Import tax on a board game from the USA?

ianpwilliams

I'm considering buying a board game online from the USA, and I'm trying to work out how much the import tax would be.

$65.95 (£42.69) - the board game
$39.62 (£25.64) - shipping
$4.00 (£2.59) - handling fee

$109.57 (£70.91) - TOTAL

So then I went to this webpage:

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageImport_ShowContent&id=HMCE_PROD_009989&propertyType=document

But I'm still not entirely clear on how much I would have to pay.

Does anyone have any idea how I can work this out?

pjclar02

Hello there

Yes - you will need to pay import VAT, but not customs duty. Therefore you will pay 20% import VAT - £14

ianpwilliams

Oh ok. Can I ask what your source is? I'm sure it's right, it's just totally different to the link I was looking at (which isn't very clear anyway).

pjclar02

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000014&propertyType=document#P37_3361

vax2002

ask someone to buy you it as a present, for Christmas perhaps ?

ianpwilliams

That's ok, I can live with £14. I was concerned it might be £30 or more or something.

pjclar02

vax2002 wrote: »

ask someone to buy you it as a present, for Christmas perhaps ?

Would this help anyway?

Mikeyorks

ianpwilliams wrote: »

That's ok, I can live with £14. I was concerned it might be £30 or more or something.

Not sure where the $4 handling comes from - is that (eg UPS) to your door? If there's a handover at the entry point into the UK then you're likely to have an £8 handling charge by the UK carrier in addition to the £14 standard rate VAT.

skater_kat

it might be cheaper if you know someone in the US who could recieve it domestic and then ship it to you as a gift

prowla

I think that the "value" is the purchase price plus the shipping, but am not sure about the handling fee.
Will the seller ship it marked as a gift?

ianpwilliams

I doubt it. Looks like about £20ish extra then. Thanks for the help.