does alter for types of purchase. In the same way products in this country have different VAT charges.

you will also get hit by a handling charge by the carrier

Yeah but surely if its all wrapped up as a gift and mark up as less than £36, even tho it could be worth £2000 it would get through without having to pay anything.

Only took 5 days for my cues to get from New York to Sheffield. I was pretty chuffed about that, i was expecting it to be a fair bit longer.