perfume from usa whats the import tax rate

pippasdog

my mrs wants flowerbomb perfume (designer perfume ? ) for xmas harodds sell it £52 for 50 ml plus postage seen it in us for £72 for 100 ml free delivery however anybody know the import tax rate thought I would try and impress her with 100ml harodds dont sell 100ml

cheers guys

djtonyb

I believe it would be 17.5 % ie VAT

julbags

You will probably get charged import duty as well as VAT. When I brought some bike parts in from the States I got charged 4% import duty and 17.5% VAT. The tax is worked out on the whole amount (i.e. goods plus shipping), you may also have to pay a handling charge for the courier, e.g. FedEx or for the RoyalMail for presenting it to customs for you. If you buy it through a proper shop and they ship using FedEx or UPS or similar then you will have to pay the extra tax as it is a standard part of their process. If it comes through the postal service it may slip though if they declare it as a gift or a low value (can't remember exactly what this is).

I looked up the import duty rate on the customs and excise website, there are different rates for different things. If I'd wanted to bring a whole bike in it would have been something like 20% import duty!