TNT Tax/Admin Fee

mpeel68

Hi,

I had some property sent back to me by a hotel I stayed at in Switzerland. The property was worthless and in any case, was mine, imported from the UK in the first place and being sent back to me.

The hotel valued the property (two linen blankets) at about £150 (which is completely crazy, anyone can see they're not worth that much) and declared it as "other". UPS paid a tax bill raised on that (of £25 or something) and have sent me an invoice for this + an Admin Fee totalling £45.

What steps should I take about this? Do I have to pay this invoice, if not, who do I complain to, TNT, HMRC or the Hotel?

Thanks for your help in resolving this thorny problem..... pics of the relevant pages below!







Thanks!!

Mpeel68 :-)

DCFC79

Complain about what, the amount of tax to pay or the admin fee ?

Cant see getting anywhere with ups as the tax bill is set by hmrc.

Not sure if you can ge tout paying but someone more knowledgeable will reply.

mpeel68

Well, the amount of tax to pay of course, and also if there were no tax to pay, there would be no admin fee, so the admin fee as well, I think.

The trouble I think may be that TNT have already paid HMRC (who quoted correctly on the basis of the hotel's mis-declaration), so it's a closed case.

Thanks!

DCFC79

mpeel68 wrote: »

Well, the amount of tax to pay of course, and also if there were no tax to pay, there would be no admin fee, so the admin fee as well, I think.

The trouble I think may be that TNT have already paid HMRC (who quoted correctly on the basis of the hotel's mis-declaration), so it's a closed case.

Thanks!

Yes I believe TNT have payed the fees on your behalf, there is a thread about royal mail or parcel force doing this.

wealdroam

OP, you should be able to claim back the vat from HMRC because the goods were exported and then imported.
That's the vat on the goods, not the vat on TNT's service.

No doubt HMRC will have a form for this.

DCFC79

wealdroam wrote: »

OP, you should be able to claim back the vat from HMRC because the goods were exported and then imported.
That's the vat on the goods, not the vat on TNT's service.

No doubt HMRC will have a form for this.

Thanks didnt know that

my bad OP

transient

As wealdroam says, would also enclose any email dialogue you had with the hotel and confirmation of bills you stayed there

visidigi

wealdroam wrote: »

OP, you should be able to claim back the vat from HMRC because the goods were exported and then imported.
That's the vat on the goods, not the vat on TNT's service.

No doubt HMRC will have a form for this.

The problem is, you can usually only do this when you have exported the items via a trackable means.

The OP has carried the goods out of the country, and then left them in Switzerland, this is an EFTA, not EU country and as such the products imported from this country are subject to VAT and duties accordingly.

The items were over valued, this is down to the hotel if they completed the paperwork, or you if you sent them the paperwork to attach to the package.

There isn't an error on the entry, on the basis of them clearing against the values entered.

If you want to dispute this charge it would need to be resubmitted to HMRC and as such would be liable for a resubmittance fee as the error is not due to TNT (I am not sure if the UPS comment was a typo? as UPS don't own TNT...yet.).

The problem is cause by the fact Switzerland is EFTA and the paperwork was incorrectly completed and signed against.

Not much you can do, I would pay it and then chase the hotel, especially if they made you pay significantly for the return of your items.

mpeel68

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. Yes, UPS have nothing to do with it - just my own idiocy there, as all these companies have three-letter acronyms!

I didn't complete any paperwork whatsoever, the hotel did. On the other hand, the hotel did the returning for free, and just charged me the €65 which were TNT's fees.

I'm aware that the line that I imported and then exported the goods would be hard to prove. But it is patently obvious that the packaged items were not even worth a penny to anyone apart from me (sentimental value), so I'm really disgusted with the hotel for claiming the item was worth 200 swiss francs. I don't know what they will do about it though... what defense do I have against them saying "We had no idea what value the goods were, so we overestimated to be on the safe side"?

Would an alternative be to send back the goods? I was thinking you can't just be liable for anything someone sends you if they fill the details in falsely. Otherwise what's to stop me going to Switzerland and sending things to people in the UK I didn't particularly like claiming they were worth a fortune. With other companies, e.g. Parcel Force, they hold the item in the depot until you pay the customs charge, and if you don't, the item is returned to the sender. What gives TNT the right to give me the item without breathing a word about customs charges (I never saw any of this documentation, it was probably hidden inside the plastic pouch or something) and then bill me weeks later.

Thanks!

transient

visidigi wrote: »

The problem is, you can usually only do this when you have exported the items via a trackable means.

The OP has carried the goods out of the country, and then left them in Switzerland, this is an EFTA, not EU country and as such the products imported from this country are subject to VAT and duties accordingly.

The items were over valued, this is down to the hotel if they completed the paperwork, or you if you sent them the paperwork to attach to the package.

There isn't an error on the entry, on the basis of them clearing against the values entered.

If you want to dispute this charge it would need to be resubmitted to HMRC and as such would be liable for a resubmittance fee as the error is not due to TNT (I am not sure if the UPS comment was a typo? as UPS don't own TNT...yet.).

The problem is cause by the fact Switzerland is EFTA and the paperwork was incorrectly completed and signed against.

Not much you can do, I would pay it and then chase the hotel, especially if they made you pay significantly for the return of your items.

Visi what if the OP had proof of hospital stay, the contents etc etc maybe via email or such like and can prove that this was just a simple mistake?

arcon5

If you did that I'd be worried about a) the time it took to get back to the sender and the additional risk of loss b) whether the hotel would charge you for sending them a second time and c) if there is a possibility of the goods being disposed off instead of returned