How much import duty will i have to pay?

hunter4 · 23 February 2008 at 3:06AM

Hi, i have bought 2 apple 16gb iphones from america for £130 each. However they retail over here at £330 so i was wondering if i would have to pay import tax and VAT on the price i payed for the item or for the value of the item in the UK? Also how much ruffly would i have to pay? And if i say the item is only worth £30 and mark it as a gift in order to try and aviod any taxes, if they find out the item is worth much more than the price i have quoted it at will there be any fines?
Please help, thanks

Brooker_Dave · 23 February 2008 at 10:19AM

hunter4 wrote: »

Hi, i have bought 2 apple 16gb iphones from america for £130 each. However they retail over here at £330 so i was wondering if i would have to pay import tax and VAT on the price i payed for the item or for the value of the item in the UK? Also how much ruffly would i have to pay? And if i say the item is only worth £30 and mark it as a gift in order to try and aviod any taxes, if they find out the item is worth much more than the price i have quoted it at will there be any fines?
Please help, thanks

If you have the exporter put down that they're only worth £30, and they go missing or get damaged in transit you're stuffed.

If customs open them up and find phones worth more than £30 you're well stuffed.

Why not just pay the duty and vat on them at £130 and not risk the above?

You've got them for well below half price so it's not like you're losing.

hunter4 · 23 February 2008 at 11:53AM

Thanks, so i only have to pay import duty and VAT on the price i payed for the items, not the price they are in the UK? How much ruffly would you sey i would have 2 pay?

Jedster · 23 February 2008 at 12:31PM

I'm sure customs use market value to calculate their charges

Check out the customs website

martindow · 23 February 2008 at 12:53PM

You will be liable for VAT and duty on the price you have paid (the cost of the phones plus the cost of carriage). I would reckon on paying 25 or 30 per cent of this in charges (duty, VAT and clearance fee). It may come through with no charge but don't bank on this.

Apart from the illegality of it, the sender is not likely to underdeclare the value as they will want to be sure that the phones are fully insured in case they go missing.

custardy · 23 February 2008 at 1:36PM

geven they will most likely use a fully tracked/insured delivery service then you can bank on getting charged.
all charge %'s are laid out on HMRC's website.
if you find out the courier then you can check their clearence fee's as well

hunter4 · 23 February 2008 at 5:25PM

thanks, so how much would you say i am looking at paying for each item. I payed £130 each so £260 in total, but they are worth £330 each over here so £660 in total? Including import duty, VAT and handling charges from the Royal Mail?

custardy · 23 February 2008 at 5:27PM

go on the hmrc site and check the %
its what i would do,and i very much doubt they will send them via RM with the value

buglawton · 23 February 2008 at 5:27PM

I would add about 40% to get an estimate.You are obviously gambling on them being correctly unlocked for use in the UK.

- Always have to pay 17.5% on imports
- Allow 10% for Import Duty
- Then Royal Mail fiddle fees

hunter4 · 23 February 2008 at 5:33PM

but is that 40% on the price i payed for them (£130 each) or the price they retail at in the UK (£330 each) and they are fully unlocked to work on all networks worldwide

custardy · 23 February 2008 at 5:36PM

thats down to customs discretion
if they feel the stated value is to low then they will check what the deem to be the true value and charge on that

How much import duty will i have to pay?

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