Import Duty, Wrongly Charged VAT; How do you claim it back?

H.P.Bazxter

Hello>ALL

Have searched the forum but couldn't find any solution, hoping to get clear answer. Please help.

I have recently purchased well used DVD set from Japan, paid about £200, and got hit by all custom duty and parcelforce fees. I was half expecting the Import Duty (£19.46) and Parcelforce Clearance Fee (£13.50) but wasn't expecting the VAT charge, since the DVDs have no commercial value since the condition of the good, which was clearly stated in the delaration.

They charged £86.33 as VAT!! That is only correct if good value was £589. I am not happy to pay anyway, certainly not this much! but had to as the goods was urgently needed, so all the tax etc. are now paid.

My questions are;
1. How come the VAT was this much?
2. If this was an erroneous amount, how can I claim it back?

As for 2. the HMR says;
3.6 Where can I ask about or query a customs charge?

If you have any questions about a particular customs charge you should contact Customs at the postal depot shown on the charge label as soon as possible. If you write to Customs you should include as much detail as you can including, if possible, the charge label, the sender's declaration and the part of the wrapper with your address on it. If your claim is about an overcharge of tax because the declared value of the goods was incorrect you will need to supply evidence eg an invoice, receipt of purchase etc, to support your claim.
Customs deals with thousands of packages every day and without this information we may not be able to trace your particular package in our official records. If you telephone it will help if you have the package with you. In the event of a claim you should retain all wrappings and documents until your claim is settled.



This is not clear enough to me. Who / where is Custom??


please advise HOW TO reclaim, and if you have done so successfully please give me ANY tip you can. I am also reading into Parcel Force charges in the forum, and it's all interesting but looks futile!


Many thanks in advance x

custardy

was there not contact details on the customs label?
how can something have no value if you paid £200 for it?

soolin

I'm not quite sure why you think VAT is not payable? The DVD was not free, you paid for it therefore it has a value.

Not my field really though so I await someone telling me why I am wrong.

H.P.Bazxter

I have not received the goods, so I don't know the contact detail, but HMR urges to take action ASAP, thus this thread. Parcelforce informed me to contact HMR, at the time of payment, and HMR says the above. So what should one do?

The item has no commercial value, as it is more of a collectors item, which non-geek people unlike myself would not consider of any value. It cost 200 quid, certainly not worth over 30 quid, if any.

xx

H.P.Bazxter

soolin wrote: »

I'm not quite sure why you think VAT is not payable? The DVD was not free, you paid for it therefore it has a value.

Not my field really though so I await someone telling me why I am wrong.

I was told (and this may be wrong) second hand goods with no commercial value usually mean no VAT.

Even if I still have to pay, why pay at 43% rate?

custardy

going by your reasoning then anything i buy 2nd hand on ebay wouldnt have duty applied
they do

your item probably came through mount pleasant(though not all do!)
contact no. is 0207 239 2447

the VAT amount could be a simple error

soolin

H.P.Bazxter wrote: »

I have not received the goods, so I don't know the contact detail, but HMR urges to take action ASAP, thus this thread. Parcelforce informed me to contact HMR, at the time of payment, and HMR says the above. So what should one do?

The item has no commercial value, as it is more of a collectors item, which non-geek people unlike myself would not consider of any value. It cost 200 quid, certainly not worth over 30 quid, if any.

xx

The only thing I can say (and I sell in a collectors market) is the value is what someone will pay for it. So even for tax purposes I have to declare the amount I receive even if that is 10 x the RRP of the item.

soolin

custardy wrote: »

going by your reasoning then anything i buy 2nd hand on ebay wouldnt have duty applied
they do

your item probably came through mount pleasant(though not all do!)
contact no. is 0207 239 2447

I believe that to be the same argument we sometimes see about selling second hand items where there is a general belief that it does not constitute business trading.

If second hand /old items had no value for HMRC purposes all those million pound antique dealers would be laughing!

H.P.Bazxter

soolin wrote: »

The only thing I can say (and I sell in a collectors market) is the value is what someone will pay for it. So even for tax purposes I have to declare the amount I receive even if that is 10 x the RRP of the item.

right, OK, I thought it might be. But why this much?

I wasn't going to lie to avoid duties and TAX, so will pay, if applicable, but not this much.

H.P.Bazxter

soolin wrote: »

I believe that to be the same argument we sometimes see about selling second hand items where there is a general belief that it does not constitute business trading.

If second hand /old items had no value for HMRC purposes all those million pound antique dealers would be laughing!

well, antiques and secondhand goods are different, really, arn't they? My DVDs are sort of geeky collectible, so one might call it with antique value, one might call it a pile of junk, customs may find it valuable, it all depends, I guess.

zenseeker

I don't think that Customs staff are particularly worried about alleged collectability vs actual value, they just see what the sender put on the Customs sticker and charge accordingly. If it is really only worth £30, then the sender should have put £30, you would have been charged a lot less, if at all.

The amount that you are being charged does seem like an error though, sure it shouldn't be that much...but what do I know?