How much import duty will i be charged?

divadee

i have ordered sone stuff from america, approx $242.00 so about £120ish

i know i might get lucky and not have to pay import duty but i dont have that much luck!!!

how much will i have to pay out? is is just the 17.5% vat rate and then maybe the couriers charge on top (i know parcelforce charge £8). or is it going to be more than that? i worked out i should get charged approx £30.05 incl the £8 courier charge. is this right???

can anyone help and tell me exactly what percentage i will have to pay?

colin79666

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageVAT_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_001454&propertyType=document

it's all there

Snooze_Control

I've just received a duty invoice from Fedex for a computer equipment purchase I made from the US about 3 weeks ago. The item value was $45 (£22.47 at todays exchange rate).

The breakdown is as follows :

Disbursements out of the scope of EU VAT : GBP 10.70
Clearance Administration Charge Vatable at 0% : GBP 4.50

Total = £15.20 :eek: so I think you'll be paying more than £30 on £120!!! It depends what the item is though as the percentage varies.

SC

martindow

You will be charged VAT on the value of the item plus the postage charge. According to the item there may be a duty charge of a few per cent. The clearance fee depends on the carrier - usually around 8 pounds (4.50 is at the cheap end). If it was sent by a company like Fedex you will certainly be charged, if they used the US postal service it will come with Parcel Force or Royal Mail who don't always enforce the charges so you might be lucky.

Hintza

I agree with Martin if possible I try and get items sent through the postal service. Couriers always charge a fortune.

I know clearnce charges have recently gone up but I think your estimate is about right but might be worth mentally factoring it in at about £35 then anything less will seem like a bargain. But £30 +/- would me my thoughts.

Snooze_Control

Hintza wrote: »

I agree with Martin if possible I try and get items sent through the postal service.

I disagree. If you send by USPS any tracking you've paid for goes out of the window as soon as it leaves the US mainland. Yes, you may save the import duty but it's not much good to you when RM give you a blank look when you ask them about your missing parcel from the States. :rolleyes:

SC

martindow

Snooze_Control wrote: »

I disagree. If you send by USPS any tracking you've paid for goes out of the window as soon as it leaves the US mainland. Yes, you may save the import duty but it's not much good to you when RM give you a blank look when you ask them about your missing parcel from the States. :rolleyes:

SC

But it's the sender's problem isn't it? They are responsible for ensuring receipt. And tracking does not guarantee delivery. I had a consignment sent with a fully tracked service where the tracking ended on arriving in Frankfurt and never appeared again. Knowing where it had disappeared wasn't much consolation!

divadee

the $242 includes the postage charge and i worked out the vat on the total amount.

it has been sent via fed-ex and it is for a couple of handbags.

fed-ex had this customs charge thing so i tried to work it out on that and i think if i did it correctly it came to about $58 (about 30ish £££) import, vat customs charge etc...

but its very confusing as everything has a different percentage value!!!! what customs taxes are there on a couple of handbags? they are not leather just canvas type bags

divadee

also how do i pay this? do i pay the delivery driver?

Hintza

divadee wrote: »

also how do i pay this? do i pay the delivery driver?

They normally deliver and then send an invoice.

Snooze_Control

divadee wrote: »

also how do i pay this? do i pay the delivery driver?

You'll get the item delivered (mine was left in the top of my wheelie bin!) and then about 3 weeks later you'll receive your Duty invoice from them through the post.

SC