Tax limit from New York...

malkie76

Went through Heathrow last week after a flight from NY and couldn't find a customs officer if I wanted to.

just because you don't see them doesn't mean they don't see you.......

On the other hand - don't we pay equivalent of US VAT on items bought there? So why such a low limit?

Obviously I understand countries don't want people making money out of importing in a suitcase, but isn't £1000 more reasonable? £390 isn't that much if you buy say a watch..

Yes, you pay US sales tax, but the point is that you are spending your money in another country and hence the UK economy loses out. If there was no penalty everyone would shop overseas, whereas we should be investing in our own economy.

whatmichaelsays

Any wrote: »

Thank you everyone, the same question recently arisen within my circles as we are going shopping to NY in Feb and I am planning to buy stuff there for money I get for Christmas:-)

Also glad it is £390. Doubt I will buy much more. On the other hand - don't we pay equivalent of US VAT on items bought there? So why such a low limit?

Obviously I understand countries don't want people making money out of importing in a suitcase, but isn't £1000 more reasonable? £390 isn't that much if you buy say a watch..

The USA doesn't have "VAT" in the same sense that we have in Europe. Instead, they have a state sales tax of around 5% (this varies from state to state and isn't included in the ticket price). Unlike VAT, it is not reclaimable if you intend to export the goods.

whatmichaelsays

malkie76 wrote: »

just because you don't see them doesn't mean they don't see you......

Maybe not, but it was in stark contrast to the high-profile approach that I've seen HMRC take.

My work takes me to Gibraltar relatively frequently and you can invariably expect a pretty visible welcome from Customs when you get back into the UK. Likewise, my parents were surprised at the visibility of HMRC officers when their cruise ship, which had called into Gib, returned to Southampton. I expected something similar at Heathrow.

Any

malkie76 wrote: »

Yes, you pay US sales tax, but the point is that you are spending your money in another country and hence the UK economy loses out. If there was no penalty everyone would shop overseas, whereas we should be investing in our own economy.

Yep, because everyone will pay £400 for flight just to get £1000 pound worth of goods for little over half price.. You would have to be some serious shopper to do that on regular basis.

Not sure how strong is your math, but my math says that it is highly unlikely..


Before EU when you shopped abroad you could get their tax back and it then made sense, also it was in easily reached distance-but here we are talking quite a distance.

It is just way for our government to screw even more taxes from us.

I understand it has to be controlled, as I said, but really £390 is not that much.

All that happens now is that people take the tags off.

duchy

Although you don't see them -you are watched through one way glass and by cameras as you walk through.

At the risk of tempting fate I've only ever got pulled by customs once -and I was SO not happy as I was with a friend who had bought way over her allowance. I had warned her that if we got pulled she was on her own and we did.

She was several bottles over -hundreds of cigerettes over.....when asked what was mine I told the complete truth. Amazingly she got to keep it all without paying duty after batting her eyelashes at the guy and telling him it was her birthday (He checked her passport-it really was ) but I don't think she'd do it again.

Any

duchy wrote: »

Although you don't see them -you are watched through one way glass and by cameras as you walk through.

At the risk of tempting fate I've only ever got pulled by customs once -and I was SO not happy as I was with a friend who had bought way over her allowance. I had warned her that if we got pulled she was on her own and we did.

She was several bottles over -hundreds of cigerettes over.....when asked what was mine I told the complete truth. Amazingly she got to keep it all without paying duty after batting her eyelashes at the guy and telling him it was her birthday (He checked her passport-it really was ) but I don't think she'd do it again.

I know many people do that...
And I also know many people get away with it.. The worse I heard is that people had it taken away from them (talking cigarettes and alcohol).

Would still deter me with flying loads over the allowance.

roshydoshy

thanks everyone for the inputs it has given me a lot to think about, i think if i do go over i will probably be within the limits but i'll know not to take the proverbial if i do go overboard!

but i'll bring some things i'm not overly fond of in my suitcase that won't hurt me to leave behind if i go over my weight limit

phatbear

I should probably do myself a favour and cut and paste a standard response to this question, which has been asked lots of times.

£390 is the limit hell its the law, do you avoid paying paye/ni road tax etc etc?

Always makes me chuckle when people take tags off items as there are a couple of things which easily identify non UK/EU clothes to your friendly customs officer and for obvious reasons I wont go into them on here.

Another quick point in closing in recent history as I was seizing everything in a passengers bag, including the bag, for taking the rise she said "why are'nt you looking for real criminals instead of taking my goods" the easy answer is we have to deal with whats in front of us so if im wasting my time with some chancer im not looking for the "real" bad guys!, makes ya think does'nt it, well I hope it does.

roshydoshy

thanks phatbear

malkie76

Yep, because everyone will pay £400 for flight just to get £1000 pound worth of goods for little over half price.. You would have to be some serious shopper to do that on regular basis.....
Not sure how strong is your math, but my math says that it is highly unlikely.

Not sure I follow you there. If you pay £400 for a flight, then spend £1000 getting £2000 of goods then you've 'saved' a net of £600. So, even only a single trip (using your example) you've saved a significant amount.

However, my point is that our economy suffers if you take your money and spend it in another country - we lose the custom and the tax generated by the sale, hence our economy suffers. That's why there is a limit, and for good reason.