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

Premier_2

Well 30000 JPY is about 200 GBP, so it seems an error may have been made. (unless it was woefully undervalued)

You'll need to pay the customs fee and then appeal it - as cyril82 says, you'll get details from parcelforce.

VAT is usually payable as explained by Hintza in post#14.

Is the £13.50 clearing fee correct? I thought it was normally £8.00

Apparently the higher fee is "for express parcels imported through the EMS (i.e. International Datapost equivalent) and GLS (i.e. Euro 48 equivalent) networks and also for high value standard parcels (valued at over €1000)."
http://www.parcelforce.com/portal/pw/content1?mediaId=load105044&catId=2500042

If you want to challenge the £13.50, you do that direct with parcelforce.

Note that if you don't pay & get the item within a certain period, storage charges start to accrue.

H.P.Bazxter

Premier wrote: »

Well 30000 JPY is about 200 GBP, so it seems an error may have been made. (unless it was woefully undervalued)

You'll need to pay the customs fee and then appeal it - as cyril82 says, you'll get details from parcelforce.

VAT is usually payable as explained by Hintza in post#14.

Is the £13.50 clearing fee correct? I thought it was normally £8.00

Apparently the higher fee is "for express parcels imported through the EMS (i.e. International Datapost equivalent) and GLS (i.e. Euro 48 equivalent) networks and also for high value standard parcels (valued at over €1000)."
http://www.parcelforce.com/portal/pw/content1?mediaId=load105044&catId=2500042

If you want to challenge the £13.50, you do that direct with parcelforce.

Note that if you don't pay & get the item within a certain period, storage charges start to accrue.

Hi, thanks for that,

as in my previous post the fees/duty/tax whatever all paid, and delivery is expected for tomorrow. 13.50 is due to EMS, so that is correct.

As for actual value, well, 20000 JPY is what I paid, and like I said they are well used DVDs, clearly opened and viewed, not THAT clean, etc. and I don't see how they looked anything like 500quid set of films.

OK, I will see if there is any more info once I received the goods. Hopefully I get some money back somehow...

So nobody ever challenged them for this then?

Premier_2

H.P.Bazxter wrote: »

so invoice from the original purchase is no good for appeal?

Not necessarily, but it would be a good place to start.

How was it purchased? ebay auction? If so that could be considered it was sold at market value. If not via auction, the the item may be considered as being sold well below market value (perhaps to minimise import duty)

Is there any reason you think why HMRC would value this at almost 3x what you paid for it?

Premier_2

H.P.Bazxter wrote: »

...As for actual value, well, 20000 JPY is what I paid, and like I said they are well used DVDs, clearly opened and viewed, not THAT clean, etc. and I don't see how they looked anything like 500quid set of films....

I suspect then that they simply used the wrong exchange rate, so it's worth a challenge.

... but you say the import duty is about right
(maybe you used the wrong import duty rate - it's incredibly confusing)

H.P.Bazxter

Premier wrote: »

Not necessarily, but it would be a good place to start.

How was it purchased? ebay auction? If so that could be considered it was sold at market value. If not via auction, the the item may be considered as being sold well below market value (perhaps to minimise import duty)

Is there any reason you think why HMRC would value this at almost 3x what you paid for it?

no idea why, unless the custom person who may have opened the packet was my kind of geek and thought DVDs are worth fortune...

cyril82

If it is confirmed that customs estimated your liability due to being unconvinced that the declared value was correct, i.e. they thought it was understated, you may well be able to appeal the charge and have it adjusted if you provide your purchase receipt/invoice and convince them you were not party to the mis-declaration, which is a criminal offence.

barmonkey

im interested to know what these DVDs are of for you to pay £200 for something worth £30

NotQuiteNorbert

barmonkey wrote: »

im interested to know what these DVDs are of for you to pay £200 for something worth £30

Actually, the same thing had crossed my mind.

H.P.Bazxter

They are of some old TV series from Japan, which nobody over hear ever heard of (and apparently was v. unpopular in Japan). I think there are 6 discs in the set. I'd say 1 well used 2nd hand DVD would be worth 5quid, times 6 = 30. Only worth a lot to me as they were directed by 12 different ppl in specific genere, that represents 90's Euro-Asian art scenes...

Glad you've asked?

Samba_Pa_Ti

Hintza wrote: »

VAT Payable would be based either what he put on the customs label. What was that amount?

Or more correctly price paid + postage + import duty @15%

Sounds as if they have calculated incorrectly so write them a letter with all the details and you calculations they should send you a cheque.

Having said all that total charges will be in the region of +£65 and that is without adding the postage element (perhaps)

just bought somthing from japan for a similar price and got stung for tax as well, was expect customs charges but the breakdown annoyed me quite a bit

it was somthing like this ;

Total customs charges : £63.50
VAT : £42.50
Import tax/charges : £13
Parcelforce Handling Fee : £8

i expected a lot more import tax and less vat (about 120 quids worth to import it) so your estimate is spot on compared to what i received, strangely postage price didnt seem to get taken into the amount.