getting to the bottom of my parcelforce clearance and other fees

simpson7647

hi all, i recently purchased goods from the usa to be sent to the uk which cost me $52 + 49.99$ (p+p) which adds up to roughly $102.
This was sent through USPS which was then passed on to ParcelForce.
I recieved a letter the other day (around 6-7 days from purchase) that says i have to pay a clearance fee of 13.50GBP and tax at 9.99 GBP.
This product i bought was a tester and if it is what i am after, ill be buying in bulk of $500 to $1000 a month.
If i was to bulk buy at the costs labelled above, how much would the clearance fee and tax change? I guess the clearance fee may not change but the tax would shoot sky high if the products were labelled at the prices they were bought for.


How would this change if i was to have my next order valued at $10 and as a commercial product or gift? Difference in costs when labelling it either commercial product or gift?

How cheap could i get $500 to $1000 sent to me for as all of this wouldnt weigh too much at all and im after the fees.

Many thanks all

Ryan

simpson7647

bumpp anyone helpp pleasee

soolin

I can't help you with the exact costs, but someone will be along shortly i'm sure to give you a link to HMRC website.

However, please do not even consider defrauding HMRC by wrongly declaring this as a gift. It is a commercial sale and must be declared as such.

Freddie_Snowbits

simpson7647 wrote: »

hi all, i recently purchased goods from the usa to be sent to the uk which cost me $52 + 49.99$ (p+p) which adds up to roughly $102.

This was sent through USPS which was then passed on to ParcelForce.

I recieved a letter the other day (around 6-7 days from purchase) that says i have to pay a clearance fee of 13.50GBP and tax at 9.99 GBP.

This product i bought was a tester and if it is what i am after, ill be buying in bulk of $500 to $1000 a month.

If i was to bulk buy at the costs labelled above, how much would the clearance fee and tax change? I guess the clearance fee may not change but the tax would shoot sky high if the products were labelled at the prices they were bought for.

How would this change if i was to have my next order valued at $10 and as a commercial product or gift? Difference in costs when labelling it either commercial product or gift?

How cheap could i get $500 to $1000 sent to me for as all of this wouldnt weigh too much at all and im after the fees.

Many thanks all

Ryan

I have highlighted the part Ryan wants answered. He seems to query the VAT and Clearance fees.

I am sure otehrs on here will enlighten him of the Import duties imposed on goods sourced outside of the EU.

Foggster

Does this help?
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/best-buy-usa#worth

The_Pedant

The fact is that goods worth more than £18 (£36 for gifts) are usually liable to import duty AND VAT, in addition to the handling fee for clearance through customs and collection of duty for the package.

Firstly, are the goods for you own personal use or not? The 'gift' category would only apply to personal use. Any attempt too bring in goods for business use or more expensive items either labelled as gifts or with the value under-reported would be frowned upon by HM Customs (and given the powers they have, they're not the people you want to have chasing you for money).

As the importer, it is your responsibility that the goods are correctly documented/labelled.

Some companies are able to pre-pay the VAT for you (I believe a lot of the Jersey/Guernsey .com's do this) ... but that's probably unlikely unless you're dealing with somewhere that does lots of business with UK buyers.

I would imagine the fact that you would not change the tax situation but may well reduce the handling fee to a one-off charge for a single consignment/box. If you're buying in bulk then you may be better off locating the correct 'HS code' for the goods you are importing. Having the sender complete the correct code should ensure that you are not charged the wrong amount of duty (if applicable) and then VAT to be factored in. Whoever you're buying off may have more experience of customs documentation. Failing that, you could always ring HM C&E's helpline.

Well, that's my opinion ... based on the small experience I've had.

simpson7647

many thanks for all your help and advice

Does anyone have a breakdown of the % paid for each of the following:

import duty
excise duty ( i believe this doesnt matter as its only for alcohol and tobacco)
vat

Many thanks all
ryan

simpson7647

anyone help?
thanks

The_Pedant

Unfortunately, the import duty you pay will vary, depending on exactly what the goods are. Some goods attract more duty than others.

There's a complete minefield of information on this on the customs & excise pages here: http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageImport_RatesCodesTools
Unfortunately, it's a complete minefield as there's over 14,000 different codes, and so you can appreciate there's a LOT of different rates. It can be painful tracking down the exact 'HS code' for your goods. If you were able to get your supplier to advise that, customs & excise may be ale to let you know the exact rate (or may be able to advise directly if you tell them what you want to bring in).

This can range from 0, to something like 15% or so. The average import duty for goods is reportedly 4.2% (according to one link I found); this could at least be a starting point. As mentioned, this depends exactly on what you're importing.

VAT must then be applied at 17.5% to the whole amount:

declared valued + import duty + postage

So, taking your lower figure of $500 (declared value).
Sterling equivalent (at $1.46 per £)= £342.47

A rough estimate of 4.2% duty = + £14.38

Huge postage estimate of $150 (probably wildly inaccurate not know how big/heavy the items are) = + £102.72

Total value = £342.47 + £14.38 + £102.72 = £459.57

VAT = 17.5% of the above = £80.42

= a grand total of £539.99


The above is just an illustration ... As you can see though, th cost of the goods and the postage are the biggest elements (although getting clobbered for VAT on the lot never helps).

You really need to obtain some more accurate figures for postage & the duty. For an upper figure on postage you could probably play with UPS' shipping calculator which would give you a figure for shipping a box the size & weight you require.

JasonLVC

Search for your particulr product here :-

http://online.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/tariff?r.l1=1079717544&r.lc=en&r.l3=1078053532&r.l2=1079840688&r.i=1078053656&r.t=RESOURCES

Without any detail of what the thing imported is, you'll have to use the above link to figure it out.

As The Pedant has posted, the final price will be cost of goods + duty + P&P + VAT.

Any good coming into the UK from outside the EEC will be subject to duty + VAT, you canot reclaim the duty elemet but if you register for VAT and charge VAT to yourcustomers, you can reclaim the VAT element. If you arrange for the shipping of the goods you may be able to select your coruier and negotiate a better clearance fee with them.

simpson7647

okay many thanks to all of you for your replies.
So the 13.50 Clearance fee wont change no matter how big the order is although the likes of tax and vat will?

Im looking to make a purchase of around 300 GBP with delivery so how much more do you recon ill be paying if its all declared?

thanks